Grant proposal

1. Monday, March 31, 2014
11th
Hour Racing
proposals@11thhourracing.org
Dear Selection Committee Members,
I arrived at SailMaine at the very end of 2013 as the new Director to find a thriving
and healthy comprehensive community sailing program at full capacity in the fall
and spring interscholastic high school program and junior summer program, and a
growing adult program with the acquisition of a second-hand keel boat fleet. Clearly
there is unmet demand for community sailing in Portland, Maine on Casco Bay.
However, I also found that some of the core infrastructure had been neglected over
time resulting is less than favorable environmental impacts, and that two very
important opportunities have been overlooked in an effort to keep Casco Bay clean.
These issues are 1) old, inefficient safety boat engines, 2) the lack of an
environmental education component in the curriculum, and 3) no web presence of
an environmental stewardship effort on the SailMaine website. I would like to ask
for 11th
Hour’s help to correct these three weaknesses in our program.
The project that we propose will directly and positively impact all of these deficits.
The Friends of Casco Bay (http://cascobay.org/casco-bay-curriculum/) have
provided us with their school curriculum that will be implemented in the junior
sailing program that begins in late June. This will directly impact more than five
hundred children aged five to seventeen and hopefully begin a lifelong commitment
to environmental stewardship for Casco Bay for each and every one of them. This
curriculum includes 37 activities based on Friends of Casco Bay’s scientific data
providing a truly relevant case study through a program that exemplifies a data-
driven, place-based approach to environmental education.
The project also proposes funding towards the purchase of two new, clean, two-
stroke outboards for chase boats to replace our ancient (several more than nine
years old) inefficient and polluting two-strokes. This is more than just an upgrade
that should be done on a regular schedule given the use these programs demand;
this is both an environmental and safety issue.
And finally, SailMaine’s new website will dedicate a large amount of content to the
effort to keep Casco Bay clean. With the help of Friends of Casco Bay and other
environmental watch groups in the area, we will commit to providing information,

2. best practices and resources for our constituents, and to reinforce what our young
sailors are learning in class.
11th
Hour Racing can make a truly meaningful difference to SailMaine and the health
of Casco Bay by considering this request. We all know how many hours an outboard
runs each season in a spring/summer/fall program. New environmentally friendly
outboards, combined with the implementation of the Friends of Casco Bay
curriculum in the junior program, and a web presence voicing our commitment will
establish SailMaine as an organization not only concerned with the development of
young people as sailors, but also as a protector of Casco Bay.
Currently SailMaine serves 78 student athletes in the Spring High School Program,
over 500 during the summer junior season, over 100 in the high school fall season
and over 300 adults year round. In addition, SailMaine has meaningful partnerships
with several local non-profits and social service agencies that help underserved and
at risk children from the local neighborhoods including the Boys and Girls Club and
Special Olympics.
I look forward to the possibility of making a full proposal.
Sincerely,
Janet Acker
Janet Acker
Executive Director