This summer marked our fourth year working with Lewiston-based nonprofit Maine Community Integration (MCI). With each passing year, the relationship between Maine Audubon and MCI deepens, and creates greater trust and understanding for the work and experiences that are possible. The mission of MCI is “creating opportunities for New Mainer girls and their families to have meaningful engagement in the Lewiston-Auburn communities while respecting and uplifting their diverse cultures, identities, and traditions.”
Together, Maine Audubon and MCI ran a four-week program this summer for teenage girls called Sprout Lewiston, which is centered on environmental stewardship and education, outdoor exploration, and personal growth and development. Nineteen girls participated this year. While some of the girls were born in the United States, many were born in other countries. One participant, Hasna, had only just immigrated from Afghanistan in the last five months.
For the stewardship component of the program, the group visited the Lewiston Auburn Community Tree Nursery, which is overseen by both cities’ Public Works departments. Over the course of four Wednesdays, the group planted 45 new saplings, mulched and watered trees, and removed invasive species. During this time, older baby trees were actively being removed from the nursery by Public Works staff and transplanted along streets in Lewiston, providing shade to neighborhoods and habitat for wildlife in which the youth live. (Read more about the community nursery project here.)
Collaboration is the magic of Sprout Lewiston—the coming together of nonprofits, city government, and community partners to engage in civic and environmental action and learning. “We practice regenerative ecology through a unique two-generation, co-leadership model, bringing youth and adults together to care for the land and strengthen community connections,” shared MCI staff. In their words, “this isn’t just environmental work, it’s relationship-building, leadership development, and real investment in the health of our shared future.”
Some favorite activities amongst participants included birding at Thorncrag with Maine Audubon Field Naturalist Stacia Brezinski, learning about Wabanaki culture and making tea with Mihku Paul, Wabanaki Cultural Sharer (photo below), and looking for baby Piping Plovers at Popham Beach with members of the Maine Audubon Coastal Birds crew.
We explored green spaces in greater Lewiston, and also traveled farther afield to Grafton Notch State Park in Newry, Mackworth Island in Falmouth, and Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island (top photo). The hot July days lent plenty of opportunities to splash in lakes, rivers, and the ocean. To enhance safety and further empower the girls, this year we partnered with Maine Community Swimming, offering swim lessons every Friday morning. In a state gifted with an abundance of water, teaching youth to swim is a necessary component of expanding access to outdoor exploration.
We are grateful to MCI for continued friendship and commitment to ecological restoration and youth development and care, and look forward to many more future shared experiences in nature. An enormous thank you to Ashley Medina, Shadia Abdulahi, Fowsia Musse and Abdi Abdalla for making all of this possible!
We are also grateful to those who gave their time and contributed to our shared learning and growth:
• Sulwan Ahmed, Community Initiatives Changemakers Resident at MEEA and TNC
• Lily Gallagher, Shore Corps Steward at the Lake Auburn Shore Corps
• Phoebe Hopkins, Outreach Coordinator at Lake Auburn Watershed Protection Commission
• Emma Larusso, Project Director at Androscoggin Valley Soil and Water Conservation District
• Naomi Lopez, Student at Bowdoin College
• Steve Murch, City Arborist in Lewiston
• Mihku Paul, Wabanaki Cultural Sharer
• Noel Skelton, City Arborist in Auburn
• Brooke Teller and volunteers, Maine Community Swimming
Thanks also to Maine Audubon staff including Stacia Brezinski, Field Naturalist; Katie Burns, Outreach Coordinator for the Coastal Birds program; Natalia Jacobs, intern; Melissa Kim, Director of Marketing and Communications; Nick Lund, Advocacy and Outreach Manager; Jeff Tarling, Urban Forestry Education Specialist; Eric Topper, Director of Eduction; Andrew Tufts, Manager of Bringing Nature Home; Natalie Waloven, intern.
