MAINE Community Integration-MCI

05/29/2026

🌷May Impact Snapshot: Advancing Health, Learning, and Community Well-Being Through Partnership

As we close out May, we are reflecting on a month marked by partnership, learning, and community impact.

This month, Maine Community Integration (MCI):

• Presented at a national conference in New Mexico, sharing community-led approaches that advance health equity, belonging, and systems-level change.

• Presented at the Maine Environmental Education Conference, highlighting youth-centered environmental stewardship, outdoor learning, and pathways to long-term community resilience.

• Partnered with Androscoggin Land Trust, Maine Audubon, and Park Ranger Elizabeth Collado to provide youth with immersive outdoor learning experiences that foster environmental awareness, leadership, and connection to place.

• Collaborated with Bates College to conduct six community focus groups, strengthening community voice and helping inform future programs and priorities.

• Partnered with Leah Elsmore and students in the Bates College Practicum in Public Health course to develop culturally responsive educational materials addressing hypertension and obesity prevention.

• Worked with Kayla K. Thomas and sociology students to support organizational assessment, learning, and impact measurement efforts.

• Hosted a Parent Leadership Self-Defense Workshop in partnership with Prevention. Action. Change.

• Facilitated a Men's Hypertension Workshop focused on prevention, health literacy, and early intervention.

• Participated in two community tabling events, expanding outreach and strengthening connections with community members and partner organizations.

• Distributed more than 400 educational materials focused on health promotion, prevention, and community resource awareness.

We are especially grateful to Morgan Kinney and the Harward Center for Community Partnerships at Bates College for helping strengthen meaningful partnerships between higher education and community organizations.

Collectively, these efforts reflect our commitment to advancing health, educational opportunity, environmental stewardship, and community well-being through trusted partnerships, community-informed solutions, and prevention-focused strategies.

Thank you to our staff, volunteers, partners, funders, and community members whose support makes this work possible.

Maine Audubon Androscoggin Land Trust Bates College

05/26/2026

Our office will be closed tomorrow in observance of Eid al-Adha.

05/19/2026

👏🏽🌿Ashley Medina, our Programs Director, is incredibly passionate about outdoor learning, nature, and youth connection. We were proud to have her present at the 2026 Maine Environmental Education Association (MEEA) Annual Conference.

Ashley presented From Stranger to Steward: Cultivating Belonging Through Place-Based Outdoor Learning, a workshop exploring how nature and environmental education can foster belonging, identity, and stewardship for immigrant and underserved youth.

We are grateful to MEEA and everyone who joined this meaningful conversation on inclusive outdoor learning and youth empowerment. Maine Environmental Education Association Maine Audubon Androscoggin Land Trust

05/11/2026

We are incredibly proud to celebrate Najmo Ahmed, an alumna of our Isku-Filan Girls Program, for being selected as the student commencement speaker for the Class of 2026 at the University of Southern Maine.

A proud Lewiston native, Najmo is graduating with a degree in Social and Behavioral Sciences while interning with the Maine Department of Health and Human Services and pursuing her Master’s in Public Health.

Watching her grow into such a thoughtful, accomplished, and community-driven leader has been truly inspiring. Moments like this remind us why investing in girls and youth leadership matters so deeply.

Meet Najmo Ahmed: USM's student commencement speaker for the Class of 2026. 🎓

She's a Lewiston native finishing her bachelor’s degree in social and behavioral sciences while also interning at the Maine Department of Health and Human Services and working towards a master’s in public health....and her mom still doesn't know she's speaking at commencement!🤫

Get to know her before she takes the stage 👉 https://usm.maine.edu/blog-pack-chat/class-of-26-meet-najmo-ahmed-usms-student-commencement-speaker/

05/05/2026

Since 2021, we have been showing up every Friday with our community, creating space for connection, movement, and learning. Over the past six months, mothers have been consistently engaging in Afro Yoga, and recently they began asking a simple but powerful question: what comes next?

Last Friday, we answered that together by expanding the session into a two-hour empowerment self-defense workshop for mothers. It created a safe and accessible way to move, release stress, and build confidence. You could feel the shift in the room as women became more present, more grounded, and more connected to their own strength.

This is part of how we work as a community. Our first Fridays center mothers and movement, second Fridays focus on NutritionRx for the whole community, and third Fridays create space for fathers. Each piece builds on the other, strengthening not just individuals, but whole families.

Our parents are not participants; they help shape this work with us. When mothers are supported, families shift, and when families shift, communities grow stronger.

What would you want to see next in a space like this? 💚💜

Maine Afro Yoga Prevention Action Change

05/01/2026

May is National Mental Health Awareness Month. This year, the theme is “More Good Days, Together.”💚💜💚

Throughout this month, we will be centering this call, not as a slogan, but as a responsibility, to reflect on what a “good day” truly means and how it is shaped by the conditions around us.

A good day is not accidental. It is built through connection, trust, and access to care that meets people where they are, long before crisis ever begins.

As we also recognize Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week, we ground this work in a deeper truth: maternal well-being is foundational to community well-being. For many mothers, especially those navigating language barriers, isolation, and unfamiliar systems, support is often delayed. These gaps are not just clinical; they are systemic.

Mental health, maternal health, and community health are deeply interconnected. When we support mothers, we strengthen families, and in turn, our communities.

This month, we commit to listening earlier, responding sooner, and creating the conditions for more good days, for all. Together. 💚

04/28/2026

We are honored to join Diversity Day at Dirigo High School in Dixfield, Maine. We look forward to sharing culture, fostering connection, and celebrating community through food, stories, and meaningful learning. Dirigo High School

04/27/2026

04/20/2026

On Thursday, students presented their community-based research, demonstrating rigorous inquiry and meaningful engagement, while parents showcased their final pottery pieces, reflecting creativity, cultural expression, and shared learning. We extend our deep gratitude to Dr. Yun for her partnership and facilitation, and to the students for their dedication to authentic, reciprocal community research. We are equally grateful to the parents for their willingness to learn and engage. This work continues, with Cohort 2 of Clay Expression beginning this fall.🌷Yun Garrison Bates College Gather to Grow