Fifteen years ago, Genesis introduced a transformative model to Maine aimed at empowering mobile home park residents. The goal was simple but groundbreaking: help residents secure the affordability of their homes by organizing and cooperatively purchasing the land beneath them.  

ABOVE  Young volunteers helped deliver veggies and sweet snacks to the Healthy Acadia Overnight Warming Center. Healthy Acadia photoHealthy Acadia: Keeping People Safe and WarmIn Ellsworth, Maine, where low winter temperatures average well-below freezing, Healthy Acadia operates an Overnight Warming Center from mid-November through April for unhoused and unsafely housed community members. Staff and volunteers offer meals and snacks in a

ABOVE  In January 2024, Genesis Executive Director Liza Fleming-Ives congratulated residents and thanked partners who collaborated with Genesis to create affordable apartments at Brunswick Landing, a former naval air station in Maine. The project’s first tenants are asylum seekers. Tim Greenway photoSafety and Stability for Maine’s Newest NeighborsBy Liza Fleming-Ives, Genesis executive director With fresh snow blanketing the ground on

In groundbreaking work, Genesis community partner Healthy Homeworks creates homeownership opportunities for aspiring first-time homebuyers in downtown Lewiston, Maine, where only 4 percent of residents currently own homes.

Three decades ago, residents of neighboring communities in Midcoast Maine discovered that a local family was living in the hollow of a bridge over the Sheepscot River. What started out as a simple effort to house the family soon expanded as a broader issue came to light—the lack of affordable housing in their rural communities.

There is much to be done to bring justice and equity to Black, Indigenous, and other people of color in Maine, Northern New England, and beyond. As a CDFI, the Genesis Fund is part of an industry that emerged from the civil rights movement with the explicit goal of addressing the systemic racism that has denied communities of color access

We had just experienced one of the Genesis Fund’s most remarkable years ever, with success in 2019 across all categories: lending activity, growth of the fund through investments and fundraising, and deployment of vital professional expertise to guide nonprofit partners moving projects forward. And then came COVID-19. Businesses shuttered. Offices emptied. Schools quieted. Families facing illness, eviction, lost work, food

For aspiring business owners like Yassin Moussa of Lewiston, Maine, acquiring a loan is often a critical step in embarking on a new enterprise. But for Yassin and others who practice the Islamic faith, the process can be complicated. Many Muslim borrowers are prohibited by their faith practice from paying interest to borrow funds. Most traditional lenders have been unable

For residents who want to “age in place” in their home communities, for members of the workforce, including parents heading single-income houses and workers with disabilities—basically, for everyone who needs affordable rural rental housing like Lester Hersey’s in Aroostook County, Maine (above), it is as important to preserve existing units as it is to build more of them. That’s why

Cooperative Ownership Transforms Mobile Home CommunitiesIn rural communities throughout Northern New England, mobile home communities are a key piece of the “naturally occurring” affordable housing infrastructure. But they are sometimes sold to investor-owners who drive out residents and eliminate affordability.