Let's build a more just Maine.

Everyone in Maine, regardless of race, income, or zip code, deserves the chance to live a full and healthy life. But today, our reality is still shaped by systems that were never designed for all of us to live the way life should be. The Permanent Commission’s work is to ask why. How does the past shape the inequality of our present? What are the connections between racial disparities and the gaps we see between rural communities and cities? Why do these gaps exist? What stories reveal how these barriers compound across generations? And why are the rules of the game still written to benefit the few instead of the many?

The Social Drivers of Health Dashboard and the State of Racial Disparities report are tools we’ve published to help ask those questions. The Data Justice report tells us that data can reveal patterns, but data alone doesn’t tell the full story. The missing context—lived experience—is where history, policy, and power come into focus.