PHOTO / TIM GREENWAY
Michelle Draeger.
December 18, 2024
Justice foundation’s grants help legal assistance and food insecurity programs
In 2020, racial violence across the nation prompted individual, corporate and philanthropic leaders in Maine to raise $270,000 to establish a new program called the Racial Justice Fund, as part of the Maine Justice Foundation, designed to combat racial injustice and inequity throughout Maine.
Now in its fourth year, the fund has raised over $830,000, distributing $130,000 in grants to address systemic racism and inequities in Maine’s institutions and communities.
Over the past year, six organizations used grants from the fund to support initiatives designed to advance racial equity for Black, Indigenous and People of Color communities across Maine, according to a news release.
“Together, we are making a meaningful difference and supporting a culture of inclusion and equity for all,” said Michelle Draeger, the foundation’s executive director.
Fund set-up
Donors to the fund included AARP Maine, Androscoggin Bank, AT&T, Baker Newman Noyes, Bangor Savings Bank, Bernstein Shur, Central Maine Power, Cross Insurance, Birchbrook, Drummond Woodsum, Eaton Peabody, F.L. Putnam Investment Management Co., Gorham Savings Bank, HM Payson, Hancock Lumber, Hannaford Supermarkets, Harvard Pilgrim, Northern Light Health, Pierce Atwood, Preti Flaherty, RM Davis, Verrill and the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation.
The fund’s advisory committee issued a request for proposals, reviewed applications, conducted site visits and evaluated the final project reports.
The co-chairs are Evelyn Silver and Reginald Parson. Members of the advisory committee are Mary Herman, Francys Perkins, Shelly Okere, Bill Harwood and Janis Cohen.
The Maine Justice Foundation, founded in 1983 as the Maine Bar Foundation, is the state’s leading funder of civil legal aid and is committed to ensuring access to justice for all Mainers.
Empowering incarcerated artists
Maine Inside Out was awarded $10,000 to empower incarcerated artists through original theater performances.
Last spring, the organization conducted weekly theater workshops with artists incarcerated at Mountain View Correctional Facility, with collaborations through activities like personal story sharing and theater skill-building.
The group created an original play, “Life Lost in the Streets,” and prepared for performances scheduled for early June. Following an unanticipated cancellation of the live performance, the organization integrated audio recordings from the artists into a new theater piece, “Broken Clock,” developed by Maine Inside Out staff and Lewiston community members.
The play premiered at Lewiston's Juneteenth festival and is now on a fall tour, with approximately 300 audience members to date. The recordings will also be featured in a short film displaying Maine Inside Out’s work, set for release in late 2024.
Immigrant podcast
The Ladder to the Moon Network utilized a $10,000 grant to produce a podcast series aimed at increasing civic engagement and trust in the election process within immigrant communities.
Weekly podcasts in English, French and Kinyarwanda/Kirundi, dialects spoken in Central Africa, have garnered viewership of 300 to 500 per episode, with French and Kirundi/Kinyarwanda videos being particularly popular.
The organization also collaborated with the American Civil Liberties Union to produce eight videos in different languages after the 2023 election, educating immigrant communities about their rights regardless of immigration status.
The videos, alongside a feature video with U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine 1st District, have expanded Ladder to the Moon’s reach and impact.
Legal services
The Maine Commission on Public Defense Services hosted five attorney training sessions with its $10,000 grant, addressing racial bias and inequities in the courtroom. A sixth is planned for 2025.
The trainings, attended a total of over 400 attorneys, covered topics such as racial bias in the courtroom, culturally humble representation and strategies to interrupt bias in the criminal justice system. Recordings of the sessions were added to the commission’s training library, ensuring continued accessibility for Maine’s legal professionals. Feedback from participants highlighted increased knowledge and actionable tools for addressing racial injustice in their practices.
The Alpha Legal Foundation received $5,000 to launch its Maine Justice Corps initiative, focused on establishing a legal navigators program in courthouses to support underserved BIPOC communities in Androscoggin and Cumberland counties.
By training and placing AmeriCorps members as legal navigators, the project aimed to address barriers BIPOC communities face in accessing legal services. A milestone was securing AmeriCorps approval, achieved through the submission of a grant application, which paved the way for expanded access to legal resources.
The foundation documented training materials, established formal partnerships and adapted to challenges posed by off-cycle grant opportunities from Volunteer Maine. The groundwork has positioned the organization to launch the program in 2025.
Nutritious food
In Her Presence received $5,000 to provide culturally appropriate, nutritious food for residents at the Frances Warde House, a home in Portland for pregnant immigrant women who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
In Her Presence addressed food insecurity by engaging residents from six different countries in discussions about culturally appropriate and nutritious foods. The project included shopping tours at local ethnic food vendors, the creation of a Maine Immigrant Greens Collaborative Education Program and support for new residents without access to the federal program Temporary Assistance for Need Families or to food stamps.
The staff learned lessons about cultural attachments to food, food safety practices and appliance training, which informed an approach to improving maternal and child health among immigrant families.
Racial justice
Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project was granted $10,000 to support its 2024 Racial Justice Fellow, Ange Ishimwe — a senior at Bowdoin College majoring in Africana Studies, Digital and Computational Studies, and Government and Legal Studies.
Ishimwe brought a background in researching the U.S. immigration system's racist roots and interning with the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and the Maine Department of Education. As part of her fellowship, she will lead a “Community Conversations” project, conducting outreach to immigrant communities to gather insights on their immigration legal needs and other concerns. The findings will inform ILAP’s 2025 strategic plan and future programming.
She is currently designing the project, with outreach sessions set to begin in early 2025.
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