Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

Well this week, I joined graduates from Eastern Maine Community College to celebrate an important milestone in their lives and careers.

Each of them graduated with an important new set of skills — skills that Maine employers are looking for. These people worked hard and earned a credential proving that they are prepared to take on an in-demand job in our economy, a job that Maine people rely on.

Some of these individuals will be collecting blood, phlebotomists, providing support to doctors and nurses and patients. Some of them will be doing the technical work that keeps our health system running smoothly. Every day, their work will help keep Maine people healthy.

Some students will work in energy, inspecting, maintaining and operating propane delivery trucks, filling propane storage containers, and making customer deliveries. Every day, their work will help keep Maine families warm.

Some of them will work as Learning Facilitators. Now that’s a program our Department of Education created with Eastern Maine Community College during the pandemic. It’s a program that supports teachers in classrooms all across the state. Every day, their work will help provide a quality education to our children.

It takes courage to be willing to learn a new skill. Some of these individuals are young single moms. Some are older workers looking to increase their skills and increase their opportunities and their pay. Look, I am proud of each of those graduates, and I know that their friends, family, and faculty are proud of them too.

I am also proud that the State of Maine was able to help. We invested $35 million in the Maine Community College System, through my Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan as approved by the Legislature, to provide free or low-cost trainings like these that the graduates at Eastern Maine Community College have just finished. 

Combined with a $15.5 million grant from the Harold Alfond Foundation, over the next few years, the Maine Community College System will train 24,000 skilled workers, ready to work. That will go a long way toward helping us build the workforce that Maine needs in the decades ahead.

Separately, through my supplemental budget, we have also invested in free community college for recent high school grads to further build out Maine’s workforce. Earlier this week, we learned that enrollment in the community colleges in Maine is up 12 percent this year! 

I want all Maine people to be able to experience a graduation ceremony like the one I just attended – a celebration of a new skill they someone has that will provide a better life for themselves and their family. A milestone that marks a more skilled workforce and a stronger economy in the State of Maine.

In partnership with our community college system, the state legislature, and others, my Administration will continue to push to make that goal a reality. 

This is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

WHEREAS, workplaces across our state that are welcoming the diversity of all people, including people with disabilities, are critical to an inclusive community and a healthy economy; and

WHEREAS, people with disabilities were disproportionately affected by COVID-19, but contributed significantly as essential workers and whose talents continue to be needed as Maine moves beyond the pandemic; and

Earlier this week, I took another positive step in our fight to defend the lobster industry and all of its hard-working men and women.

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

Maine’s lobster industry is a model of sustainable harvesting practices and management, with generations of Maine lobstermen working hard to protect the sustainability of the fishery.

Our lobstermen helped develop whale protection measures and they have complied with regulations, spending tens of thousands of dollars out of their own pockets – a huge expense – to modify or outright change up their gear to protect right whales.

As a result of those efforts, no right whale death has been attributed to Maine lobster gear, and there has not been a single right whale entanglement attributed to Maine lobster gear in eighteen years.

Despite these uncontroverted facts, the federal government is moving heedlessly ahead with a new round of regulations that will endanger the livelihoods of thousands of hardworking lobstermen who risk their lives to put food on the table, while paying out of their own pockets to protect right whales.

As someone with deep roots in Stonington, where my forebearers fished and risked their lives, I know that Maine fishermen are at the heart of our state and they have my deepest gratitude and my fervent support. I’ll fight with everything I have to protect them and their families.

I’ve sued the National Marine Fisheries Service and my Administration has been in court fighting tooth and nail for months to prevent this new round of regulations from taking effect.

In fact, with the approval of the Office of Attorney General and $3 million approved by the Legislature in the biennial budget, we’ve hired specialized outside counsel who have extensive experience litigating Endangered Species Act issues related to commercial fishing and they are representing the State of Maine.

Contracting with this expert law firm, with the approval of the Attorney General, puts the State of Maine in the strongest possible position to fight these cases on behalf of lobstermen in Maine. 

To further support Maine lobstermen, earlier this week I announced that I am dedicating $100,000 from my Contingency Fund to the Maine Lobstermen’s Association’s legal defense fund to support their legal efforts as they fight alongside us.

We want to make sure that both the Maine Lobstermen’s Association and the State of Maine have the resources we both need to win these lawsuits against the federal government and against the extremists who brought these regulations forward and to support our partnership as we fight these regulations every step of the way.

As Patrice McCarron, the head of the Maine Lobsterman's Association said, "The partnership between MLA, the state of Maine, and all of our other partners is so critical. The MLA appreciates the state’s leadership and investment in the future of Maine’s lobstering heritage."

Well, I agree with Patrice and I pledge to always stand by the Maine lobstermen against these wrongheaded Federal rules.

The fishermen who set out from our docks before dawn, who haul traps in all kinds of weather, who feed their families and their neighbors and our state’s economy with their catch – they are at the heart of Maine. We won’t stop fighting until we win for them.

This is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, nearly 30,000 people ages 65 and up in Maine were living with Alzheimer’s in 2020. It is estimated that 35,000 Maine people aged 65 and older will be living with that disease by 2025.

Families across Maine are doing their best to care for loved ones who are living with dementia or other disability in the comfort of their own homes, but it sure isn’t easy.

This week, I announced a new initiative to give families access to important services so they can better support themselves and their loved ones.

Through my Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan, approved by the Legislature, I am starting a pilot program. It’s called “Respite for ME” and it will provide grants of up to $2,000 to families who care for a loved one at home.

Through “Respite for ME”, family caregivers of people living with a disability, or Alzheimer’s Disease, or other related dementias can receive grants to help them access respite care for their loved ones. Caregivers can also access counseling and training, legal and financial guidance, and services to maintain their own health such as occupational and physical therapy.

To be eligible for these grants, in general, a caregiver must be an adult who is not otherwise receiving payment for the care provided. For more information about “Respite for ME”, contact your local Area Agency on Aging at 1-877-353-3771.

Respite for ME is just one way we are helping Maine people age comfortably in the communities they call home.

To help more Maine people become direct care providers, we also included $20 million in my Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan to support health care workforce training.

This includes the Caring for ME campaign to educate and encourage residents to become direct care providers such as home health aides serving older Maine people and people with disabilities. In addition, we’re providing scholarships and student loan relief to encourage more people to become long-term support workers and other health professionals.

My Administration will continue to do all we can to support Maine caregivers and their loved ones.

This is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

WHEREAS, the National School Lunch Program has served our nation admirably for 75 years through advanced practices and nutrition education; and

WHEREAS, the National School Lunch program is dedicated to the health and academic achievement of our nation’s children; and

WHEREAS, recent research shows students are receiving their healthiest meals at school, but there is evidence of continued need for nutrition education and awareness of the value of school nutrition programs; and

WHEREAS, the State of Maine, Office of Information Technology maintains a high priority on identifying, protecting and responding to cybersecurity threats to the State’s information systems and data that can have a significant impact on our individual and collective safety and privacy; and

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills, and thank you for listening.

Three years ago, I unveiled our 10-year economic development plan. It was drafted and crafted with the input of business leaders and researchers, educators, and everyday Maine people from across the state, to build the economy our state will need to prosper in the coming decades.

That plan told us that Maine students need to have stronger computer science skills in order to compete in our changing economy.

Last week, I announced a new initiative that will make sure that Maine students have the skills they need to succeed.

Using federal funds, I’m sending a free mobile computer lab to all Maine public schools this fall. 

Every student in Maine public schools will be able to access real-world training in robotics, in programming, augmented and virtual reality, in coding, and hardware – skills that our employers are all looking for right now.

I’m also using some of those federal funds to pay for training for Maine’s teachers, so they can use computer skills in every classroom.

These mobile computer labs are just one way that my Administration is working hard to enhance computer science skills for Maine students.

Last year, my Administration utilized federal funding to integrate computer science into our free Pre-K through 12 online learning platform and we funded a grant program to help teachers expand their own understanding of computer sciences and how it can help them in the classrooms.

And this summer, I was very pleased to join all 50 governors on a bipartisan pledge to increase K-12 computer science education in all our states. Maine is already a national leader on this front, but there’s still more to do. 

My Administration will continue to ensure that Maine students have the skills, knowledge, and training they need to succeed. Whether they take up automotive repair, or welding, or research or teaching, or history or literature, they all need computer sciences to succeed now and in the future and to get the good paying jobs that are offered in our state.

This is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.