ABOUT AOK MAINE
AOK Maine will be guided by a diverse advisory team made up of community leaders, activists, and organizers. Advisory team members will represent all segments of the community, including elected officials, non-profit and business leaders, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, youth, elderly, former inmates, people in recovery, mental health/neurodiversity, veterans, homeless, economically disadvantaged, and other segments of the community.
AOK Maine is being facilitated by Jeff Edelstein, a public policy mediator, facilitator, civic innovator, and social entrepreneur with a thirty-year history in Maine. Jeff founded the Greater Portland Sustainability Council, the Maine Civic Innovation Initiative, Portland Greenfest, and the Portland Regional Leadership Council. Jeff's mediation work in Maine has covered a wide array of issues including resolving the South Portland Tar Sands Pipeline controversy; creating Maine's first-ever statewide building code; creating the Greater Portland Interlocal Stormwater Working Group; and much more. Nationally, he has resolved conflict over a wide range of issues and is currently splitting his time between Maine and Washington, D.C., where he is advancing innovation and reform in Congress.