The Fund for Maine Islands launched in partnership with the Island Institute.

The Islands Institute, an organization which works to preserve and support Maine’s remote island communities, paired with COA in 2014 to create the Fund for Maine Islands. The Fund aims to find solutions for the challenges that island communities face and strengthen resilience through education and action in areas such as agriculture and food, energy and adaptation to climate change. The first initiative taken due to the Fund sent COA students and faculty alongside Maine island residents and Island Institute members to Samsø Island in Denmark. The island houses an energy academy, which showcases the energy strategies that Samsø has taken. The delegation learned about resilient, sustainable and cost-efficient energy management for islands, and brought their new knowledge back to Maine to adapt what they had learned to local energy systems. This was just the first effort made thanks to the Fund for Maine Islands. Since 2014, the collaboration between COA and the Islands Institute has continued to brainstorm and implement solutions for local communities.