September Update
Date:
Sign up to receive our newsletter
Dear Neighbors,
In 1790, the first U.S. Census decided whose lives and bodies counted, and for how much. The choices made then were shaped by the injustices of that moment, and they helped build the foundation of injustices we are still living with. Every ten years since, the count has decided who gets represented in Congress and what resources our communities receive.
More than two centuries later, the Census Bureau is proposing new rules that would harm Maine communities. If the proposed changes move forward, the 2030 Census will count fewer Mainers, drop race and ethnicity from the count altogether, and reroute federal resources away from some of the communities that need them most. Every Mainer left out of the count is a person that federal funding for our schools, hospitals, roads, and other resources will no longer reach.
Small communities, including rural towns and communities of color, will feel this first. When you're not counted, you become invisible to the funding formulas and policy decisions that shape our lives. Data doesn't just describe the world today. It shapes the world we'll live in tomorrow.
The comment period on the proposed rule closes on October 13. Below, you'll find what's in the rule, what it would change, and how to make your voice part of the record.
In Solidarity,
The Permanent Commission
Speak Up for Maine Communities Before October 13
The Census Bureau's proposed rule for the 2030 Census was published on September 10. The public comment period closes on October 13, giving the public just 33 days to weigh in on a rule that will shape the next decade.
Three of the biggest changes:
- Many people wouldn't be counted at all. People with work and student visas, and people who came here after escaping natural disasters, violence, and oppression, would be dropped from the count.
- Many people would be counted in the wrong place. People who spend the winter in warmer climates, college students, and military servicemembers would only be counted based on where they spend the winter and their tax-filing address.
- The census would stop counting race and ethnicity altogether. Nearly every survey used to understand racial inequality and community needs is weighted using race and ethnicity data from the census.
Our Data Justice report explains how data can be used and misused to tell stories about people, communities, and society. When small communities are left out of the count, that invisibility shapes everything that follows: funding formulas, grant eligibility, school resources, health investments. And when we stop measuring race and ethnicity, we lose the ability to see progress, name harm, and identify who is being left behind. Mainers deserve a say in what gets counted and the story it's used to tell.
The Hands Off Our Census coalition has a step-by-step comment guide if you want help drafting yours.
Federal Cuts Hit Home
The Maine Center for Economic Policy has released two interactive maps showing what recent federal cuts mean for Mainers.
The first map tracks upcoming MaineCare cuts under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, county by county. Rural Maine will be hit hardest.
The second shows SNAP loss across the state over the past year. Nearly 23,000 Mainers have already lost food assistance, and the map lets you look up the numbers by town, county, legislative district, or congressional district.
Both maps are tools for understanding what is happening in your own community, and what these cuts actually cost all of us.
Eviction Prevention Program
MaineHousing's Eviction Prevention Program can cover up to $9,600 in past-due rent and up to twelve months of ongoing rental assistance for eligible renters facing eviction. Applications are processed on a first-come, first-served basis. Share this resource with anyone in your life who may need it.
Every Child Matters
September 30 is Orange Shirt Day, a day to remember the Indigenous children taken from their families and communities and sent to residential and boarding schools, and to honor the survivors and descendants who carry that history forward. The day began with Phyllis Webstad's story of her first day at St. Joseph Mission Residential School in British Columbia, when the new orange shirt her grandmother had given her was taken away.
The same policies that operated in Canada operated here. The Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission documented how Maine's child welfare system continued to separate Wabanaki children from their families and communities long after the boarding school era officially ended. That work, and the continuing work of Wabanaki REACH, is where truth-telling and repair happen in this state.
Learn the history. Wear orange to remember. Support the people and organizations doing the work.
Wabanaki Treaty Language Restored to Maine's Constitution
On September 18, language honoring Maine's treaty obligations to the Wabanaki Nations was restored to the state Constitution after 150 years of being deliberately hidden from public printings. The provision had been part of the Constitution since Maine became a state in 1820, but was removed from printed copies in 1876 and kept out of view for a century and a half.
Now it is back where Mainers can see it.
Community Events
October 12, Augusta: Indigenous Peoples' Day: A Celebration with the Wabanaki Alliance.
November 17, Orono: Wabanaki REACH presents Bear Grease Live, an Indigenous-led musical retelling of Grease.
