PICA (Power In Community Alliances) is a grassroots organization in Bangor, Maine. For the past 35 years we have been building grassroots community alliances that confront global problems of economic justice, human and worker rights and address the effects of the global economy on our own lives.
Our Sister City Project, anchored by a 30-year partnership with the community of Carasque, El Salvador, builds friendship, solidarity, and understanding between Mainers and rural Salvadorans, and grounds our work for human rights and fair trade in concrete cross-border realities.
We are one of the leading organizations in U.S.-El Salvador Sister Cities, a network of about 15 pairs of sistered communities throughout the U.S. In Maine, WERU Community Radio and the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) also sponsor El Salvador-U.S. Sister City projects.
PICA’s Dignity For All Project is based on this statement of principles:
We believe that all people in our community should have civil rights, equal rights on the job, equal treatment by police and the courts, access to essential medical, educational and social services, and the right to be treated with dignity.
Dignity For All engages community members in the greater Bangor area in actions that create deepened commitments to treating ourselves and others with dignity. We are working with the Maine Multicultural Center to protect the rights of immigrants and make Bangor a welcoming community for all.
PICA is a co-founder and leading member of the Maine Fair Trade Campaign (MFTC), a coalition of small farmers, small businesses, manufacturers, labor, environmental and low-income groups, which is the voice of fair trade in Maine. In 2004, MFTC helped create the Maine Citizen Trade Policy Commission, the nation’s first state citizen commission monitoring the impact of trade on our laws and economy.
PICA is a volunteer organization with the exception of our indispensable part-time office manager, Ellen Gray, who holds us together.
Latest Edition of “PICANews”
Here is the latest edition of PICAnews, our periodic email newsletter.