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  • Leadership Development
    • ICL – Institute for Civic Leadership

      The Institute for Civic Leadership is an experiential, eight month, inward journey that enables a leader to develop the skills to lead in a collaborative and facilitative way.

    • Leadership Maine

      Leadership Maine is a powerful, nine month, outward journey that takes a leader beyond their day-to-day experience and expands their capacity to shape our state’s future.

    • Policy Leaders Academy

      Policy Leaders Academy is a non-partisan experiential immersion for legislators in the fundamentals of the Maine economy, the factors that drive long-term growth, and how public policy decisions affect investment.

    • Realize Maine Network

      The Realize Maine Network connects regional groups, business, organizations and policymakers to share best practices for attracting and retaining young people to live, work and thrive in Maine.

    • Revive Civility

      Revive Civility works to improve the tone of our current political and public discourse through training on structural and behavioral change, respectful dialogue, and relationship building across belief systems.

    • Alumni

      MDF offers professional development, networking, community service and impactful engagement opportunities to the 1800+ alumni of Leadership Maine and ICL.

  • Program & Partnerships
    • FOR/Maine

      MDF is a lead partner in FOR/Maine (Forest Opportunity Roadmap) a cross-sector coalition working to diversify the state’s wood products businesses, attract capital investments, and develop greater economic prosperity for Maine’s rural communities.

    • Maine Downtown Center

      The Maine Development Foundation’s Maine Downtown Center Program serves as a statewide resource for preservation-based downtown revitalization.

    • MaineSpark

      MDF is a lead partner in MaineSpark, a 10-year initiative by Maine’s education and business leaders to ensure by 2025, 60% of Mainers hold the education and workforce credentials they need to succeed.

  • Economic Policy & Research
    • Maine Economic Growth Council

      MEGC develops long-range economic plans for Maine and measures progress in achieving the plan’s benchmarks and goals.

    • Making Maine Work Report Series

      Making Maine Work reports serve as an action plan for improving productivity and investing in ways that help grow Maine’s economy.

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    • Philosophy & Programs
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Home > About Us > Philosophy & Programs

Philosophy & Programs

Trusted research. Leadership development. Creative partnerships.

MDF is a non-partisan, statewide public-private organization with a broad range of members and partners from across the state. We are conveners who bring leaders together across sectors to find common ground, explore new approaches to persistent challenges, solve problems and to drive sustainable economic growth and improve the lives of all Mainers.

We connect businesses, policymakers, educators, community leaders and other non-profits through programs and initiatives in three critical economic development areas: trusted research, leadership development and creative partnerships.

 Trusted Research

MDF knows the power of data, the strength of research and how unbiased information can inform the future. Our multi-sector, non-partisan methods of collecting data, testing its validity with our cross-sector partners, and sharing it widely across our network is why we are one of the most trusted source of economic data in Maine.

Leadership Development

MDF understands the importance of leadership in sustainable economic growth. Our leadership development programs provide training and experiential learning opportunities to ensure decision makers of every type and from every sector have access to the training and resources they need to be effective catalysts and conveners in their businesses and communities.

Creative Partnerships

MDF is here to connect you with the people, research, and resources you need to solve problems and implement innovative approaches that make visions of a more vibrant community the reality.  We are facilitators who help lead broad coalitions achieve economic development, community revitalization and build the workforce Maine will need far into the future.

  • Philosophy & Programs
  • Outline of Programs
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Maine Development Foundation
2 Beech Street, Suite 203
Hallowell, Maine 04347

P: 207.622.6345
F: 207.622.6346
Email: mdf@mdf.org

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