Aspen CSG partners with Rural Development Hubs across the country to strengthen local leadership, align funding, and build regional capacity. Through research and peer learning, we support Hub leaders to refine strategies and apply what works across regions.
In Maine, we work with Hub partners that coordinate across sectors, align resources, and connect communities to advance long-term regional strategies.
Coastal Enterprises Inc.
Service area: Maine.
Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI) is a Community Development Financial Institution that works to build a more equitable economy by growing good jobs, livelihoods and small business ownership, while advancing a just transition to a climate-resilient future.
Visit organization: ceimaine.org
Community Caring Collaborative
Service area: Maine.
The Community Caring Collaborative (CCC) supports rural communities in Maine by strengthening partnerships across agencies and connecting residents to programs and resources, though it doesn’t provide direct services itself. It helps nonprofits, agencies, and other partners collaborate, apply for funding opportunities like the Hope Fund and Dream Fund, and access training or technical assistance. CCC is a partnership of more than 45 agencies, along with nonprofits and community members, working to improve the lives of vulnerable people in Washington County and across Maine.
Visit organization: cccmaine.org
Main Street Skowhegan
Service area: Maine.
Founded in 2005 by a group of citizens, Main Street Skowhegan is a nonprofit focused on the ongoing revitalization of historic Skowhegan, Maine. They actively collaborate with and engage hundreds of volunteers and dozens of partner organizations and businesses in the region via a variety of economic and community development activities.
Visit organization: mainstreetskowhegan.org
Featured in Aspen CSG resources: The Power of Connection: Rural Development Hubs in Action.
Northern Forest Center
Service area: Maine, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont.
The Northern Forest is one of the most densely forested regions in the country, and it is mostly privately owned. When big timber and paper operations moved out of the region, locals kept their communities going and built a new economy grounded in forest stewardship. The Center is proud to be the region’s advocate and to partner with communities and businesses to build the New Forest Future.
Visit organization: northernforest.org
Featured in Aspen CSG resources: Climate Solutions for Rural Regions, Learnings on Rural Migration and Displacement, Rural Development Hubs: Strengthening America’s Rural Innovation Infrastructure, and more.
