Jess Bedard, Director of Program Planning and Performance
Jess is the Director of Program Planning and Performance. Jess supports the MECASA team in planning and evaluating our programming. She also provides support to member program directors and helps us use the EmpowerDB database. Jess is passionate about making sure our programming aligns with our values and the needs of centers. Feel free to reach out to chat with her about all things planning and evaluating! When she’s not at MECASA, Jess enjoys hiking, traveling, and snuggling her cat.
Maureen Booth, Program & Administrative Coordinator
Maureen has been hired as the new Program & Administrative Coordinator at MECASA. Her role puts her in the unique position of not only tending to the administrative duties of the office, but also helping the project staff with their individual needs. Additionally, she will be the hub for planning and organizing events and trainings. Becoming a strong team member and resource for MECASA is one of her top goals, and she is very excited to be joining the fantastic group of individuals working in the sexual assault field. When she’s not in the office you can typically find her painting, hiking, or enjoying a nice meal somewhere cozy.
Katie Church, Children's Safety Partnership Coordinator
Katie works to coordinate the efforts and act as a resource for the Children’s Safety Partnership, an initiative that began in response to the legislation passed in 2015 mandating child sexual abuse prevention for all publicly funded Pre-K through 5 programs in Maine. When not at work, Katie loves trying out new recipes and going on adventures with her family.
Sarah Firth, Director of Human Resource & Compliance
Sarah coordinates compliance and quality where she helps Maine’s sexual assault support centers figure out how to offer services and develop their workplace in ways that also satisfy the regulations. She conducts site visits and trainings on these issues, and also works on projects to develop consistent statewide services like text/chat and support group facilitator training. She lives with her family in Vienna.
Jordan Henry, Systems Advocacy Coordinator
As Systems Advocacy Coordinator, Jordan works to develop programs, provide technical assistance, and build partnerships in support of enhanced services for survivors who are engaging with a complex systems response to sexual violence. Jordan graduated from the University of Southern Maine with his Master’s in Social Work and brings a background in policy and advocacy to this position. Having formerly worked with Maine Boys to Men, Jordan understands how cultures of masculinity often factor into sexual violence and is eager to support those impacted by sexual violence by fostering pathways towards healing and justice.
Katie Kondrat, Equity & Access Coordinator
Katie works with culturally and community-specific providers and sexual assault support centers to create accessible and equitable services for all survivors. She looks for opportunities to create community-led sexual violence services for populations who have barriers to services, and are therefore, underserved. When she’s not at MECASA, she can be found urban farming in Portland, swimming, or somewhere outside eating ice cream with her family.
Annette G. Macaluso, Children’s Advocacy Centers Network Coordinator
Annette is focused on connecting the expert advocates of Maine’s CACs to the resources they need to assist and empower sexually abused children and their families throughout the state. She supports existing and emerging CACs in the use and efficacy of Multi-Disciplinary Teams. The Network also offers a monthly Resource Round-Up, maintains the CAC website and online toolkit, as well as provides other technical assistance as needed. Annette’s goal is to empower local survivors and CACs to partner in excellent quality intervention services throughout the state. Annette lives in Auburn, Maine with her wife and dog, and enjoys playing Euchre, canning veggies from her garden, and snowshoeing through the woods.
Julie Montefesco, Financial Director
Julie is the Financial Director at MECASA and brings many years’ of finance experience with her. She enjoys spending time with her two teenage kids, road trips, kayaking, and photography.
Canyon Sears, Intervention Coordinator
As the Intervention Coordinator Canyon's primary responsibility is to assist advocates across the state in the delivery of all core sexual assault support center intervention services, including helpline, support groups, and sexual assault response teams. They are here to listen to advocates' needs, provide technical assistance, and support the development and implementation of intervention programming across the state. They also develop and facilitate the bi-annual intervention affinity meetings and manage the MECASA Intervention Toolkit. Canyon believes that advocates know what is best for them and want to center advocate voice and vision in the further development of SASC programs. Outside the office, Canyon is probably walking along the rocks on the coast, working on their truck, or making food with friends. They are excited to talk to you about your ideas on how we can continue to improve our core services, including making them more accessible, deeper, and aligned with anti-oppression values. They are also excited to talk to you about astrology, art, therapy, and food.
Elizabeth Ward Saxl, Executive Director
Elizabeth has overall strategic and operational responsibility for MECASA’s staff, programs, expansion, and the execution of its mission to end sexual violence in Maine and to support high quality sexual violence prevention and response within Maine’s communities. In addition, she focuses on initiating and advocating for victim-centered public policy at the State House and in other policy arenas.
Jennifer Wilkey, Communications Coordinator
Jennifer oversees MECASA’s communication strategies, striving for consistent statewide messaging and visual aesthetic. She supports both MECASA’s in house staff and state providers with a range of communication needs, including creating digital, print, and web content, working with Maine media, responding to current issues and events, and writing talking points, press releases, and op-eds. Jennifer loves to create engaging content utilizing graphic design, photography, and video to help prevent sexual violence and improve accessibility to resources and information. She lives with her family and various critters, and can be found reading science fiction, dancing to Queen with her toddler, and engaging her artistic side with woodturning, drawing, and sewing.
You can reach any of our staff by filling out our contact form.
Jess is the Director of Program Planning and Performance. Jess supports the MECASA team in planning and evaluating our programming. She also provides support to member program directors and helps us use the EmpowerDB database. Jess is passionate about making sure our programming aligns with our values and the needs of centers. Feel free to reach out to chat with her about all things planning and evaluating! When she’s not at MECASA, Jess enjoys hiking, traveling, and snuggling her cat.
Maureen Booth, Program & Administrative Coordinator
Maureen has been hired as the new Program & Administrative Coordinator at MECASA. Her role puts her in the unique position of not only tending to the administrative duties of the office, but also helping the project staff with their individual needs. Additionally, she will be the hub for planning and organizing events and trainings. Becoming a strong team member and resource for MECASA is one of her top goals, and she is very excited to be joining the fantastic group of individuals working in the sexual assault field. When she’s not in the office you can typically find her painting, hiking, or enjoying a nice meal somewhere cozy.
Katie Church, Children's Safety Partnership Coordinator
Katie works to coordinate the efforts and act as a resource for the Children’s Safety Partnership, an initiative that began in response to the legislation passed in 2015 mandating child sexual abuse prevention for all publicly funded Pre-K through 5 programs in Maine. When not at work, Katie loves trying out new recipes and going on adventures with her family.
Sarah Firth, Director of Human Resource & Compliance
Sarah coordinates compliance and quality where she helps Maine’s sexual assault support centers figure out how to offer services and develop their workplace in ways that also satisfy the regulations. She conducts site visits and trainings on these issues, and also works on projects to develop consistent statewide services like text/chat and support group facilitator training. She lives with her family in Vienna.
Jordan Henry, Systems Advocacy Coordinator
As Systems Advocacy Coordinator, Jordan works to develop programs, provide technical assistance, and build partnerships in support of enhanced services for survivors who are engaging with a complex systems response to sexual violence. Jordan graduated from the University of Southern Maine with his Master’s in Social Work and brings a background in policy and advocacy to this position. Having formerly worked with Maine Boys to Men, Jordan understands how cultures of masculinity often factor into sexual violence and is eager to support those impacted by sexual violence by fostering pathways towards healing and justice.
Katie Kondrat, Equity & Access Coordinator
Katie works with culturally and community-specific providers and sexual assault support centers to create accessible and equitable services for all survivors. She looks for opportunities to create community-led sexual violence services for populations who have barriers to services, and are therefore, underserved. When she’s not at MECASA, she can be found urban farming in Portland, swimming, or somewhere outside eating ice cream with her family.
Annette G. Macaluso, Children’s Advocacy Centers Network Coordinator
Annette is focused on connecting the expert advocates of Maine’s CACs to the resources they need to assist and empower sexually abused children and their families throughout the state. She supports existing and emerging CACs in the use and efficacy of Multi-Disciplinary Teams. The Network also offers a monthly Resource Round-Up, maintains the CAC website and online toolkit, as well as provides other technical assistance as needed. Annette’s goal is to empower local survivors and CACs to partner in excellent quality intervention services throughout the state. Annette lives in Auburn, Maine with her wife and dog, and enjoys playing Euchre, canning veggies from her garden, and snowshoeing through the woods.
Julie Montefesco, Financial Director
Julie is the Financial Director at MECASA and brings many years’ of finance experience with her. She enjoys spending time with her two teenage kids, road trips, kayaking, and photography.
Canyon Sears, Intervention Coordinator
As the Intervention Coordinator Canyon's primary responsibility is to assist advocates across the state in the delivery of all core sexual assault support center intervention services, including helpline, support groups, and sexual assault response teams. They are here to listen to advocates' needs, provide technical assistance, and support the development and implementation of intervention programming across the state. They also develop and facilitate the bi-annual intervention affinity meetings and manage the MECASA Intervention Toolkit. Canyon believes that advocates know what is best for them and want to center advocate voice and vision in the further development of SASC programs. Outside the office, Canyon is probably walking along the rocks on the coast, working on their truck, or making food with friends. They are excited to talk to you about your ideas on how we can continue to improve our core services, including making them more accessible, deeper, and aligned with anti-oppression values. They are also excited to talk to you about astrology, art, therapy, and food.
Elizabeth Ward Saxl, Executive Director
Elizabeth has overall strategic and operational responsibility for MECASA’s staff, programs, expansion, and the execution of its mission to end sexual violence in Maine and to support high quality sexual violence prevention and response within Maine’s communities. In addition, she focuses on initiating and advocating for victim-centered public policy at the State House and in other policy arenas.
Jennifer Wilkey, Communications Coordinator
Jennifer oversees MECASA’s communication strategies, striving for consistent statewide messaging and visual aesthetic. She supports both MECASA’s in house staff and state providers with a range of communication needs, including creating digital, print, and web content, working with Maine media, responding to current issues and events, and writing talking points, press releases, and op-eds. Jennifer loves to create engaging content utilizing graphic design, photography, and video to help prevent sexual violence and improve accessibility to resources and information. She lives with her family and various critters, and can be found reading science fiction, dancing to Queen with her toddler, and engaging her artistic side with woodturning, drawing, and sewing.
You can reach any of our staff by filling out our contact form.
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Member Advisory Council Gina Capra, Sexual Assault Response Services of Southern Maine Arian G. Clements, Sexual Assault Support Services of Midcoast Maine Meagan Davis, Sexual Assault Prevention & Response Services Fatuma Hussein, Immigrant Resource Center of Maine Tamar Mathieu, Rape Response Services Julia Miller, AMHC Sexual Assault Services Donna Strickler, Sexual Assault Crisis & Support Center |
Board of Directors John Pelletier (President), Readfield Erika Lichter (VP/Secretary), Brunswick Stephanie Brock, South Portland Maulian Dana, Indian Island Meagan Davis, Lewiston Meg Hatch, Whitefield Matt Ruel, Sidney Betsy Stivers, Freeport Donna Strickler, Winthrop |
