To our members, friends and digital followers

I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I said that the last calendar year was the most newsworthy in the history of passivhausMAINE. In our state, we face systemic and acute challenges. Over the last year we’ve measured and begun to reckon with our significant shortage of housing, we’ve seen homes become harder for the average Mainer to afford and–as we work to meet our state’s long-term climate goals–we’re recognizing the imminent challenge of retrofitting some of the country’s oldest housing stock.

For our organization, and for many groups throughout Maine, these challenges have served to motivate and drive us. This year, we worked to vastly expand the scale and footprint of our training programming, introducing new curricula and holding 19 day-long workforce development events from York to Presque Isle, Rangeley to Southwest Harbor. We’ve actively brought our message to community events and county fairs, onto conference panels and into policy meetings. And we’ve been able to do that because, over the last year, we’ve also brought on two full-time staff members. As our Director of Programming, Dori has taken an active hand in shaping our events, the upcoming 11th Forum, and our member and public outreach. Meanwhile, our Training Director, Randy, has been responsible for designing and managing our burgeoning workforce development series.

And in October, we got some incredible news when we became one of 45 organizations in the U.S. to win the Department of Energy’s Buildings Upgrade Prize. This means we’ve received support from the DOE to advance our retrofitMAINE initiative, establish a brick-and-mortar headquarters for our programming in Freeport, and further expand our team–work we’ve already begun. But we still need the help of our community to advance to the second phase of the Buildings Upgrade Prize, with the aim of getting further support to undertake vitally needed deep-energy retrofit projects in Maine.

All of this is to say that, like most Mainers, we rise to the occasion. In the face of challenges and adversity, we reflect, we adapt, and then we usually get to work. How are you working to make homes in Maine more affordable, healthier, more durable and better for people and the planet? We could really use your help...

Naomi Beal

passivhausMAINE Executive Director