Dear John, With five Fridays this month, there will be no shortage of learning opportunities.
Together, we’ll explore everything from the importance of Maine forests to the advocacy efforts to support outdoor education for more Maine students; from place justice and what exactly that means to the lasting economic impacts of the 1980 Indian Claims Settlement Act; and finally, about how the experience of being a poll worker shapes poll workers’ attitudes towards elections and democracy generally. We’ll have to wait and see whether March comes in like a lion or goes out like a lamb, but we can count on a terrific line-up of Lunch & Learns. Please join us online for one or all of them!
–Will |
|
|
Friday, March 3, 12-1 PM: Introducing the Place Justice Project: A Statewide Truth-seeking and Historical Recovery Initiative of the Permanent Commission
Who gets memorialized through place names, statues, and historical markers is a strong indicator of a society's values and its dominant sense of collective identity. The Permanent Commission on the Status of Racial, Indigenous, and Tribal Populations has launched a Place Justice Project that seeks to engage Wabanaki and Maine communities in examining a wide range of commemorative practices to better understand and respond to the ways in which racialized and Indigenous populations are represented in or absent from the narratives inscribed on our natural and built environment. Whose memory is visible and celebrated, and whose has been erased or misrepresented? How do the politics and practices of public remembrance and forgetting continue to impact our communities today?
Learn from Meadow Dibble, Place Justice Project Lead, Executive Director of Atlantic Black Box; Erika Arthur, Place Justice Consultant, Policy Analyst at the Catherine Cutler Institute; and Angela Okafor, Director of Community Engagement at the Permanent Commission, about how you can take part in this collective examination of the memory scape in which we exist and yet have largely come to take for granted. |
Friday, March 10, 12-1 PM: The Role of Maine's Forests in Protecting Biodiversity and our Climate
A new report finds that the world lost 200 million acres of forest between 1960 and 2019. With 17.5 million acres of forest, Maine is the most heavily forested state in the nation. What does that mean for climate change and biodiversity? What are the threats? What policies can help? Learn more about the challenges and opportunities for Maine from Sally Stockwell, Director of Conservation, Maine Audubon, and Dave Publicover, DF, Senior Staff Scientist/Assistant Director of Research at the Appalachian Mountain Club.
|
|
|
Friday, March 17, 12-1 PM: Federal Indian Policy: Impacts on the Wabanaki Nations in Maine… and Beyond
A recent report from Harvard University found that “the subjugation of the Wabanaki Nation’s self-governing capacities is blocking economic development to the detriment of both tribal and nontribal citizens alike. For the tribal citizens of Maine held down by MICSA’s restrictions, loosening or removing those restrictions offers them little in the way of downside risks and much in the way of upside payoffs.” Professor Joe Kalt, co-director of the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, will discuss the results of the Project’s recent study of the impacts of the unique provisions of the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act on the Wabanaki Nations.
|
|
|
Friday, March 24, 12-1 PM: Outdoor School for All Maine Students
A few days at one of Maine’s outdoor learning centers can be transformative for middle school students, and legislation being introduced this year aims to ensure that all students get that life-changing opportunity. An Act to Support Outdoor School for All Maine Students would support all students in 4th through 8th grades to spend two nights and three days at an outdoor learning center and ensure that the experience would be integrated with school curriculum and aligned with state learning standards so we can get children outside connecting with Maine’s outdoor heritage. Learn more from Drew Dumsch, President and CEO, The Ecology School; Nicholas Fisichelli, President and CEO, Schoodic Institute at Acadia National Park; and Anne Sedlack, Attorney at Preti Flaherty and Member of the University of Maine 4-H Camp and Learning Centers at Tanglewood and Blueberry Cove Board of Directors.
|
Friday, March 31, 12-1 PM: Understanding Poll Workers, the Unsung Heroes of Our American Democracy
Poll workers are critically important to the functioning of American democracy. Yet our loose patchwork system of local election administration is under serious threat. In this session, we’ll present initial findings from an ongoing project to understand the characteristics and experiences of poll workers here in Maine: Who are they? Why do they do this work? How has recent mistrust in election integrity impacted their experience? And how does the experience of being a poll worker shape their attitudes towards elections and democracy generally?
Learn more from Rob Glover, Associate Professor of Political Science and Honors at the University of Maine; Jordan P. LaBouff, Associate Professor of Psychology and Honors at the University of Maine; and Carrie Levan, Assistant Professor of Government at Colby College. They’re currently working on this project in collaboration with local town clerks and election administration officials in Maine, as well as the Maine Secretary of State’s office. Their work is supported by an Election Protection and Enhancement Grant from the Scholars Strategy Network, an organization of university-based scholars who are committed to using research to improve public policy and strengthen democracy.vulnerable communities.
|
|
|
© 2022 Maine Conservation Voters 295 Water St. Ste. 9 Augusta, ME 04330 United States unsubscribe |
|
|
|
