Goodall honored with Maine Womens Fund award

    The Maine Womens Fund with its Sarah Orne Jewett Award recently honored Luetta Goodall, director of Residential Services and Community Based Programs at MAPS Worldwide.
    The award is given each year to a Maine woman who reflects the spirit of the women in author Jewett’s books: grit, determination, independence, courage, humor and discipline.
    Goodall has developed the nationally recognized residential Stepping Stones programs at MAPS Worldwide, a non-profit Maine organization founded in Houlton in 1977 with a focus on permanency and stability for children.
    Goodall’s programs include Stepping Stones Centers that provide family reunification services in Houlton, Saco, Harrison, and Fairfield, along with StepUP! Residential Services, which offer short-term housing and support services for pregnant and parenting women and their children in Bangor and Portland.
    The Houlton Stepping Stones Center is a comprehensive residential program with a focus on infant mental health and on strengthening fragile families by helping young mothers and fathers gain the skills and stability to safely parent their children.
    A licensed clinical social worker with thirty years experience, Goodall’s career has focused on helping at-risk young people in Maine build better lives, often against harsh odds.
    “It’s all about opportunities,” she said. “I want the young people I work with to think big and dream big – to map out what they want for themselves and their children in terms of safety and happiness. Now that they have their own children, family can be whatever they envision it to be. I want them to have the chance at a better life.”