Changemakers Residency Program
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Applications are now open for the 2026-2028 Changemakers Residency!
Two positions available. Apply by May 27, 2026
The Changemakers Residency seeks to address career gaps in environmental organizations by providing two-year residency positions for individuals who self-identify as coming from a background underrepresented in conservation and/or environmental and climate movements.
Sulwan Ahmed and Ray Mills during Fieldwork with The Nature Conservancy in Maine in Norway, ME
Sulwan Ahmed and Ray Mills during Fieldwork with The Nature Conservancy in Maine in Norway, ME
2025 MEEA Conference workshop: Employee's Declassified Career Survival Guide
2025 MEEA Conference workshop: Employee's Declassified Career Survival Guide
2025 Maine Land Trust Network Conference Youth Voices Panel
2025 Maine Land Trust Network Conference Youth Voices Panel
Ray shows Sulwan how to identify winterberries during a visit to Land in Common in Greene, ME.
2022-2024 Resident Deb Paredes speaks on a panel at the 2023 Changemakers Gathering
SInet Kroch and Deb Paredes 2022-2024 residents on the 2023 Changemakers Gathering Planning Team
Deb Paredes and Sinet Kroch speaking during a Maine Land Trust Network Panel, 2022-2024 Residents
Deb Paredes, 2022-2024 Resident
Residents Deb Paredes, Sulwan Ahmed, and Ray Mills during the We Are ONE Conference in Atlanta, Georgia
2024 Changemakers Gathering Planning Team
Ray speaking during the 2024 Changemakers Gathering
Visit to Sipayik with TNC Staff
Visit to Sipayik
Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust Voices of Changemakers Panel 2025
Sulwan during the 2025 Changemakers Gathering
Ray Mills speaking at the Women in Nature: Forests TNC Event
Deb Paredes during the 2023 Changemakers Gathering
Deb Paredes during the 2023 Changemakers Gathering
About the Host Organizations
Maine Environmental Education Association
The Maine Environmental Education Association builds environmental awareness, accountability, and action in Mainer schools and communities by centering equity and advancing systemic change. We are a small grassroots organization with six full-time co-directors who operate within a shared leadership model. We foster youth leadership in the youth climate movement; support formal and informal educators in outdoor learning, environmental education, and Wabanaki studies; and we advocate for policy change at the state and federal levels. Learn more about MEEA.
Both residents will work closely with MEEA’s Maine Environmental Changemakers Network team to support the growth of our youth network.
About the Residencies
The Maine Environmental Education Association (MEEA) and The Nature Conservancy in Maine (TNC Maine) are collaborating on this two-year residency position designed for residents to advance both organization’s work while building skills and gaining the unique professional experience of working both within a smaller grassroots nonprofit network (MEEA) and within a large, global environmental/conservation nonprofit (TNC Maine). After two successful cohorts (2022 and 2024), we are excited to open a third cycle of the Changemakers Residency Program. Residents are full-time and employed by MEEA and will be under the supervision of MEEA’s Director of Youth Engagement, Negina Lawler-Naluai, and Executive Director, Olivia Griset, and a respective supervisor at TNC Maine, Tamara Lee, Community Program Director. The Resident’s scope of work will primarily include initiatives through TNC Maine and will also include engagement with MEEA’s staff and MEEA’s Changemakers Network and Fellows. Read the full job description here. Ready to apply? Click here.
The Nature Conservancy in Maine
With a mission to protect the lands and waters on which all life depends, The Nature Conservancy in Maine is taking action to protect land and water, work toward a healthy and sustainable ocean, address and mitigate the effects of climate change, and connect people and nature, in Maine and around the world. Learn more about TNC Maine.
The Changemaker Residents will work with TNC Maine’s Community Program Director to build connections with communities with the goal of building relationships, rapport, and reducing barriers to access to outdoor spaces.
Eligiblity
Residents self-identify as coming from a background underrepresented in conservation and/or the environmental and climate movements.
Early in your career trajectory (this could be your first professional position, or you are someone who hasn’t worked in this sector but is shifting into this work).
Residents are expected to work in person 3 days a week at TNC in Brunswick to support a more connected and relational work environment. We have found that employees who spend time in the office develop stronger relationships and collaborate more effectively. Changemakers Residents must be able to commute to Brunswick, Maine where TNC Maine’s office is located.
2024-2026 Residents
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Sulwan (she/her), is a first generation Sudanese refugee in Portland, Maine. Sulwan graduated from Bowdoin College in 2022 with a B.A. in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, and concentrations in Africana Studies and Sociology. Sulwan fled the Darfur genocide with her family in 2001, relocated to Egypt, and eventually settled in Portland, Maine in 2003. Her passion for environmental justice is deeply connected to her identity as a displaced person, she is feeding this passion through her work as the 2024-2026 Community Initiatives Resident for The Nature Conservancy and Maine Environmental Education Association. Through her work, Sulwan hopes to deepen her understanding of the intersections of environmental justice, migration, and community health. She aims to apply her insight to cultivate practices that positively impact BIPOC and low-income communities in Maine.
Sulwan works with Tree Street Youth in Lewiston to organize outdoor learning and outdoor access opportunities through the state, as well as community meals at St. Mary’s Nutrition Center. She also facilitates swim lessons for Muslim youth in southern Maine. With MEEA, Sulwan has testified for priority legislation at the Maine State Legislature, including the Green Schools Network bill (LD 1543) which passed in 2025! This year, Sulwan is a fellow within the Young Climate Leaders of Color program. She has spoken on numerous panels and facilitated workshops through the state during her residency so far.
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Ray (she/they) is primarily of Wabanaki and Franco-American descent and grew up in Oxford County, Maine along the Androscoggin River. In 2021, she graduated from the University of Maine with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Native American Studies. Currently, she is pursuing a Master's degree in Environmental Science and Sustainability. Her passion for the environment stems from the lessons she learned from her family about maintaining a reciprocal relationship with the land. Her undergraduate studies complimented this passion and has led to her focus on climate change and environmental justice. As a result, Ray felt motivated to pursue this Changemaker Residency to further her knowledge and build upon her passion for climate change mitigation and implementing strategies to work with nature, rather than against it.
With MEEA, Ray has taken a lead role on The Listen Project, a participatory data project researching and surveying the Maine youth climate movement. She also supports MEEA through fundraising, development, graphic design, and publishing the monthly Changemakers youth newsletter. For The Nature Conservancy, Ray prioritizes relationship building and project development with Wabanaki communities and has spoken on numerous panels including the Maine Land Trust Network Conference and Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust. Read Ray’s speech from the Women in Climate: Forests event:
2022 - 2024 Residents
Click the plus (+) to read their bios.
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Deb Paredes (she/they) is a first generation Latinx American from Tyler, Texas and studied at University of Maine, majoring in Biology with a minor in Ecology and Environmental Science. During their Changemakers Residency, Deb has been working closely with underrepresented communities on accessing federal funding through GOPIF’s Community Resilience Partnership to improve local climate resilience and adaptation. Both residents wrote grant proposals for three communities over two grant cycles. Deb also engaged with local Maine communities focusing on youth BIPOC land and skill access, primarily as a liaison between the Nature Conservancy, Tree Street Youth, and the Nature Based Education Consortium. They were also involved in legislative work, from bill research and tracking to providing testimony and advocacy at the statehouse in Augusta for various climate and outdoor learning initiatives. As an activist Deb strongly advocates for social and environmental justice for BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ communities, anti-colonialism, indigenous rights, sustainability, environmental preservation, and intersectionality and equity within each of these causes and beyond. Deb believes that environmental education is a key resource towards climate action and is passionate about reaching underserved communities in Maine.
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During her residency, Sinet (she/her) collaborated with local communities to integrate natural climate solutions into climate adaptation and resilience projects. Sinet helped advance state climate strategies and actions by assisting underinvested communities in project development, project management, workshop facilitation, budgeting, and grant writing. Projects included salt marsh restoration, urban heat mitigation, solar array implementation, and riverwalk shoreline restoration. As a service provider to the City of Lewiston, Sinet assisted the City on its urban heat island project, specifically on protecting and expanding the tree canopy in a historically underserved community. Sinet graduated from Bucknell University with a double major in Environmental Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies. Her work is shaped by her farming background and her involvement with organizations that advocate for environmentally sustainable practices while concurrently addressing the lack of inclusivity within vital decision-making processes.