Equity Subcommittee

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.

The Equity Subcommittee is comprised of a leadership team (below), and of representatives to each working group. Co-chairs of the Subcommittee are Ambassador Maulian Bryant of the Penobscot Nation and Dr. Gabriela Alcalde of the Sewall Foundation.  

The subcommittee 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. Following two years of deliberations (2021-2023), the Equity Subcommittee adopted its final recommendations for submission to the Maine Climate Council (PDF) in March, 2023. These recommendations help ensure that all Maine people can benefit from climate action. 

Subcommittee Leadership

Co-chairs

Ambassador Maulian Bryant

Ambassador Maulian Bryant was appointed by Penobscot Nation Chief Kirk Francis in September 2017. As Ambassador, Ms. Bryant 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.

Additional Leaders

Noël Bonam, AARP Maine, Maine Climate Council
Amara Ifeji, Maine Environmental Education Association, Maine Climate Council
Dr. Puthiery Va, Maine CDC, Community Resilience Working Group

 

Members

Darren Ranco, University of Maine, Natural and Working Lands Working Group
Bethany Humphrey, The Climate Initiative, Natural and Working Lands Working Group

Rebecca Boulos, Maine Public Health Association, Resilience Working Group 
Eileen Johnson, Bowdoin College, Resilience Working Group

Gabe McPhail, Resilient Communities, L3C, Coastal and Marine Working Group
Marissa McMahan, Manomet, Coastal and Marine Working Group

Moise Mulamba, Ready Seafood, Energy Working Group
Jason Parent, Aroostook County Action Program, Energy Working Group

Dale Basher, Downeast Community Partners, Buildings Working Group
Safiya Khalid, Community Organizing Alliance, Buildings Working Group

Sandy Buchanan, Western Maine Transportation Services, Inc., Transportation Working Group
Marcel Ntagora, Greater Portland Council of Governments, Transportation Working Group