Clean air, clean water, and healthy forests sustain Maine people from all walks of life. We share a responsibility to protect these public assets for people throughout Maine and for our children’s shared future.
We recognize that NRCM’s mission— to protect, restore, and conserve Maine’s environment, now and for future generations —is best advanced by the leadership, experiences, and values of people from diverse backgrounds, beliefs and cultures, because threats to the environment can affect us all.
Protecting the nature of Maine transcends political, cultural, and social boundaries. NRCM must also transcend these boundaries in order to engage more people in protecting Maine’s land, air, waters, and wildlife. The board and staff members of NRCM are resolutely committed to the values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in our approach to connecting with people who care about Maine’s natural resources in order to:
- Listen to and learn from their experiences with the natural world.
- Understand and value their perspectives.
- Build an enduring movement of people who will actively engage to protect Maine’s woods, waters, and wildlife.
- Provide information about current environmental issues and ways to get involved in advocating for them.
- Actively working on these values will engender the highest participation in and guidance to the work of NRCM, thereby enhancing our effectiveness and the environmental movement’s long-term strength and health.
- We define diversity as the recognition and inclusion of individual and group differences based on race, ethnicity, nationality, age, education, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class, political affiliation, religious belief, and physical and mental ability.
- We define equity as the impartial and fair treatment of people both inside and outside the organization by our staff and board.
- We define inclusion as a welcoming environment that ensures diverse voices are present and active in all aspects of our organizational life.
- We define justice as the assurance of healthy natural resources for diverse people and communities across Maine.
NRCM strives to recruit and maintain a diverse staff. We work to ensure that our staff members are sensitive to the diversity in Maine through training and mentoring, and through fostering an organizational culture that prioritizes fairness and respect. At NRCM, all employees are treated equitably and are encouraged to achieve their fullest potential. We are committed to a workplace free of any kind of discrimination and an organizational culture that displays the highest standards of ethics, transparency, and accountability. We are equally committed to these values when our staff and board interact with others on behalf of the organization.
We are committed to:
- Recruiting a diverse board of trustees.
- Fostering open and effective cooperation among the board and staff.
- Partnering with diverse individuals and communities.
- Identifying and working with diverse vendors, contractors, and consultants.
- Promoting intercultural understanding inside and outside the organization.
Respect, inclusion, and opportunity for people of all backgrounds, lifestyles, and perspectives will attract the best ideas to NRCM and helps us shape a healthier, more vibrant future for all of us who share our planet. By honoring and celebrating people’s diversity, NRCM can bring new creativity, effectiveness, and leadership to our work throughout the state. Achieving diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice is a continuous process, which, we believe, will contribute to a sustainable and peaceful world.
On June 3, 2020, NRCM and other Maine environmental organizations released a statement to collectively condemn the injustices and crimes committed against the black community. Read the full statement.
