FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nov 18, 2025
Maine, statewide — The Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition (MIRC) is honored to announce the start of a two-year project to research how to develop and grow cultural food hubs and strengthen food and land projects in Maine.
Here is a video highlighting the work of project partners.
The project — facilitated by Jonah Fertig-Burd of InterRooted in tandem with MIRC staff led by diverse cultural and ethnic organizations — will collaborate with various partners, including growers, seed savers, distributors, community kitchens, land stewards, and fisheries.
The planning project, focused on research and relationship development, will enhance the production, preservation, and distribution of local food in Maine.
The project team consists of five organizations that are leading food and land access work in Maine:
- In Her Presence
- Khmer Maine
- Presente! Maine
- Somali Bantu Community Association
- Ummah Farms
In doing this work, we are promoting the food access work of multicultural Mainers who have been securing land ownership and agency over their food choices, building on the state’s rich heritage both of self-reliance and of mutual aid.
“We see this work as following in Maine’s rural and agricultural traditions, honoring the legacies of past food producers while ushering in the next generation of our local food economy,” said MIRC Executive Director, Mufalo Chitam.
The Humanities in Place – MIRC Community Cultural Food Hub Project, supported by the Elmina B. Sewall Foundation and the Maine Health Access Foundation, is funded by the Mellon Foundation.
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