Bangor

Housing and the economy

Penquis Community Action Program will present its fourth annual Economic Prosperity For Everyone Community Conference. This year’s topic is “Housing: A Foundation for Prosperous Communities.” The conference will be held Tuesday, June 14, at the G. Clifton Eames Center, Bangor Savings Bank, Bangor.

The keynote panel consists of John Dorrer, director of the Division of Labor Market Information Services, Maine Department of Labor; Dale McCormick, director of Maine State Housing Authority; and Frank O’Hara, vice president and co-owner of Planning Decisions. The panel will give a statewide perspective on safe and affordable housing as an economic tool, linking housing and economic development.

Jonathan T. Daniels, president and CEO of Eastern Maine Development Corporation, will be the luncheon speaker.

The afternoon panel is composed of four leaders representing diverse local communities: John Simko, town manager of Greenville; Drew Sachs, economic development director, city of Brewer; Gene Conlogue, town manager of Millinocket; and Clint Deschene, town manager of Hermon.

They will discuss issues and solutions to help communities prosper, as well as the housing and economic differences from region to region.

For a conference brochure, call Maria Staples at 973-3586, e-mail mstaples@

penquiscap.org or visit www.penquiscap.org.

The conference is sponsored in part by Bangor Savings Bank.

Housing award grants

The Bangor Board of Realtors has announced that the following agencies received grant funds from the Maine Association of Realtors Foundation, Affordable Housing Fund during a recent meeting in Brewer:

. OHI.

. Spruce Run.

. Park Woods Transitional Housing.

. Penquis CAP.

. Habitat for Humanity.

Suzanne Guild, manager of the Maine Association of Realtors Foundation in Augusta, presented the awards. Prior to her work with the foundation, a position that she has held since 1997, Guild was the research director for the Maine State Housing Authority for eight years.

The Bangor board holds fund-raising activities during the year, the biggest of which is the annual Valentine’s dance, to assist Habitat for Humanity locally. The foundation will make a matching grant to go to Habitat for Humanity.

Rural Development staff

Michael W. Aube, state director of USDA Rural Development, announced that Thomas MacMannis of Bangor has joined the USDA Rural Development staff as a construction inspector in the Student Temporary Experience Program in the state office in Bangor.

MacMannis is enrolled at Eastern Maine Community College, where he is working toward a degree in building construction.