For over 25 years, I've been working in spaces defined by co- words: cooperative, collaborative, collective, community, connection.

There are not just concepts—but practices and ways of being. 

A way of building the world we want to live in. A world where people matter. Where people belong.

My community organizing work started just up the street—at People's Free Space on Cumberland Ave, where we created a space that was welcoming to anyone—offering community learning and creative programs, free food, clothes, and books, and organizing for social justice 

We also organized the Portland Victory Gardens Project, which focused on supporting political prisoners and growing food. We put together an art show featuring works of a political prisoner called Can't Jail the Spirit.

It was at that time that I first met Margot Fine. She invited me to offer a puppetry workshop at the Preble Street Teen Center. We became friends and neighbors on Munjoy Hill. I was excited when she shared with me that she had co-founded Maine Inside Out with Chiara Liberatore and Tessy Seward. I watched the organization grow—going to performances, following the work, holding a deep respect for what they were building.

Years later, I was honored that we were able to host MIO's open mics at Local Sprouts Cooperative, a cafe that I co-founded. I saw their connection to community, the ways that they held space that connected people through collective creativity and created belonging.  

About five years ago, when there was an open call to join the MIO Board, I was excited to have an opportunity to support their work. They were creating a new community space in Lewiston and deepening their work in schools. But I had to sit with it. I was already on other boards. Time and energy are real. But what Maine Inside Out does— what it is and the impact it has on people’s lives—decided for me.

What moves me most is that this work doesn't happen in isolation. Maine Inside Out goes where the need is. We partner with grassroots organizations in Lewiston and Portland to hold events and workshops. As you see in MIO’s latest film, we have brought Broken Clock into communities across the state and inside correctional facilities, engaging people in challenging and vulnerable dialogues. We have worked with schools, engaging youth in sharing their experiences and their emotions.  And we bring the work inside—into Maine's correctional facilities—partnering with the Department of Corrections to bring this work to people who are too often forgotten by everyone else.

That's what genuine collaboration looks like. Showing up as partners, moving with trust. Building something together that none of us could build alone. In the times we are living, this collaboration and movement-building is more important than ever. 

Maine Inside Out creates spaces for people regardless of their life circumstances, regardless of what they've done or what's been done to them—spaces where they can be vulnerable, where they can bring their whole selves: their pain, their love, their anger, their hope. And instead of those things being judged or dismissed, they are celebrated. People walk into these spaces and feel, maybe for the first time, that they belong. That they are heard. That they matter. Their humanity is recognized. 

That is not a small thing. Especially now. Especially here in Maine. 

Being co-chair of Maine Inside Out has been incredibly meaningful. And I'm so grateful you're here to witness what this community has built—and to be a part of what it's still becoming.