Research and Evaluation Task Force: September 2021

Present

Luke Shorty, Stacie Haines, Nate Hinchey, Susan Cheesman, Morgan Rielly, Maryalice Crofton, Kate Klibansky

Members gathered over Zoom at 1pm. After introductions and a brief summary of the agenda, the task force reviewed the goals of LD722 as the guide for the Task Force and for the development of a Maine Climate Corps.

H.P. 533 - L.D. 722

Resolve, To Study the Establishment of the Maine Climate Corp

 Sec. 1. Service projects; Maine Climate Corps. Resolved: That the Maine Commission for Community Service, established under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 5, section 7501, shall study and identify short-term projects and tasks in state agencies that could be made into service projects for residents of the State. The commission shall provide the basis for an establishment of the Maine Climate Corps as proposed in the Maine Climate Council's climate action plan, "Maine Won't Wait: A Four-year Plan for Climate Action." The study under this section must include consideration of how to best structure a Maine Climate Corps program to address shifting and expanding climate challenges that can be addressed by the Maine Climate Corps in the future and to allow for long-term service projects. The commission shall also study existing service programs to identify potential hosts for the Maine Climate Corps, along with identifying possible public and private partnerships. The commission shall submit a report based on its findings to the Joint Standing Committee on Environment and Natural Resources by January 31, 2022.

Specifically, the Maine Commission for Community Service is responsible for four core items within this resolve.

  1. To study and identify short-term projects and tasks in state agencies that could be made into service projects for residents of the State
  2. To consider how to best structure a Maine Climate Corps to address shifting and expanding climate challenges over time, and allow for long-term service projects
  3. To study existing service programs to identify potential hosts
  4. To identify possible public and private partnerships

At this point in the study, Kate Klibansky has met with over fifty people with an interest in Climate Corps with the purpose of tackling the first, third, and fourth core items listed above. These conversations have been with government agencies and partners, private companies, and nonprofit organizations. There are still a few additional meetings to be had, but they are set to conclude by the fourth of October, at which point the study will shift to focus on the organizational structure

The Task Force went over the potential projects for Climate Corps members under different areas of focus which includes but is not limited to:

  • Coastal Zone
    • Coordinating clean ups, education and outreach, invasive species monitoring, monitoring places changing due to sea level rise, monitoring biotoxins, marsh resiliency, grant writing, coastal restoration projects, floodplain community rating work, ocean acidification/warming monitoring, stream start, erosion control, shoreline stabilization, trend assessments, archiving information, community planning
  • Energy & Housing
    • Installing heat pumps, weatherization projects, home energy audits, public outreach campaigns, community surveys, “green teams” in schools, EV outreach, public transportation campaigns, developing an independent transportation network, local roads program
  • Resilience
    • Grant writing, assisting communities with resilience plans, community facilitation, public education, infrastructure assessments, flood resiliency checklists, community outreach
  • Land
    • Conservation projects, Beginning with Habitat, invasive species control and monitoring, citizen science, community outreach, community surveys, developing carbon sequestration practices with woodlot and farm owners, gleaning, regenerative agriculture, community food forests, habitat monitoring and restoration

The Task Force discussed a potential organizational structure, which includes having a Climate Corps Coordinator at Volunteer Maine that coordinates efforts between different “Sub Corps,” which are administered by organizations with expertise in the field they operate the Corps in. An issue with this model is that the Commission requires organizations or institutions to come forward to apply to the national competition to receive funding, but has not yet identified an organization to take on this role, specifically in the subject of Coastal Zone.

Representative Rielly noted the importance of having trainings or even a specific Corps dedicated to emergency management, as this will be increasingly important as time goes on with the increasing intensity and frequency of significant weather events. After this point, Representative Rielly exited the Zoom call.

Members were impressed at the number of potential program opportunities and began discussing how to cull the list down, keeping the most impactful ideas as priorities. Stacie Haines recommended using En-ROADS simulation model as a matter of cost-benefit analysis. The group agreed that an important piece in this work is to build measurement systems that track the impact that the Climate Corps has.

A possible insight to that would be to follow up with other Corps programs to see what their success measures have been, and where they have found the most impact in their projects.

The group concluded the meeting talking about next steps for Kate Klibansky’s research into the development of a Climate Corps. Stacie Haines will be contacted for further guidance on gathering carbon reduction data for proposed projects to narrow our scope and make the greatest impact. The Task Force will continue developing their own thoughts regarding the diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts; organization structure of a Climate Corps; and if any other interviews should be conducted.

The meeting concluded at 2:03pm.

NEXT MEETING: Friday, October 15, 1pm - Zoom