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Adam LeClair, an Old Town native, is a democracy and civic engagement practitioner with 17 years of experience leading youth-focused and community-driven initiatives around the world.
My path from Old Town to supporting democratic movements in places like Afghanistan and Myanmar may not seem like the most straightforward journey. But it was my Maine roots that sparked my belief in service, and in democracy as something built from the ground up.
I was raised by a mother from Orono who worked as a caseworker supporting foster children across the state. She didn’t have much, but she raised us with a fierce sense of justice and service — an ethic that ran deep. Both of my older brothers became firefighters, and one also served in the Coast Guard and Air National Guard.
For me, service looked different. Over the last 17 years, I’ve worked around the world — often in complex, conflict-prone environments — supporting democratic defenders and civil society reformers. I did this work with the conviction that defending democracy abroad helps safeguard our own here at home.
Now back home, my career in international development was abruptly ended as America’s democracy programs were quietly dismantled. Even more alarming: Many of the same warning signs I saw overseas — polarization, disengagement, a shrinking civic sphere — are surfacing right here in the U.S., including in Maine.
But the warning sign that alarms me most — and remains within our power to fix — is the breakdown of civic connection and belonging. Without those, democracy cannot hold.
In some of the world’s most fragile contexts, I’ve worked alongside youth leaders, journalists, women’s rights defenders, and anti-corruption activists. What I learned there applies here too: Democracy isn’t saved by systems alone. It survives when civic action becomes habit — when people have real opportunities to build power, voice, and community.
That’s what many call “big citizenship.” Not just voting every few years or volunteering once — it’s an ethos and a practice that runs through neighborhoods, schools, and citizen assemblies. It’s what makes the difference between a democracy that functions and one that flourishes.
Maine has a proud tradition of civic engagement. A 2024 report from Colby College’s Goldfarb Center, Public Engagement Partners, and the Maine Community Foundation found that Mainers rank first in the U.S. for attending public meetings, third in volunteering, and fourth in contacting public officials. We’re a state that shows up for one another — and that’s exactly the culture our democracy needs right now.
This is a practice the nation must embrace. When civic action is sidelined and dismissed as fringe, democracy doesn’t just falter, it decays. I saw it abroad. I see it here. If we don’t act, we risk repeating the mistakes we once helped others avoid.
That’s why now, more than ever, we need bold investment in civic life, not cuts. And yet, the opposite is unfolding.
In April, the administration slashed nearly $400 million in AmeriCorps funding, placing 85 percent of its staff on leave and initiating widespread program closures. Framed as cost-saving, these cuts have disrupted disaster relief, shuttered food assistance, and left communities without vital support.
In Maine, we’re already seeing the consequences. According to The Maine Monitor, federal funding for all AmeriCorps programs administered by Volunteer Maine is being terminated. That means services could vanish across dozens of communities — touching all 16 counties. These programs are the quiet scaffolding that keep our towns connected: helping students, supporting seniors, responding to disaster. If big citizenship is about showing up for one another, these programs have long been its most consistent expression.
And AmeriCorps is just one piece. Programs like Teach for America, YouthBuild, Team Rubicon, Points of Light, and Senior Corps form a fragile yet essential web of public service. They bring people together across lines of difference to meet shared needs. They allow veterans to respond to disasters. They connect young leaders with education equity work. They give older Americans a continued role in shaping community life.
In nearly two decades of global work, I’ve seen where the breakdown of civic and community connection leads — and it’s not good. But I’ve also seen what happens when people are given a sense of ownership. When they see themselves reflected in their neighborhoods, their government, and their future. The way so many Mainers do. That’s the promise of big citizenship. It can look like launching a social enterprise. Hosting cross-partisan dialogues. Helping build homes after a flood. These are not side projects. They are democracy in motion.
Now is the time to invest — personally and collectively — in civic service programs, from the grassroots to the national level. We need to choose one another again, and again, in the daily work of democracy.
My plea is this: Don’t just think differently about citizenship — act. Visit volunteermaine.gov to find opportunities to serve. Call your representatives and demand they protect and expand civic service programs like AmeriCorps. If we want a stronger democracy, we must build it together.
