A free resource directory for the people in Maine who need one.
The question
Recovery and reentry resources in Maine exist, but they are scattered across state pages, nonprofit microsites, and PDFs that are not always current. The question was whether one quiet, accountable directory could make the next call easier to find than the last one.
The hypothesis
A directory built by one person, verified by hand, and free of accounts, analytics that track individuals, or government branding will be trusted by users who have reason not to trust either.
The instrument
RecoveryConnect is a single web app at recovery-connect.netlify.app. The left rail offers eleven entry points: Crisis, Home, MAT, Mental, Needs, Housing, Transit, Benefits, Legal, Jobs, Reentry. Each one opens a curated list of Maine-specific resources. Direct calling is supported from inside the app. Geolocation is used only to surface what is nearby, on the device, without server-side logging of who searched for what. The directory describes itself as Built by one person in Maine. Verified February 2026. Not a government site. The codebase is open source under MIT, which is itself part of the accountability claim.
The method
The directory is built around three constraints, each of which is also a method. First, verification is by hand, on a date. Every resource has been checked against its own contact information, hours, and intake process; the date of verification is published on the homepage. Second, privacy is structural. No accounts, no third-party analytics, no individual tracking; the only telemetry is what the user’s own device can answer locally. Third, the directory does not pretend to be the state. The “Not a government site” disclaimer is positioned at the same visual weight as the title because users in this audience have reason to be careful about the difference.
What it caught
Illustrative until a real observation is substituted. In assembling the Legal category, a state-listed pro bono line for reentry legal aid was found to be answering only on Tuesday afternoons rather than the listed full-week hours. The directory’s published hours were corrected to match observed reality, and a note was added pointing users to a second line for the remaining four days. The state’s own page still lists the original hours. The instrument caught a gap not in services but in how those services are described.
Findings
01. The hardest category to keep current is Housing. Beds open and close on a cadence that does not match a quarterly verification rhythm. The directory currently dates the Housing list more conservatively than the rest, and points users to call before traveling. May 24, 2026.
02. The “Not a government site” line is doing more work than expected. In feedback gathered informally, that line was named more often than any feature as the reason the directory felt safe to use. The disclaimer was originally a legal precaution. It turned out to be a trust signal. May 24, 2026.