Public Policy Task Force Minutes

July 22, 2026

Present: Ruben Torres, Pamela Proulx-Curry, Jennifer Burke and Mary Krebs

Staff: Brittany Gleixner-Hayat

Convened at 12:00 p.m.

Updates from the Chair: Ruben and Britt met to discuss upcoming Maine Service Fellows mid-year public presentations on service and conducting outreach to Van Buren state representatives Rep. Roger Albert and Sen. Susan Bernard, as well as representatives from six other Maine Service Fellow sites.

Discussed upcoming Commission Retreat in September, Task Force discussed the role of Maine Service Fellows in Volunteer Maine and crafting messaging/ elevator pitch for Legislators around their impact across the state. Identified that Maine Service Fellows are placed in under resourced and rural communities and add capacity.

Assigned staff to create/ update a legislative engagement tracking document organized by Senators and Representatives, as well as created an updated version of Commissioner spreadsheet to remove inactive commissioners and identify which Commissioners live in what district for best direct Legislative engagement.

Identified action items for upcoming Public Policy Task Force meetings including creating a template for legislative outreach, developing an elevator pitch on public policy priorities, ID Legislators for engagement based on spreadsheet, and preparing public policy priorities to present at Commission Retreat in September.

Meeting adjourned at 12:30 p.m.

Minutes prepared by Liz Theriault