We are profoundly grateful and delighted that 183 community change-makers from across Maine were able to join us for MRBN's 2023 Biennial Summit. Our theme was "Together We Can Thrive: Creating an equitable path forward to promote resilience in Maine Communities." 

The Summit featured two days of learning from National experts and local community leaders, workshop sessions, panel presentations, and networking. Our focus: prevention policies and programs prioritizing resilience for our youth, families, and communities to improve our State’s overall health and mental wellbeing.

Day #1

Dr. Wendy Ellis, Founding Director of the Center for Community Resilience at Georgetown University, School of Public Health and an expert in community resilience, provided our keynote, “Community Resilience: Connecting Trauma, Equity, and Resilience,” and afternoon workshop addressing opportunities to enhance the health of Maine youth, families, and communities by applying the Community Resilience Model with communities in Maine.

Dr. Ellis developed the model which focuses on reducing and eliminating adversity by fostering equity through policy, practice, and program change. She used the “Pair of ACEs” – adverse childhood experiences in the context of adverse community environments to highlight concrete examples of how multiple sectors are collaborating to address some of these issues in other locations around the country.

The afternoon workshop created action-oriented discussions to identify adverse community environments and highlight what healing would look like through community strength identification and assets for community resilience.

Day #2

In the morning on day two, we focused on using Maine experts to ground attendees in the concept of Mattering, share the development process for understanding and communicating the voices of Maine youth, and the creation of the Maine Youth Thriving Guide. Additionally, new community sector-specific materials were shared by the MRBN team that are action-oriented and tailored by sector. The morning concluded with a diverse panel of local partners who work with youth in various capacities. They shared their experiences and aspects of empowering youth that synced well with the eight keys to youth thriving, identified in the “Maine Youth Thriving: A Guide for Community Action.” 

In the afternoon session, Risa Wilkerson and Phil Bors of Healthy Places by Design presented a keynote followed by a workshop focusing on the work on “Socially Connected Communities- Solutions for Social Isolation.” The two-part session prioritized policies and systems to ensure community social connectedness. Participants learned about the impact of social isolation on human health, its roots in community policies, norms, and innovative solutions that build trust and reconnect neighbors.

Audience Reactions & Participant Feedback

“A big thank you to Dr. Wendy Ellis and all the organizers behind MRBN. The event was incredible.”

“Appreciate the emphasis on deep root causes, especially Dr. Ellis’s presentation.”

“Changing our narrative & being truthful about our history.”

“The depth and breadth of factors that contribute to community resiliencies.”

“Wendy was incredible!”

“Powerful connections to Maine’s struggles and successes.”

“Great day, great speakers.”

“Thanks for organizing. It feels great to be among energetic and passionate people.”

“The networking that came of conversations was awesome!”

“I now understand social connectedness, and I know how important this is and to do this in my community.”

96.83% of participants agree: "I better understand the intersection of community policy and practice to impact youth and family thriving.

76.19% of participants agree: "I can put this information into practice in my own organization."

100% of participants agree: "The Summit was informative."

Moving Forward

Moving forward as an organization, this summit is a springboard to working more intentionally to engage various sectors (i.e., businesses, schools, faith organizations, municipal government at the community and state levels, and more.) Since the Summit, participants are contacting us to provide training and technical assistance to implement the Youth Thriving Guide.

As we have seen, a little awareness and understanding have motivated people to take positive action. Summit participants highlighted the desire to keep connected with others, and we shared the continued opportunity to be a part of our monthly social connection and youth-mattering learning circles. This confirmed our intention to keep the need for connection moving forward.

Once again, thank you for your support of MRBN’s work. You Matter!