Union River Healthy Communities is a Healthy Maine Partnership and a "healthy community coalition" dedicated to improving health through education, advocacy and action. We empower our communities to be physically active, free from addictions, and to eat healthy foods. We are a program of Downeast Health Services, and are funded by Maine's master tobacco settlement funds and grants from the Maine Center for Disease Control and the Office of Substance Abuse. We serve 20 towns in Hancock County, including the Ellsworth and Schoodic regions and northern Hancock County.

We subscribe to the "Healthy Communities" principles, created by the World Health Organization, which say that health is broadly defined, everyone is included, and we make the best use of our local assets.

In 2003 the coalition conducted key informant interviews and dialogues, along with a review of published health information about the area; and created the Ellsworth Community Health Plan. Everything we do is linked back to that plan. You can download the plan from this website.