AUGUSTA — University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Maine Campus Compact will hold the two-day 2022 Maine Hunger Dialogue and Climate Action Summit, Friday and Saturday, Oct. 21 - 22, starting at 9:30 a.m., at the University of Maine at Augusta, Randall Student Center, 70 University Drive. 

The “Maine Hunger Dialogue and Climate Action Summit: Safeguarding Food Systems from a Warming Planet” is designed for high school and college students and their teachers with a focus on the intersection of food security and climate change in Maine. The event includes speakers, breakout sessions and the option to apply for mini-grants to address related issues on campus or in communities.  

Students can attend as individuals or in teams with a faculty mentor. Teams are eligible to participate in a cooking challenge and receive guidance on crafting a grant-funded project for their campus or school. Previous mini-grants have funded school or campus pantries, food security studies and campus community gardens.

The conference is free and includes meals. Registration on the event webpage is required by Oct. 14. For more information, to sponsor school teams or mini-grants, or to request a reasonable accommodation, contact 207.581.8211; lynne.holland@maine.edu. This event is made possible with support from the Maine 4-H Foundation and Sodexo. 

University of Maine Cooperative Extension: As a trusted resource for over 100 years, University of Maine Cooperative Extension has supported UMaine's land and sea grant public education role by conducting community-driven, research-based programs in every Maine county. UMaine Extension helps support, sustain and grow the food-based economy. It is the only entity in our state that touches every aspect of the Maine Food System, where policy, research, production, processing, commerce, nutrition, and food security and safety are integral and interrelated. UMaine Extension also conducts the most successful out-of-school youth educational program in Maine through 4-H.

 
About the University of Maine: The University of Maine, founded in Orono in 1865, is the state's land grant, sea grant and space grant university, with a regional campus at the University of Maine at Machias. UMaine is located on Marsh Island in the homeland of the Penobscot Nation. UMaine Machias is located in the homeland of the Passamaquoddy Nation. As Maine's flagship public university, UMaine has a statewide mission of teaching, research and economic development, and community service. UMaine is the state's public research university and a Carnegie R1 top-tier research institution. It attracts students from all 50 states and 81 countries. UMaine currently enrolls 11,989 undergraduate and graduate students, and UMaine Machias enrolls 747 undergraduates. Our students have opportunities to participate in groundbreaking research with world-class scholars. UMaine offers more than 100 degree programs through which students can earn master's, doctoral or professional science master's degrees, as well as graduate certificates. UMaine Machias offers 18 degree programs. The university promotes environmental stewardship, with substantial efforts campuswide to conserve energy, recycle and adhere to green building standards in new construction. For more information about UMaine and UMaine Machias, visit umaine.edu and machias.edu.