The Equity Subcommittee of the Maine Climate Council will support ongoing planning and implementation of the state’s climate strategies to ensure shared benefits across diverse populations in Maine.
Co-chairs of the Subcommittee are Ambassador Maulian Dana of the Penobscot Nation and Dr. Gabriela Alcalde of the Sewall Foundation. A full membership list is below. Meetings and agenda for the subcommittee will be posted here and on the state's public meeting calendar.
The subcommittee's work built upon a groundbreaking equity analysis of the Maine Climate Council’s climate strategies that took place during the summer of 2020. That analysis, by the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions at the University of Maine, placed an equity lens on the four-year climate action plan, but also identified the need for further focus on ensuring climate equity in Maine as the state seeks to implement climate mitigation and adaptation programs.
Interim Recommendations
In 2021, the Equity Subcommittee met to discuss Maine Won’t Wait, the state’s four-year climate action plan, and to develop interim recommendations to ensure that all Mainers can benefit from climate action. In January 2022, the Equity Subcommittee adopted its interim recommendations for consideration by the Maine Climate Council. The subcommittee's interim report is available here (PDF).
Interim recommendations reflect feedback received at the subcommittee's public meetings and in writing; and are contextualized with examples from Maine and elsewhere.
Information about the interim recommendations and their consideration by Climate Council working groups and subcommittees was presented at the March 25, 2022 Climate Council Equity Report Briefing.
Draft Final Recommendations (December 2022)
The Equity Subcommittee met on December 20th, 2022 to discuss their draft final equity recommendations to the Maine Climate Council. These recommendations are the outcome of nearly two years of deliberation and consultation with the Equity Subcommittee, other working groups of the Maine Climate Council, state agencies, equity evaluation experts, and members of the public. They revise and build upon the interim recommendations shared by the subcommittee in February 2022 (above).
Draft Equity Subcommittee Recommendations (PDF)
The Equity Subcommittee is currently finalizing these recommendations, and will discuss them at their meeting on January 30, 2023 from 3-5pm. Register here to attend.
Subcommittee Membership
Co-chairs
Ambassador Maulian Dana
Ambassador Maulian Dana was appointed by Penobscot Nation Chief Kirk Francis in September 2017. As Ambassador, Ms. Dana is responsible to act as a representative of the Penobscot Nation and to serve as a liaison for the Nation at the local, state and federal levels of government in order to educate and advocate for policy and laws that impact and protect the Penobscot Nation’s sovereignty, culture, natural resources and the general welfare of the Penobscot people.
Gabriela Alcalde
Gabriela Alcalde is a public health leader with 20+ years of experience and commitment to equity and social justice. Gabriela joined the team of the Sewall Foundation as Executive Director in the summer of 2019 and in this capacity leads the integration of environmental, human and animal health and welfare as the foundation works to center equity and community voices in all of their work and strategies. Prior to joining the Sewall Foundation, Gabriela served as the first Managing Director for Equity and Health at Richmond Memorial Health Foundation (RMHF) and as Vice-President for Policy and Program at the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky. Gabriela has worked in the philanthropic, academic, government, nonprofit and grassroots sectors throughout her career and served in various volunteer capacities to promote equity.
- Maine Legislators
- Senator Craig Hickman, D-Winthrop
- Senator Jeffrey Timberlake, R-Androscoggin
- Representative Tom Martin, R-Greene
- Representative Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland
- Members
- Becca Boulos, Maine Public Health Association; Maine Climate Council Community Resilience Planning, Public Health, and Emergency Management Working Group
- Curt Brown, Ready Seafood
- Shanna Cox, Lewiston Auburn Chamber of Commerce
- Lesley Fernow, Central Hall Commons
- Steve Golieb, Maine Climate Council; Town Councilor for the Town of Millinocket
- Honorable Craig Hickman, Former Maine State Representative; Owner of Annabessacook Farm
- Amara Ifeji, Maine Environmental Education Association
- Melissa Law, Maine Climate Council; Owner of Bumbleroot Organic Farm
- Matt Marks, Maine Climate Council; Executive Director of the Associated General Contractors of Maine
- Gabe McPhail, Community Resilience Consultant, Vinalhaven
- Fortunat Mueller, Revision Energy
- Jason Parent, Aroostook County Action Program
- Ambureen Rana, Maine Equal Justice
- Darren Ranco, University of Maine
- Isaiah Reid, University of Maine at Farmington Student; Permanent Commission on the Status of Racial, Indigenous and Maine Tribal Populations
- Jonathan Rubin, University of Maine
- Matt Schlobohm, Maine Climate Council; Executive Director of the Maine AFL-CIO
- Adelaide Taylor, Revision Energy
- Claudette Townsend, Dead River
- Ania Wright, Maine Climate Council Representative of Maine Youth; Sierra Club Maine