Project Home receives anonymous $1.5M donation to help single mothers
Kimanga Yanga in the living room of her Portland apartment in 2023. She was a recipient of Project Home's Trust Program, which provides direct cash assistance to single mothers. (Derek Davis/Staff Photographer)
The news was a shock to Peace Mutesi. It was also a dream come true.
Mutesi has spent the last three years working with low-income single mothers in Project Home’s Trust Program, which aims to help them gain financial security.
The program has steadily grown over the last few years, but there’s been so much need in the community that they’ve barely scratched the surface.
Now, a surprise $1.47 million donation from an anonymous benefactor will allow the Portland-based nonprofit to more than double its reach.
“It was an answer to all the dreams we’ve been having for the program,” said Mutesi, Project Home’s director of economic opportunity.
The Trust Program provides direct cash assistance to single mothers struggling to make ends meet. Women receive $500 monthly cash payments for a year, no strings attached. They can spend the money however they choose.
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The nearly $1.5 million donation will allow Project Home (formerly the Quality Housing Coalition) to extend the program beyond its current reach of Cumberland, York and Androscoggin counties into more rural areas, the nonprofit said.
It is expected to serve 100 mothers and their children each year for the next three years —reaching approximately 300 mothers and an estimated 600 children.
Victoria Morales, executive director of Project Home, photographed in 2024. (Derek Davis/Staff Photographer) Purchase this image
Victoria Morales, executive director, called the donation a “transformational investment in Maine mothers and children” — one that underscores a belief in their “judgment, strength and potential.”
“Mothers know what their children need,” she said in a statement. “This investment will allow us to demonstrate what is possible when we replace restrictions and assumptions with trust.”
The program also includes monthly meetings for goal setting, guidance and community-building with other mothers.
Morales doesn’t know why the donor chose to remain anonymous, but said the person was “specifically seeking a Maine-based, direct cash assistance program.”
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LIFTING UP MOTHERS, CHILDREN
The program launched in 2023 with a group of 20 low-income single mothers who had experienced homelessness or housing insecurity. They were given $1,000 a month.
Almost all were asylum seekers or refugees and all reported that they did not have the resources to cover a $400 emergency expense.
“This is for folks who no longer qualify or are not receiving other benefits,” Morales said at the time. “There are all kinds of reasons why it may be hard to get full-time, meaningful employment, and this is here to lift them up so they can move towards financial security.”
Morales believes it is the only unrestricted cash assistance program in the state, though there are other similar programs across the country.
Since then, the Trust Program has launched two more groups and expanded beyond the Portland area. They’ve tried different funding amounts, including $1,000 a month, a $3,600 lump sum and the current $500 model.
The most recent cohort of 50 mothers, which launched last month, is its largest to date.
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The program has so far made an impact across 117 mothers and 215 children, and its efficacy is being studied by the John T. Gorman Foundation.
By the time the second set of families wrapped up the program, all participants were current on rent, average weekly earnings had increased by 57% and the share enrolled in education or training had doubled. The mothers said they felt less isolated, more hopeful and more confident in their ability to manage family life, the organization said.
Two former participants have purchased their own homes.
“We strongly believe that for any child to thrive their parent needs to be stable,” Morales said.
The program also helps mothers who may be at risk of tipping over the “benefits cliff,” when an increase in income jeopardizes the household’s eligibility for public programs.
“Families can be working more and earning more but still end up with fewer resources when a modest increase in income causes them to lose essential benefits,” Mutesi said in a news release. “Trust gives mothers room to navigate that transition while building toward greater stability.”
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Tagged: homelessness, portland maine
Hannah is the housing reporter at the Portland Press Herald, covering all aspects of Maine’s housing crisis - real estate and development, home ownership and rental issues and the lack of both affordability. More by Hannah LaClaire
