Apply to participate in Ecology Shifts

Who is EcologyShifts For?

EcologyShifts is designed for people in the environmental field in Maine who have a desire for and a commitment to equity individually, organizationally and at the systems-level. We define the environmental sector broadly to include, but not limited to, people working in food systems, climate action and justice, environmental protection, land access and protection, recreation, and environmental and nature-based education. EcologyShifts is focused on shifts in the field toward equity and justice, and as such, necessarily will include individual growth and organizational change.

To support organizational and field level change, 2-3 people per organization (staff or board) will participate in the cohort together. Participants should be willing and able to work toward real systems change within and beyond their own organizations. They should be ready to connect, to do the work, to ask hard questions and to explore possible pathways forward.  We encourage you to have a conversation at your organization about who will be applying and encourage a mix of people in more established leadership roles and people that are emerging leaders.  Individuals can apply as well, but we ask that you have some connection to an organization or movement.

The cohort will be intentionally diverse with attention paid to the make-up of the group in terms of identity, life experience, and power dynamics. The cohort will include participants from a wide diversity of racial, ethnic, gender, sexual orientation, geographic, socio-economic, and organizational roles.

EcologyShifts is designed with a commitment to accessibility and is rooted in values of relationality, equity and interconnection and efforts will be made to reduce barriers to participation.

Time Commitments and Details

• The cohort will meet for approximately 15 sessions over an 18-month time frame and will kick off with an in-person multi-day session.

• In-person sessions will also take place in the middle and at the end of the experience with monthly online sessions in between.

• We are planning to host our first in-person, two day session at the end of September or beginning of October 2022 (location in Maine TBD), another in-person session in the Spring of 2023 and our final one in the fall of 2023.  Monthly online sessions will be for approximately 2 hours and will be scheduled during the week.

• There may be some limited activities or work between sessions

• There is no cost to participate.

Are you ready to Apply?

We have an online application with questions for the organization and for each individual person in the organization who is applying.  You can see a copy of these questions in this Google Doc and we encourage you to make a copy of the template, fill it out as a team and individually and then have one person submit the application for your organization.  

We also are accepting video applications. If you would prefer to do a video, you can email a link to the video to Jonah Fertig-Burd at jfertigburd@sewallfoundation.org.  In your video please answer the questions that we have in the application.