Partnership Regional Coordinators | Office of Policy Innovation & Future

Regional support for Maine communities to increase climate resilience.

The Resilience Collaborative consists of a network of regional assistance providers who support enrolled communities, especially rural, underserved and low-capacity communities, with services to plan, design, and implement climate resilience and natural-hazard risk-reduction projects. The Collaborative builds upon and expands the recently completed Regional Coordinators Pilot supported by GOPIF and includes:

Ten Regional Resilience Coordinators located at each of Maine’s ten regional councils,
Three Tribal Resilience Coordinators who serve all five of Maine’s Tribal Governments, and
Three Resilience Finance Coordinators who provide assistance in understanding and utilizing capital investment planning, municipal/tribal budgeting practices, project finance strategies, and other long-term approaches to implement climate resilience, emissions reduction, and clean energy projects.

Resilience Coordinators work with communities and Tribal Governments to provide project development and management, technical assistance, community engagement support, process guidance, and grant writing and management services.

The Resilience Collaborative is funded through the NOAA Climate Resilience Regional Challenge grant awarded to Maine in 2024 to protect Maine’s communities, environment, and working waterfronts from extreme storms, inland flooding, and rising sea levels. The Resilient Maine proposal supports a shared vision for resilience developed through collaboration across state agencies, regional organizations, tribal communities, municipalities, educational institutions, and NGOs, to build enduring community capacity by providing urgently needed technical assistance to communities adapting to climate impacts.

Resilience Collaborative Coordinators:

Resilience Finance Coordinators

University of Southern Maine’s Catherine Cutler Institute, as a partnership between its New England Environmental Finance Center (NEEFC) and the Portland-based Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI).

•   Andrea Berry, NEEFC Climate Funding Manager, andrea.berry@maine.edu
•   Chloe Shields, NEEFC Deputy Director, chloe.f.shields@maine.edu
•   Nikki Yanok, GMRI Climate Finance Specialist, nyanok@gmri.org

Tribal Resilience Coordinators

The positions are currently being staffed and will be based at the Mi’kmaq Nation Environmental Department in Presque Isle, the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians Natural Resources Department in Houlton, and the Sipayik Resilience Committee’s office space in Calais and Machias.

The Tribal Resilience coordinators will work alongside the existing intertribal Wabanaki Sustainable Energy Coordinator and two sustainable energy coordinators recently hired by the Penobscot Nation and the Passamaquoddy Tribe.