On May 30, more than 150 Sipayik community members attended the Sipayik Energy & Resilience Power Up Symposium.
The event began with opening remarks from Chief Pos Bassett before the Sipayik Resilience Committee provided an update on the Sipayik Weatherization initiative, including the past two window insert builds in 2023 and 2024, as well as the upcoming window insert build in 2025. The Sipayik Resilience Committee also shared updates from the collaboration with the College of the Atlantic, where the free energy auditing and energy coaching program will continue into its second year. The SRC also provided updates to the community regarding its partnership with the Passamaquoddy Tribal Government at Pleasant Point, where it will be assisting with community engagement relating to the strategic energy planning initiative.
Following this, the Dr. Sharon Klein and Jasmine Lamb from the University of Maine gave a presentation on the results of the research partnership with the Passamaquoddy Tribal Government on Pleasant Point, including survey results from the past few years. Dinner was provided by Jess Francis. Following dinner, we had short presentations from the College of the Atlantic on the energy auditing program, Candice Long on tax credits, and from Jennifer Isherwood from the Wabanaki Center at UMaine Machias. Josh Riley from Dancing Rabbit Consulting gave a presentation on tribal driven energy projects and tax credits.
This was followed by the intertribal spark session which featured leaders in tribal sustainable energy across Indian country, including Josiah Jacobs from the Pit River Tribe in California, Bob Blake from the Red Lake Nation, and Chief Henry Red Cloud from the Oglala Lakota representing Red Cloud Renewables. We had many raffle prize donations from artists in the community and also raffled off an electric bike!
We want to extend our thanks to all of the members of the Sipayik Resilience Committee and the broader Sipayik community for making this event happen and for all of the thoughts and ideas shared at the event. We also want to thank all of the sponsors of the events, caterers, organizations and vendors who tabled, Chief and Council, and all of our incredible presenters. We look forward to more positive events like this within the community. We will be posting a video of the event for those who were unable to attend within the next few weeks. Kci Woliwon!