Equity Engagement Project

Engaging With Low-Income and Disadvantaged Communities for State Climate Action Planning

Location: University of Maine
Sponsor: State of Maine – Governor’s Office for Policy Innovation and the Future

Working with the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future (GOPIF), the project team is conducting broad-based engagement with low-income and disadvantaged communities to ensure that their concerns and priorities are included in the process of developing Maine’s next state climate action plan. The project is focused on three tasks: 1) Engaging with low-income and disadvantaged communities and priority populations to contribute to the climate planning process; 2) Supporting members of low-income and disadvantaged communities and priority populations  serving as working group members; 3) Developing climate and equity training and guidance for the Maine Climate Council and its six working groups.

The project team includes five faculty with nearly a century of combined experience leading community engagement projects, including projects with GOPIF that have focused on disadvantaged communities. This team has considerable experience working together, and has a proven track-record when it comes to such essential practices as convening, facilitation, mediation and conflict resolution. The team is supported by the Mitchell Center’s award-winning staff and graduate and undergraduate students.

By definition, community engagement requires “meeting communities where they are.” So the bulk of the work on this project will involve face-to-face engagement with individuals and organizations in their own communities. The project team is using a wide variety of engagement methods (e.g. focus groups, interviews, storytelling), all of which involve various forms of listening.

The project draws upon the Mitchell Center’s breadth and depth of partnerships with over 200 stakeholder organizations spread across all 16 Maine counties. We are also collaborating directly with GOPIF to identify community partners who have developed trust-based relationships with particular priority populations that GOPIF has identified (e.g. migrant farm workers, New Mainers).

Project Team

Resources