Talk of the Towns 12/12/14

Host: Ron Beard, University of Maine Cooperative Extension
Studio Engineer: Amy Browne

Issue: Community concerns and opportunities

Program Topic: Looking Back, Looking Ahead—the work of Maine Community Foundation

Key Discussion Points:
1. What is a community foundation, what is the brief history of community foundations and of Maine Community Foundation (MCF) in particular?
2. What is the array of services that MCF provides to non-profits and community groups, and to donors?
3. What led you to your work with MCF… you were with Maine Development Foundation… what of that work with MDF helped you as you took on your work at MCF
4. How is MCF organized and staffed?
5. Role of “county funds” and advisors (examples from Hancock, Waldo, Washington Counties)
6. How does Maine stack up in terms of chartable giving? (is there a difference between charitable giving and philanthropy?)
7. What are some of the changes you have led or encouraged at MCF, and how do these relate to the wider world of philanthropy? What is the balance between MCF responding to community needs and a kind of leadership- fostering longer-term strategies, including collaboration? Where and with whom is MCF collaborating these days?
8. What are some of the trends that you see in how community groups and non-profits see themselves, and how others see them… is there more of a sense of these groups serving as safety-nets as local, state and federal government contracts? What does this mean for some of the aspirations of groups in the arts, education, conservation to lift our spirits and intellect?
9. What are some of the trends that you see in the donor community? We see forecasts of a major transfer of wealth ahead… how philanthropy play out in that trend?
10. Practical details—how do both donors and community groups find out more about potential partnerships with MCF?
11. You have a year left at the helm… what will you be working on?

Guests:

Meredith Jones, President, Maine Community Foundation

Karen Stanley, Board Member, Maine Community Foundation

Jo Cooper, Executive Director, Friends in Action, Ellsworth

Todd West, Principal, Deer Isle-Stonington High School

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RadioActive 12/11/14

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Issue: Environmental and Social Justice

Program Topic: Institutional racism : the historical and present day context to the recent police killings of unarmed African-Americans Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice and Akai Gurley.

Key Discussion Points:

a) Today we look at institutional racism : the historical and present day context to the recent police killings of unarmed African-Americans Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice and Akai Gurley.

b) Professor Samuel Roberts discusses “the war on drugs”, mass incarceration, the para-militarization of police forces, police harassment, the trend to arrest people of color for economic infractions, like unpaid parking tickets, and the social movement response.

c) The director of the Maine ACLU looks at the racial breakdown of arrests made in Maine. According to a recent USA Today report, African-Americans in Auburn are 4 times more likely to be arrested then the white population. In South Portland, the rate is 3.5 times higher. Bangor is 3.2, Lewiston 2.8 and Portland is 2.6 times higher.

Guests:
Samuel K Roberts, Director of the the Columbia University Institute for Research in African-American Studies (IRAAS), Associate Professor of History(Columbia University School of Arts and Sciences), Associate Professor of Sociomedical Science (Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health) and Associate Professor of African-American Studies. samuelkroberts.com/

Alison Beyea, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine www.aclumaine.org/

Related story: www.pressherald.com/2014/12/10/students-try-to-raise-their-voices-but-protest-interrupted/

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