Programs
Community organizing and training
We believe that Mainers who are directly-impacted by inequality, discrimination and poverty are best suited to lead campaigns for social change. MPRC community organizers work to equip everyday people with the skills and experience to become powerful advocates for themselves and their communities, and our training programs empower hundreds of Mainers every year with the skills to effectively advance policy change. We are organizing Mainers in all of Maine’s 16 counties, developing leaders in dozens of low-income and rural towns. MPRC community organizers are also focused on organizing in immigrant communities and MPRC provides staff support to constituency projects including Maine Student Action, Maine Small Business Coalition, and Multifaith Justice Maine.
Policy development
MPRC policy staff work with Mainers impacted by social issues to develop public policies that advance social, economic, environmental and racial justice. We have involved thousands of Mainers in advancing public policy in the arenas of caregiving, childcare, climate change, corporate accountability, consumer protections, public education, democratic reforms, voting rights, drug policy and justice system reform, environmental protection, fair taxes, health care, housing, immigrant rights, racial justice, tribal sovereignty, workers' rights, LGBTQIA+ equality, and more.
Narrative Change
Through our organizing programs, which include personal face-to-face contact with 100,000+ Mainers each year, and digital and social media programs that engage 50,000-80,000 Mainers every month, we are working to create an echo chamber for progressive values that facilitates broad public support for our policy agenda. We conduct regular in-house public opinion research that grounds our work in an informed understanding of public worldview on social issues and proposed solutions. By contributing regular content to online news sources like Maine Beacon, MPRC communications staff are leading efforts to combat online misinformation and rebuild public trust in local journalism.