Five Maine service programs have been accepted into the Maine Climate Corps Network. The kick-off meeting, Sept. 14, hosted Downeast Community Partners Climate Corps, Friends of Cobbossee Watershed Youth Conservation Corps, Island Institute Fellows Program, Maine Conservation Corps, and WindowDressers Community Build Program. These five Maine programs are taking action on climate change, engaging the local community, and providing benefits and training to the members who serve.

The Maine Climate Corps Network (MCCN) is structured as a set of programs because climate action covers such a wide-range of activities. MCCN is an opportunity for programs to access technical assistance, training, and peer support, as well as coordinate to demonstrate the scale of service and volunteerism in meeting Maine’s ambitious climate goals.

The first public event of the Maine Climate Corps will be held October 6 at Unity Environmental University in New Gloucester. Community organizations and leaders, service-learning practitioners, volunteers, and anyone interested in getting more involved with the Maine Climate Corps, are invited to lunch and a seminar. Dr. Marianne Krasny, Director of the Civic Ecology Lab at Cornell University is the featured speaker. Dr. Krasny studies the individual, community, and environmental outcomes of community-based environmental stewardship.

Visit the Maine Climate Corps Network section on the Volunteer Maine website and learn more about how your organization can join. Applications are being accepted on a rolling basis through October.

Click here to register for the October 6 lunch and seminar at Unity Environmental University in New Gloucester.

About Volunteer Maine

Volunteer Maine, the state service commission, builds capacity and sustainability in Maine's volunteer sector by funding service programs, developing volunteer managers and service-learning practitioners, raising awareness of the scope and the impact of the volunteer sector, and encouraging an ethic of service. On Oct. 16, 2019, the Maine Commission for Community Service adopted the public identity Volunteer Maine.

About the Maine Climate Corps

The Maine Climate Corps Network is a strategy to help meet the ambitious goals in Maine Won't Wait. It is structured as a set of programs because climate actions cover such a wide-ranging set of activities. In Maine communities, climate action has been championed by countless volunteers and service programs.

All programs in the Maine Climate Corps Network take action to meet the goals of Maine Won’t Wait, provide benefits, including training, to the members who serve, and the members make a commitment above and beyond the commitment of less-intensive community volunteers.