Erik Jorgensen, a member of Portland Rotary, also sits in the Maine Legislature representing Maine House District 41, which includes Deering Center and some of the Portland neighborhoods near USM. Elected to the Legislature in 2012, he has served on the Joint Committee on Appropriations and Financial Affairs, the legislative body responsible for developing and overseeing the state budget. He has been particularly focused on working to make sure that urban issues, especially Portland’s unique needs, are not forgotten in Augusta.

Erik’s professional career includes more than 25 years working in Maine educational and cultural organizations. He served as director of the Pejepscot Historical Society in Brunswick for ten years, and from 1999-2012 worked for the Maine Humanities Council where he served as the Executive Director for five and a half of those. When the Legislature is not in session, he works on various consulting assignments.

Erik earned his bachelor’s degree from Bowdoin College, and an MPA from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he received the Henry Brooks Public Service Fellowship.

He has served on a number of boards and community groups, at the local, state-wide and national levels, including over 20 years as an active member of Rotary. He has served on the board of directors of the Maine Center for Economic Policy; the board of Good Will-Hinckley, and two charitable foundations. A former chair of the MPBN Community Advisory Board, his activities outside of Maine has included the board of the Project on Civic Reflection, a Chicago-based program that uses literature and history to help provide insight into civic and community issues; and, the Board of Directors of the Federation of State Humanities Councils.

Erik has lived in Greater Portland since the 1980’s, and been a Deering neighborhood resident since 2000, along with his wife, Tamara Risser, and their son, Will, a student in the Portland Public schools.
 

Our guest speaker this week, Philip Walsh, Executive Director of Maine Initiatives, helped us better understand how the current social media dynamic is being embraced and assisting the newer philanthropy to make fundamental decisions.

Mr. Walsh reaffirmed that we are in an ever-changing world and Maine, and greater Portland, in particular, is in a vibrant period of transition and adjustment is essential. It is surprising to few that grant giving, in order to be effective and of greatest impact, has to adjust. The old model of the formulaic filing of a request for grant funds is going the way of the typewriter and carbon paper. Maine Initiatives has naturally evolved and is in sync with the social dynamics we now experience. The fundamental function of every philanthropy is to make positive change by offering support for organizations that fit the givers mission statement. Maine Initiatives concentrates their support on those organizations involved in fostering “racial justice and racial equity” in Maine. Since Maine is a relatively monochrome society, the challenge is to find the best cohorts to further the mission of justice and inclusion.

Phil was impressed with the number of Portland Rotarians who have experience with the grant giving process. Most of us are familiar with the objective of grant giving, but not aware of the vetting and decision-making process. Currently, Maine Initiatives is awarding 10 grants of $25,000 every year. There are many well-intended, hard-working initiatives in Maine with a mission to assist an under-privileged, little-recognized segments of our society. In order to assure that the grant investments of Maine Initiatives provides the expected yield, they have developed a process of collaborative selection to provide “transformative community philanthropy”.  

Phil has been involved with causes focused on societal justice throughout the Americas, and while working with the poor in Central and Southern America, he realized that poverty creates a distinct societal cohort that tends to be self perpetuating. While working in Nicaragua, Phil came to meet the “Watermelon Man,” a subsistence farmer who told him “we are the poor” and helped him to come to a better understanding of the insulating impact it imposes. The poor see themselves as outcasts and merely tolerated as part of the whole. This helped Phil to decide that if one wants to create long-lived, meaningful change, they have to include the intended beneficiaries, i.e. the poor or racially ostracized, in order to succeed. At Maine Initiatives it is realized that the giving of money is only part of the answer. The money, in and of itself, is not the answer….it is how it is going to be used and what the people are going to do with the support. The outreach of Maine Initiatives has made a difference with the grants and by becoming a new model for philanthropic giving.

Maine Initiatives has helped us concentrate on segments of our community that are too often invisible or ignored by the majority. As an overwhelmingly white state, it is easy for minorities to be overlooked. When the economy goes bad, it creates market gaps that can foster racial injustice that need to be tended to and not allowed to degenerate. By understanding that racial justice is a multidimensional process, the community can create a matrix fostering recognition and response. We know we can’t ignore the problem and hope that it will get better. Maine Initiatives is helping us come to terms with injustice by being aspirational in our search for equity and to assure that race and poverty does not become a predictive life outcome.

(Photo L-R: Steve Mortimer, Philip Walsh and President Don Zillman.)
 

President Don Zillman welcomed 50 members, 1 visiting Rotarian and 1 guest to the meeting. Past President Alan Nye gave an invocation encouraging everyone to make their day memorable. We pledged our allegiance to the flag and sang a patriot song acapella. 

President Don thanked all those responsible for helping out during the meeting. He then noted that in addition to the $500.00 the club donated to the Houston Hurricane Harvey Relief effort, the club would donate an additional $500.00 for the Florida Hurricane Irma Relief. 

Paul Tully reminded everyone that the annual Veterans' Appreciation Lunch is exactly 8 weeks away on November 10th at the Italian Heritage Center at noon. Although a full 53 members volunteered last year for the lunch, the need is great and he’s hoping for 60 volunteers this year. This is a wonderful tribute to all our Veterans and everyone is encouraged to volunteer or at least participate in the lunch to honor those who have given so much. 

Matt Tassey conducted the weekly raffle draw, with a sizable pot of $825.00, and Past President Loretta Rowe was the winner of the card draw – but alas, she came up with King of Diamonds. Good try, Loretta.

NOTE! Next Friday’s meeting will be at Bayside Bowl, 58 Alder Street, Portland. Mark your calendars and be prepared to have a rollicking good time.
 

                          When
Project              Who to Contact

Preble Street        4th Wednesday ea month
Resource Ctr        4-6:30 pm
Soup Kitchen        Gracie Johnston
                           gracie.johnston@wcsh6.com

Game Night         3rd Tuesday ea month
Long Creek          Mike Fortunato
Youth Center        michael.k.fortunato@gmail.com
                           or Jim Willey
                           jimandbarbarawilley@gmail.com