a few of our folks.
people
program staff
the staff at commonspace, across our many programs, bring to their roles their lived experience of substance use, poverty, homelessness, and involvement with medical and criminalizing systems. these lived experiences, combined with remarkable skill sets and professional credentials, support commonspace in sustaining highly successful results in such vital areas as securing and maintaining housing, reducing overdoses and infections, reducing hunger, and interrupting cycles of generational poverty. our common experiences allow our program coordinators, recovery coaches, peer support specialists, community outreach workers, housing specialists, harm reduction specialists and other commonspace team members to forge meaningful, mutual relationships within our communities.
Keith Arvanitis
coordinator
Portland Community Support Center
Abigail Boudin
coordinator
Mid-Coast Recovery Community Centers (Bath and Newcastle)
Debbie Brunner
coordinator
Beacon House
Bobby Marcroft
director
Housing Support Programs
Ashish Shrestha
director
Community Progams
Jourdan Simon
director
Food Services
Mary Cook
administrative coordinator
Housing Support Programs
board of directors
commonspace is fortunate to be served by a small but passionate and influential board of directors, including its three current officers. our board is distinctive for its deep commitment to the mission of commonspace, and for its keen understanding of our community, which allows our board members to exist as true and vital thought partners as we work to maintain community supports that are responsive and adaptive to the ever-changing landscape within which we operate.
our board President is Amanda Loubier, a woman in recovery, who serves as Assistant Vice President, Capabilities Manager, at TD Bank.
our Vice President is Caroline Teschke, who brings her years of experience managing public health and harm reduction-informed community programs.
our Treasurer is Norman Maze, Executive Director at Augusta Housing Authority, who previously served as the Deputy Director at Shalom House.
Amanda Loubier, TD Bank
president
Caroline Teschke, Friends of the Portland Community Free Clinic
vice president
Norman Maze, Augusta Housing Authority
treasurer
Alane O’Connor, DNP, MaineHealth
board member
commonspace team of directors
the circle of leadership at commonspace includes its core of program coordinators, along with four directors who are focused on supporting the mission of the agency within and across its multiple programs and spaces.
both our Executive Director, Brian Townsend, and our Associate Executive Director, Meredith Pesce, have been working with the community served by commonspace for the better part of two decades, and have been in their roles at the agency since 2016 and 2017, respectively. guided by a profound love and respect for our peers in this community, Brian and Meredith have facilitated the collaborative and peer-led evolution of the agency as a key community stakeholder and pivotal agent of change.
Kayla White, our Director of Finance, brings years of experience and success in the non-profit world to her role at commonspace, where she co-creates, sustains, and continually improves upon systems that support our programs in achieving the ambitious goals she creates on behalf of the people we support.
Brian Townsend
executive director
Meredith Pesce
associate executive director
Kayla White
director of finance