We initiate and facilitate collaborative action toward a just, resilient, and sustainable food system that ensures equitable access for all people to enough healthy food.
We are engaged citizens, community leaders, and representatives from local organizations who are leading the efforts to build food security in Cumberland County and across Maine.
Land Acknowledgment
The Cumberland County Food Security Council (CCFSC) is located on unceded Wabanaki Confederacy land, which is now known as Cumberland County, Maine. The Wabanaki Nations – Abenaki, Maliseet, Mi’kmaq, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot have stewarded the lands and waters in what is now known as Maine since long before colonists arrived. For many different reasons, we (members of CCFSC) were drawn to, or raised on, this land and have chosen this place to work and build our lives. We acknowledge our presence here as settlers is perpetuating colonization and our ability to be on this land is the result of theft, genocide, and unfathomable harm.
As guests on these sacred lands and waters, we are committed to advocating for recognition of the Wabanaki Nations’ inherent sovereignty and the reparations they are owed. We stand in solidarity with our Indigenous and aboriginal neighbors, who continue to carry their culture and traditions forward despite the harm of our ancestors and historical and ongoing patterns of white supremacy. We advocate and work to ensure that these lands are treated with honor and respect - we humbly follow the leadership of the Indigenous communities here to learn best how to steward these lands. We understand that food security is not possible without justice and liberation with and for the People of the Dawnland.
You can learn more about the Wabanaki Confederacy below:
- Poem by Maliseet poet, Mihku Paul.
- History of Wabanaki peoples, Maria Girouard
- About the Wabanaki Nations, Abbe Museum
- Subscribe to the Sunlight Media Collective listserv (sign up on the bottom of the page)
Please consider making a donation to one of the organizations below:
- Maine Wabanaki-REACH: https://www.mainewabanakireach.org/
- Eastern Woodlands Rematriation Collective: https://whyhunger.org/ewrematriation/
- Nibezun: https://nibezun.org/
