What is your position at MYAN / What do you do?

I direct the Gateway to Opportunity Youth Employment program and oversee the Youth Leadership Conference and the Youth Leadership Team. In addition, I support existing and emerging partnerships with organizations and youth programs for the MYAN network. I have worked at MYAN for over six years as a youth program coordinator, youth facilitator, trainer, and I am a founding partner of the young people’s caucus.

How are you impacting Maine communities through your work?

A major part of my role at MYAN is working on its workforce program Gateway to Opportunity (G2O). I have been part of G2O’s development and expansion for the past three years, which has grown from being implemented in 1 to 4 counties. I am hopeful its impact will continue long after me!

We know there is endless talent, potential, and innovation in young people across this state. But, we also must recognize that access to opportunities, such as meaningful and well-paid employment, is layered with inequities. I am confident and optimistic that we will continue to see more and more youth workforce programs thrive in Maine, and I’m thrilled to see the positive effects this will have on Maine communities.

The investment we are seeing in our future workforce will not only shape our present-day, but it will also create a better tomorrow.

What is your position at MYAN / What do you do?

Special Facilitator of fun! I tell my family that I support a team of smart folks who love young people and care about communities. My job is to help make their work possible.

How do you hope to impact Maine communities through your work?

MYAN’s work is to support youth-adult partnerships through educational opportunities, leadership development, and collaborative community programs to engage and impact their communities positively. We hope to be good allies, fiscal sponsors, co-collaborators, and facilitators through those processes.

What is leadership to you?

I was taught that leadership is walking the walk – living our values into action while being accountable to the people we are in a relationship with (including ourselves). Like many things, the key is doing it with consistency and grace. Practice makes permanence.

How are you impacting Maine communities through your work?

I strive to be an ambassador and representative for Maine communities in the Public Health realm. Many decisions are made for rural Maine communities without local input and stakeholders present. My work is to ensure I listen to these folks and amplify their needs in spaces where decisions are made.

What is leadership to you?

Leadership manifest in a myriad of ways. For me, leadership is about modeling your own truth. It’s pursuing the vision of a future you believe in and inviting others to do the same. A quote stands out to me: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.” the quote goes on to say “As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” Leaders work to address their own fears while working to highlight the contributions of others.

How do you hope to positively impact Maine communities?

I hope to be a model for breaking stereotypes for young people across the state. I hope to invite young people to question their societies in hopes of changing harmful systems. I hope to make a difference for one young person. I hope to leave the world better than I found it.

What is your position at MYAN / What do you do?

Youth Workforce Development Coordinator- I help plan and implement MYAN’s youth programs like the youth health council, G2O, and the Youth Leadership Conference Leadership Team! In my role, I get to support young leaders while they craft and carry out their vision for the change they want to see in their communities!

What led you to work with this non-profit / why do you work with MYAN?

I’ve always loved the passion and creativity that young people bring to any problem they face, and I believe young people’s voices have to be at the center of our approach to problem-solving. I love the way MYAN centers young voices at every step of the programs we run, and I am so inspired by the network of adults we work with across Maine who are doing the same!

How do you hope to positively impact Maine communities?

I hope to provide Maine’s young people with the tools necessary to name and identify the challenges they see in their communities and the confidence to design and implement solutions to address them. Each community in Maine is unique, and at the heart of each community in Maine, you will find inspiring young leaders. My goal through my work with MYAN is to connect these young people to the resources and supports they need to help their communities thrive.

What is your position at MYAN / What do you do?

I am the Research Coordinator! I help create resources and hold trainings that can support young people and adults to connect, share power, and hold meaningful conversations.

What led you to working with this non-profit / why do you work with MYAN?

I am passionate about the power and potential of dialogue for social change, and I really enjoy designing dialogue and decision-making processes. MYAN’s approach to creating opportunities for conversation, advocacy, opportunity, and power-shifting through prioritizing and valuing young people brought me to this work. It is a team of passionate, thoughtful, engaging people, and I am excited to be a part of it!

How are you impacting Maine communities through your work?

I hope to enter communities with curiosity and appreciation as a calm, non-judgmental presence that can support the creation of conditions that allow for self-empowerment within communities.

What is your position at MYAN / What do you do?

I am the Social and Multimedia Coordinator! I keep our website and social media updated on our projects, activities, and events!

How are you impacting Maine communities through your work?

I believe my work impacts young Mainers by providing them with accessible information about programs and activities that would educate them, provide them with opportunities, and connect them more to their communities.

Are there specific issues that you’re passionate about?

I care deeply about community wellness, education, and success. I believe that people can succeed and create healthy and well-rounded lives for themselves if they are simply given the tools to do so. Therefore, I want to help provide others with resources, safe spaces, and tools to help them grow, express themselves, and harness and direct their potential.

What is your position at MYAN / What do you do?

Administrative Coordinator. I support team members at MYAN with organization, planning, and providing an extra set of hands to create meaningful, impactful programming for young people.

What is leadership to you?

Leadership is showing up, rolling up your sleeves, and meeting the people around you where they are.

How do you hope to positively impact Maine communities?

I hope to show young people that there is something beyond the small world of their daily lives, that there are reasons to persevere through the difficulties of growing up, and that there’s more on the other side of whatever mountain they are climbing right now.

What inspires you / where do you find value?

The people I surround myself with inspire me, as well as the arts community. I think there’s value all around us, in each other, in what people are creating and putting out into the world. Art is an essential thread in the fabric of our communities, and I find that being either a creator and/or a patron of the arts is a deeply intimate and meaningful part of building community.

What is your position at MYAN / What do you do?

I work to support the G2O Host Sites as they seek to create meaningful, fun, and impactful employment opportunities for incredible youth from the around state who are interested in making an impact in their communities.

How are you impacting Maine communities through your work?

There are so many incredible young people in Maine who want to find reasons to stay here and invest in their future here, and I believe there are opportunities out there for them to do that. My hope is that G2O expands that sense of possibility for them, both in terms of what meaningful employment in their communities can look like and in terms of what vibrant, dynamic support and connection means. To find a sense of belonging and a sense of purpose with other youth and caring, invested adults from their community and county makes such a difference in a young person’s life.

What is leadership to you?

Leadership is stepping into my full power and inviting others to do the same. It’s about creating connections between people and helping to remove some of the barriers that can make that so difficult. Leadership is not about having all of the answers but rather about helping a group find them together. It’s about respect, compassion, humility, and honesty. Leadership, particularly during these times, is also about bringing joy while acknowledging and honoring pain and suffering; it’s taking the time to reflect while also having the courage to act; it’s the reminder to move slow enough so that we move together at the pace of trust while meeting the very real urgency of now.

What is your position at MYAN / What do you do?

I’m the Training & Technical Assistance Coordinator.  I work with the MYAN team to provide training, resources, and connections for adults and organizations throughout Maine to help them share, connect, and work with young people in equitable and accessible ways. I aim to always pay attention to the needs and passions of the youth in our communities and serve as a bridge to help them access adults and organizations who can share their power to create meaningful change.

What is leadership to you?

Leadership is providing the space, resources, and opportunities for people to pursue their passions and be successful.

Are there specific issues that you’re passionate about?

I come to this work after nine years working in public libraries and bring with me a passion for the importance of access to books, literacy, and unbiased information in our communities. I believe intellectual freedom is a right that people of all ages possess, and that libraries are one of the last public spaces where young people can gather to explore ideas, free from the expectations and restrictions of adults in their lives. I feel especially strongly about the importance of access to these spaces for communities of young people who are traditionally marginalized in our society: queer & trans youth, black & indigenous youth, immigrant and refugee youth, young people living in poverty, and youth experiencing homelessness.

What is your position at MYAN / What do you do?

Youth Mental Health Coordinator – I support programs and initiatives that build young people’s resilience and strengthen youth leadership on issues of public health, health equity, social justice, and restorative practices.

How do you hope to positively impact Maine communities?

My hope is that the people I work with feel heard and valued — and that I can tap into existing networks to ensure resilience and coordination across Maine! There’s so much incredible work being done across our state, and I’m really excited to learn from the people doing it and figure out how we can grow connections and dialogue to even better support one another!

Are there specific issues that you’re passionate about?

I’m passionate about climate justice as it connects with other issues of justice, equity, and power! I’m especially interested in the role that social movements play in building or challenging power to create positive change, strong communities, and a more just world, and the ways in which we can empower each other to be part of change, together. I believe that feeling empowered, being involved, and learning to exercise power are the best ways to feel hopeful and connected.