My Background

I've lived in Gray since 1988, when my husband and I bought a partly-built house and finished it ourselves (learning carpentry on the way). Since then I've grown my family, community, and career in Gray. I'm dedicated to keeping our community welcoming, prosperous, and livable for all.

In 1990 I established the Building Materials Exchange (BME), which is like a “Goodwill” for building materials, later serving as board chair. Pre-dating the Habitat for Humanity Restores, the BME has helped thousands of low-income Maine homeowners make their houses safe, warm, and weathertight at prices they can afford. I'm thrilled that it's still vital and active today. 

In 1992 MaineHousing hired me to help create a secondary market for Home improvement loans made to low-income homeowners, who were the lease-served by existing housing programs. The result was the Housing Preservation Loan Program (HPLP), which purchased millions of dollars of loans originated by nonprofit lenders we trained. HPLP loans were structured so that homeowners could afford to repay them, with low-interest rates and longer terms. Thousands of homeowners benefited from this program, and they were very happy with a hand-up, not a hand-out. Repayment rates were high - over 90%.

I am also the founder and principal of ABG Consulting LLC, a small business that supports nonprofits, local and state governments, and foundations to help people in need build stable, productive lives. My clients create affordable housing and provide programming for people who are low income, homeless, are refugees, or have other special needs. I do public grant writing, business planning, research, and special projects.

Working both in Maine and nationally, I've written more than $168 million in successful public grants since founding my business in 1993, including the federal Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Labor, and Justice. In Maine, I've helped clients respond to requests for proposals from MaineHousing, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, and the Maine Department of Education. You can read more about my professional work on my website annebgass.com.

In my spare time, I'm an independent historian and love the history of Maine, woman suffrage, and women's rights. I spent 14 years researching and writing a book about my great-grandmother. Voting Down the Rose: Florence Brooks Whitehouse and Maine's Fight for Woman Suffrage, came out in 2014, and is a nonfiction book. 

The second, We Demand: The Suffrage Road Trip, is a historical novel that brings to life an epic cross-country journey for voting rights that  four women undertook by car in 1915. I spent eight weeks in 2015 retracing their original route in 2015 to learn more about what the trip was like for them- it was quite an adventure! I love sharing this history and do so every chance I get, in Maine and across the country.

These experiences inform my unswerving commitment to women's equality and to abortion rights. 

Being actively engaged in my community is one of my core values. Volunteering helps me learn new things, meet new people, and make my community a better place to live. 

In June 2022 I completed a term on the Gray Town Council, where I served as Vice-Chair. It was a fantastic experience. In my first year, I spearheaded efforts to approve an updated Bike-Ped Plan and a Complete Streets Policy, and to pass a Food Sovereignty Ordinance. I also served as Council Liaison to the Open Space Committee, supporting their work on Gray's first-ever Open Space Plan (approved by the Council in February 2022.

Over the years, I have also: 

• Been appointed to Maine's Permanent Commission on the Status of Women (current) 
• Launched the Gray Bike-Ped Committee in 2012 to work on bike and pedestrian safety planning. We wrote the town's first ever Bike-Ped Plan, which led to the successful request to the state for funds to build portions of the Village Area Loop Trail in Gray Village. 
• Served on a Maine Arts Commission panel to create and judge a request for proposals for a new suffrage centennial mural in Lewiston  
• Served on the Steering Committee of the Maine Suffrage Centennial Collaborative 
• Helped co-curate a social justice exhibit at Maine Historical Society "Begin Again: Reckoning With Intolerance in Maine" 
• Helped lead efforts to permanently preserve open space in Gray, Raymond, and South Paris, Maine 
• Helped create and preserve affordable housing by serving two terms on the board of the Genesis Community Loan Fund, a nonprofit community development financial institution.  ​