Current Activities

Joint Domestic Violence prevention and protection project completes Phase III

A six-person Maine delegation returned from Natal after several days of seminars, educational forums and lectures on DV prevention, intervention and protection. The group consisted of Michael Cantara, State Commissioner of Public Safety; Lois Galgay Reckitt, Exec. Director of Family Crisis Services; André Janelle, District Court Judge; Allen Andrews, So. Portland Police Officer; Faye Luppi, Project Director, Violence Intervention Partnership; Catherine Lee, President, WorldLee International Business Development. The program was organized by Faye Luppi, Cathy Lee and Rosanna Pinheiro and Mario Cavalcanti of Rio Grande do Norté. It was the third phase of a multi-year project involving exchanges of legal, judicial, safety and service professionals. Highlights included lectures and demonstrations of a multi-discipline, coordinated approach employed by the Maine Partnership Project and acted court scenes featuring the roles of plaintiff and defense counsels, judge, and the plaintiff pleading for protection from abuse. The partnership considered the week-long project a marked success and expect consultations and exchanges of professionals from both sides to continue.

The group carried 300 pair of eye glasses to organizations in RGN serving low income families. They are used glasses cleaned, refurbished with prescriptions and donated by Casco Bay Eye Care. This was the third such shipment offered by Kerry Dubreuil, Operations Manager for CBEC.

Visitors

Hugo Mederios de Oliveira RN Chapter Secretary, visited Maine following his attendance at a Leadership Orientation Workshop in the U.S. Hugo teaches at elementary, secondary and university levels and linguistics at Universidade Potiguar. But his passion is teaching young Brazilians in public schools and his goal is to become a school principal. He talked with, among others, Representative Connie Goldman, former Cape Elizabeth superintendent, to learn more about Maine’s public school system. Volunteerism was another subject of interest. The Cape’s community garden managed by volunteers inspired him to think about incorporating a similar program in Natal schools.

Hugo Cabral visited Maine prior to entering a graduate medical program in Natal. At 17 he is following in the steps of his relative, Alinio Cunha, a Partners member who has visited Maine several times over the years. Hosts Roberta DeAraujo and Ron Kreisman hosted Hugo, introduced him to Kents Hill School, other young people and to interesting sites in mid-Maine . Already speaking quite good English he was able to perfect it before returning to college studies in Natal.

Coalition for Citizen Diplomacy.

Initiated by a coalition of national organizations involved in international exchanges (Partners of the Americas among them), person-to-person programs and student exchanges, Maine Partners helped create a state-wide forum to discuss ways to expand citizen participation in exchange activities and increase opportunities for citizen diplomacy. The “summit” forum was held in May and attended by representatives of other Sister-States, Sister-Cities, universities, public and private schools, business community and other Maine organizations involved in international activities. Recommendations on ways to achieve greater opportunities for engagement in person-to-person programs were sent to the CCD national organizers for their summit meeting in Washington D.C. in July. Their agenda and report can be accessed on www.citizen-diplomacy.org/ A major recommendation of the Maine summit was to form a communication system for the network of organizations and institutions engaged in international activities. 

In January 2007 Governor Baldacci announced his Executive Order creating an International Relations Planning Committee to "develoop a plan for a public-private partnership to foster and implement additional opportunities for Maine citizens, institutions and organizations, and businesses to engage in international education, cultural, people-to-people and economic interchanges, coupled with expanded international education programs in Maine."

Maine Partners along with other participants in the Coalition will have input into the Committee's deliberations and offer recommendations when the Committee is formed

International Congress: John DelVecchio will be Maine’s delegate to Partners of Americas’ International Congress in Belize in November. Prior to the conference he will visit Maine’s partner state of Rio Grande do Norte for meetings with its chapter members and others. Annual planning for joint activities in 2007 will be discussed.

Brazilian Youth Ambassadors

Maine families may host Youth Ambassadors selected by the U.S. Embassy in Brasilia. Twenty-five Brazilian high school students from low income families with records of excellence in academics and community service will come to the U.S. in January. Maine Partners applied to host up to five and their interpreter January 17 to 27 if Partners of the Americas is awarded the overall program to administer.

Past Activities

Since the Maine/Rio Grande do Norte partnership was created in 1967, health professionals, social workers, artists, high school and college students and faculty, business people, political leaders, rehabilitation specialists, volunteers from all walks of life in both states have given their time and lent their expertise to a wide variety of cooperative projects.  They have:

• Sent materials, thanks to the Maine Maritime Academy's training ship, to Brazil to create "Casa do Maine" (Maine House) now located within a modern hotel in RGN's Capitol City of Natal that serves as headquarters of the RGN Partnership and quarters for Maine visitors.
  
• Arranged cultural exchanges of artists, dancers and musicians including the Portland String Quartet, Casco Bay Movers and  Artists in Residence in schools, universities and colleges; worked to revive the lost art of hand crafted Brazilian boat building; published a book on Rio Grande do Norte by Maine member, Neil Rolde.
  
• Helped set up the first education television station in the Brazilian State.
  
• Provided up-to-date methods of parental coping with developmentally disabled children.
  
• Brought a gifted Brazilian vocalist to Bates College in the '70s and again to Maine in 1998 to work with music teachers and students in Maine schools.
  
• Sent a dairy herd to Mossoro, the State's second largest city and worked with farmers to improve the nutrition of the herds.
  
• Expanded the health facilities and services and provided basic necessities of poor children and young adults in RGN served by a Biddeford nun.
  
• Sponsored a unique conference for all of the states of northeastern Brazil on the concept of small business development centers.
  
• Consulted with physical education faculty on developing programs like USM's Lifeline program and therapeutic methods for disabled children.
  
• Provided host families for high school exchange students who, today, are  second generation members of Partners.
  
• Participated in a Portuguêse language immersion program for Maine members in RGN sponsored by the Universidade Potiguar.