Join us for to hear from Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross on Maine’s Path to Inclusion and Equity: Navigating the Challenges and Opportunities Ahead!
WHEN: Thursday November 2, 2023
TIME: 5:30p.m. - 7p.m. (Speaker to begin at 5:30pm with Reception to follow)
WHERE: Buchanan Alumni House
COST: Free
Michael Alpert, President of the Greater Bangor Area Branch, NAACP
The Honorable Rachel Talbot Ross, Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives
Topic
Maine’s Path to Inclusion and Equity: Navigating the Challenges and Opportunities Ahead
About the Speaker: Rachel Talbot Ross
Rachel Talbot Ross, raised in Portland, ME and a ninth generation Mainer, is an American politician and activist. Talbot is the first Black woman to serve in the Maine Legislature, and has been the Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives since December 2022, making her the highest ranking African-American politician in Maine history. Talbot Ross has served on the Judiciary, Health & Human Services, and Criminal Justice & Public Safety committees, as well as the Maine State Advisory Committee for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. She is the chair of the Permanent Commission on the Status of Racial, Indigenous and Maine Tribal Population, which she helped write legislation to create in 2019, and is currently a member of the Legislative Council.
She has long been an advocate for equity in the state of Maine, having served as president of the Portland branch of the NAACP, having co-founded the Martin Luther King Jr. Fellows program–a youth-led racial justice program for high school students of color in Portland–with Portland city councilor Pious Ali, and as Director of Equal Opportunity and Multicultural Affairs for the City of Portland. Talbot Ross considers herself a prison abolitionist, and has advocated for incarcerated individuals in Maine over the course of 15 years.
Cohosted by the University of Maine Alumni Association and the Greater Bangor Area Branch NAACP
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