Coe Park Neighborhood Celebration and Resource Fair

BANGOR — Several Bangor nonprofits will team up for a neighborhood celebration at Coe Park this Saturday, July 20 from 10 a.m. noon with a July 21 1-3 p.m. rain date. There will be live music, free hotdogs, games (including cornhole), a piñata and beans, along with a Resource Fair with over 20 Bangor agencies that will offer resources ranging from getting good jobs, accessing food assistance to starting your own business (see list below). The event is free to the public. Coe Park is located on Court Street in Bangor.

The Coe Park celebration and Resource Fair is organized by Food AND Medicine, Together Place Peer Run Recovery Center, Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness.

“These Resource Fairs are a way to bring services directly to people who could use a little support. The best thing about them is that people get to talk directly to people and not spend time on the phone or at a computer screen, which can be super frustrating and time consuming,” according to Food AND Medicine Executive Director Jack McKay, who continues “We’ve been doing these Resource Fairs monthly, on the first Wednesday of the month, at the Together Place Peer Run Recovery Center in downtown Bangor and they’ve been very successful. We thought bringing the Resource Fair directly into the community would be a good thing to try.”

Joleen Fagan, a peer workforce navigator on the Food AND Medicine team, states “I wish I had had a navigator when I was trying to navigate the system. Just because of how confusing it is – particularly during very stressful times. I work with people on employment, unemployment claims, barriers to employment, access to various resources and so much more. There are so many people who want jobs, but who have had challenges with addiction, mental health and other issues. Given a bit of support, I’ve seen so many people overcome these barriers and become good employees or open their own business. This is a huge triple win: the person gains the pride of being self-sufficient, employers get good employees and our society works better. It is really wonderful when I help people get a good job.”

McKay notes that the core parts of the Peer Workforce Navigator program include “Support access to good jobs, and the education and training programs that make those good jobs possible. Connect more people who are eligible to the unemployment insurance system successfully – especially target populations who we are seeing face barriers in this complex system. Raise awareness of public benefits like SNAP & MaineCare that can help meet people’s basic needs so they have time and space to invest in career goals. Work with the Maine Department of Labor and other State and community-based institutions to make systems work better for people, including advocating for policy and systems changes directly informed by community members’ experience.”

McKay adds, “We are excited to have the celebration in Coe Park, where we had one last year. Coe Park also has a Community Garden and will soon have a public bathroom. Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness have been leading efforts to pick up any trash and sharps in the park.” FAM organized the Coe Park garden build with members of the community last summer.

Johnny Sanchez, who heads up FAM’s Collective & Community Gardens program says, “FAM’s Collective Gardens program has seen tremendous interest in recent years, which has allowed us to more than double the number of gardens in our network. We now have 35 across the greater Bangor region. People really seem to be empowered by the opportunity to grow their own healthy, fresh food and enjoy eating it. Often the biggest draw is the fun and sense of community that people gain by doing this all together.”

Groups attending:

Anthem Maine

Bangor Area Homeless Shelter

Bangor Area Recovery Network (BARN)

Black Bear Mutual Aid Fund

Community Health and Counseling Services

Consumer Council System of Maine

Consumers for Affordable Healthcare

Dignity First

Eastern Maine Development Corp (EMDC)

Food AND Medicine

Granite Recovery Center