Changemakers Fellowships
environmental leadership development for youth ages 18-25
Applications are now open for 2025 winter fellowships!
MEEA is hiring for two (2) positions for the winter Changemakers Fellowship program.
Apply by February 12, 2025! Start date is March 3rd.
200 hours over 4-5 months | $3,800 stipend
$500 budget for a community action project
Learn more at the links below!
Changemakers Fellowships are 4-5 month contract positions that provide leadership development for youth ages 18-25 who are passionate about environmental and social justice advocacy, represent the geographic diversity of Maine, and have faced marginalization in exploring this work.
Fellows work within their local, county, and state communities to support the Maine Environmental Changemakers Network, connecting young Mainers with the resources and mentors they need to make effective community change. You will learn a multitude of skills including but not limited to storytelling, website building, grant writing/fundraising efforts, workshop facilitation, event planning and networking. Fellows also lead an individual environmental/climate community action project of your own design that directly and positively impacts your community with a provided budget of $500.
Fellows are paid a stipend and work with MEEA to build their part-time individual, flexible work plan. Work can be done where fellows currently live. Fellows meet with their MEEA mentors frequently, and will check in using video conferencing, phone calls and in person meetings. Although most work will be done remotely, occasional travel for in-person meetings is required. Therefore, the fellow must be based in Maine for the duration of the position. The Fellow’s supervisor is based in the greater Bangor area so ability to meet in this area periodically is required.
Questions? Email the Changemakers Program Coordinator negina lawler-naluai at negina@meeassociation.org
fellowship guiding principles
commit to a growth mindset
challenge norms and ask hard questions
dream big
share resources and knowledge across generations
support youth leaders as they grow in their skills over time
build meaningful long-term relationships.
advocate for a more equitable environmental sector
tell our own stories to the sector
find solidarity and hope in our community
center the voices of marginalized youth
care for ourselves and our communities
Community Action Projects
Fellows lead an individual community action project of their own design that directly and positively impacts their community with a provided budget of $500.
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Food Waste Awareness Dinner
Summer 2024 Fellow Will Lehan took his college research project on food waste beyond the classroom and hosted a dinner in Bangor offering a three-course meal for guests based on the most commonly wasted household groceries. They brought leftovers to the Bangor Homeless Shelter’s pantry and composted food scraps.
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Earth Day Garden Event
Spring 2023 Fellow Elaina Cruz partnered with Just ME for Just US to lead an Earth Day event at the UMaine Farmington Community Garden greenhouse. The group transplanted lettuce while discussing food sovereignty and food equity.
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Community Roundtable
Winter 2023 Fellow Angie Flores facilitated a roundtable discussion for the Mount Desert Island community about long-term resiliency, drawing metaphors from natural systems like lichens and mycelium to inspire the conversation.
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Wabanaki Studies Workshops
Summer 2024 Fellow and Panawahpskek citizen Kaya Lolar co-led Wabanaki Studies professional development workshops for educators in so-called Maine with her mother Brianne Lolar, Wabanaki Studies Specialist with the Maine Department of Education.
Past Fellows
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Kaya Lolar
Summer 2024
Kaya is a citizen of the Panawahpskek Nation and is on track to receive a Bachelor of Arts in Social Anthropology and English from Harvard University in the spring of 2025. She was born and raised on the banks of the Penobscot River at Alenape Menahan, or what is now called Indian Island, and her lived experiences as a Panawahpskek citizen have driven her lifelong commitment to environmental stewardship and advocacy. Kaya has a passion for writing (especially creatively) and greatly values the power of storytelling as one of many tools to share traditional Indigenous knowledge as it pertains to our ever-evolving environment. -
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Will Lehan
Summer 2024
Will recently graduated from Boston University with a degree in International Relations. Growing up in Bangor, he developed a love for nature through exploring the City Forest and Acadia National Park. At BU, Will was an Outing Club Trip Leader and completed a capstone project on reducing Boston's traffic through carbon taxes, tolling, and MBTA improvements. Currently, he’s a MEEA fellow and is excited for this summer's project and the fall gathering! -
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Angie Flores
Winer 2024
Angie (she/her/ella) is a student at the College of the Atlantic studying Human Ecology, focusing on climate politics, climate policy and political ecology. Angie has been actively dedicated to environmental and climate justice in the diverse communities she's part of. She is passionately driven to work across fields, communities, visions, and resources and help connect bridges to build power within communities to effectively affect change. Guided by a pluriversal framework, the power of the collective and participatory and intersectional practices, Angie works towards fostering international networks of collaboration and care.
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Claudio Jimenez
Winter 2024
Claudio (he/him) is a trans Latino activist with a focus on food sovereignty and multimedia artist living in a cabin in the woods. Some of his favorite hobbies include birding, bookbinding, gardening, and petting dogs
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Celia Canavan
Summer 2023
Celia (they/them) lives and works on Abenaki land in Franklin County, where they recently graduated from the University of Maine at Farmington with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science with a minor in International and Global Studies. Growing up in urban Massachusetts, Celia realized young how institutionalized racism affects all areas of community growth and development, and the importance of intersectionality in social justice issues. After moving to Maine in late 2019, they began to garner a national reputation for their work as a queer, disabled rural activist. They have had experience working in policy areas such as tribal sovereignty, reproductive healthcare, campaign finance, universal healthcare, and election integrity.
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Elaina Cruz
Winter 2023
Elaina Cruz is a first-generation Latinx Student from Maine. A student at the University of Maine at Farmington studying International and Global Studies with a minor in Political Science. During her time at UMF, she has worked closely with the community with Johnson scholars (Trio) to uplift other first-generation college students. An issue that intersects her understanding of different cultures and communities all around the globe and her personal experience growing up in an immigrant community is the environmental crisis. This is where her passion grew for Maine outdoors and protecting it by advocating for social and environmental justice by uplifting Bipoc's voices. This is why she is very excited to work with Maine Environmental change makers to continue to do the work of equity and change.
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Idey Abdi
2021-2022
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Luke Sekera-Flanders
2021-2022
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Riley Stevenson
20202-2021
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Kosis Ifeji
2020-2021
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Amara Ifeji
2019-2020
Summer Community Organizers
The Changemakers Network previously hosted Summer Organizers, which were short-term positions over the summer for 3-4 months. We have transitioned to primarily focusing on summer Fellowships and no longer offer paid Community Organizer positions. Check out who organized with us in the past below!
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Hallie Arno
Summer 2021
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Ogechi Obi
Summer 2021
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Laura Bither
Summer 2021
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Mei Strout
Summer 2021
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Hailey Talbert
Summer 2022
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Sophia Anderson
Summer 2022
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Zoe Burgard
Summer 2022
