“How do we care for the people who care for the people?”

Heather Augustine asked this brilliant question early in my work at Maine Initiatives and I think about it often. Who are the people who care for the people? How do we care for them?

It’s one of the simplest ways to understand our collective work together at Maine Initiatives. We, with your support, help establish and resource networks who care for the people…who care for our people. The people are those leading collective efforts to support our communities.

Care. What do we mean by care? Where do we see it? What does it look like? 

People and relationships are at the heart of our work. For me, there are five people who have been so important to the Grants for Change Program and who were part of an ongoing steering committee: Leslie Hill, Lauress Lawrence, Carla Hunt, Samaa Abdurraqib, and Andrea Francis. I’ve witnessed and experienced their care for each other, for the work of Maine Initiatives, and for the people we support through our efforts.

Their care looks like checking-in on one another; showing up when things are difficult; celebrating together (with song or dance, of course); shaping, attending and participating in our grantmaking processes. These are people who come together around shared values and people who show-up for each other in the day to day.

If you are reading this, chances are that you’ve contributed to these networks and systems of care supported through this work. 

A clear example of this: Grants for Change is funded by the community. Have you donated? Since 2016 the program has raised and made over $3.5 million in grants supported by you. Care from individuals, acting on their values, resourcing this work.

I’ve seen the care in responses to our question: why is racial justice important to you? In the whitest state, I’ve read hundreds of clear and committed responses to why racial justice matters. I’ve heard it from volunteer Readers in Blue Hill and Kennebunk.

Our volunteer Readers spend hours evaluating applications. This is care and attention. Have you been a Grants for Change Reader? Or are you connected to someone who has read and learned about racial justice work in Maine through this process? Our Readers have learned so much about why people who care deeply and are impacted by an issue start working on that issue and why it must be prioritized. 

Our Grantmaking Advisory Committees spend days together in person: 40 – 50 people move through a multi-day process where we coalesce around a slate of organizations. We’ve selected 36 grantees through this extensive process. Have you been there? Did you make connections during the retreat? This collective action and collective decision-making underscores our commitment to care.

We at Maine Initiatives are in the middle of a long term-commitment to support the ecosystem of racial justice organizing and activism here in unceded Wabanaki territory. We have completed our first step to support a collective process of identifying the work that’s happening, needs to happen, and who is doing this work.

Right now, ongoing care looks like supporting this work. We will be reaching out to those who have supported this work with care in so many ways over so many years. We’ll be checking in on one another with care and purpose, because that is how we move. Thank you for being in community with us, and for taking more steps together. Let us know you are with us.

With care and in solidarity,
Julian Rowand, Senior Director

Photo credit: The 2024 Grants for Change Grantmaking Retreat