Community Conservation Initiative

Community Conservation Initiative (CCI) provides concrete Community-grown solutions to the increased Socio-environmental and public health risks associated with climate change and households' use of toxic materials. We strive to strategically support the immigrant and asylum seeker communities in Maine to become long-term environmental stewards and protectors of their natural indoors and outdoors. CCI is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization operating from Portland, ME. We have members and volunteers across the Cumberland and Androscoggin counties. Our “Live sustainably” campaign Started in December of 2021 with the purpose of educating and bringing awareness to the challenges and opportunities for household waste sorting, recycling, reuse, and rethinking the concept of environmental sustainability in a context that acknowledges and rooted from the various cultural and indigenous knowledge. We are working exclusively with the immigrant, refugee, and asylum-seeker communities from the Great Lakes region of central Africa including Rwanda, Burundi, and DR Congo as we keep expanding the organization's reach.