Don't miss this: Together We Rise Community Picnic and Fun Fair, Mill Park, Augusta on Wednesday, Aug. 2nd from 4-7pm. FB event RSVP for the event here so we can plan for food: https://www.tfaforms.com/5072838 We are looking for volunteers to help make the event a success! Please sign up for a shift here!  

A HUGE thank you to everyone who joined us to push for health and housing justice, for a boost to Maine’s Child Tax Credit and improvements to the TANF (Temporary Assistance for Need Families) program. These policy priorities were generated and developed by our leadership teams and impacted community members in the months leading up to the legislative session. We couldn’t have done it without you, especially our Housing, ASPIRE and All Means All Leadership Teams! 

What is a leadership team? The leadership teams at Maine Equal Justice are a group of roughly ten community leaders and advocates who are impacted by one or more of the issues we work on. These teams (including the housing team, at left speaking with House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross) work together to identify the problem, research solutions, strategize with the policy team and organize other impacted people in Maine to win meaningful changes in our laws.

Leadership teams meet once a month or more frequently when decisions need to be made quickly during the legislative process. This year we were lucky to work with a Housing Leadership Team, an ASPIRE leadership team and the leadership team of the All Means All Coalition in their fight for health care justice! We also worked closely with a team of trusted community members who helped us organize around access and an expansion of the Child Tax Credit. Often, leadership team members start as members of the Equal Justice Partners’ Circle and as they get more involved in the work and take on various leadership roles, they apply to be part of the leadership team. 

More than 1,000 Mainers took action with Maine Equal Justice this legislative session by making phone calls, signing petitions, sending messages to legislators, showing up at the State House to lobby in person, writing a letter to the editor or op-ed or joining a leadership team or stakeholder group to organize together! All this energy brought so much people power in the push for bills that would improve the lives of low income Mainers. 

Up next: Together We Rise Summer 2023! Join us as we get out into the community to talk to Mainers about the issues they’re facing when it comes to securing affordable housing, meeting their food and health care needs, and securing the income needed to support a family. We’ll be attending community events around the state and reaching out to partners in parts of Maine we don’t always get to connect with face to face. Stay tuned for Maine Equal Justice in your neck of the (Maine) woods!