Things You Need To Know This Month New Wellness Plan
MEABT has a new wellness plan for members! This plan, called Virgin Pulse, gives you the opportunity to earn up to $250 in incentives just for participating. From physical health and activity, to mental wellness and stress reduction, Virgin Pulse will be your partner as you define your unique journey toward health and overall wellbeing. With over a hundred different points-earning activities you can define what wellness means to you and earn your incentive with your choice of healthy behaviors!
Partnership for Caring
The MEA offers financial support to members who experience an expense connected to a hardship. MEA’s Partnership for Caring has helped members with a wide variety of issues, including house fires and sudden medical issues. Under the Partnership for Caring, the MEA will assist local affiliates to meet exigent expenses of an unpredictable nature incurred by members or their immediate families. Specifically, the MEA can match, dollar-for-dollar, up to $1,500 in contributions raised by a local affiliate or combination of affiliates to meet such expenses. Please email Terry Gordon, (tgordon@maineea.org), to apply for the MEA Partnership for Caring.
Equity Roundtables
To continually support members, MEA is hosting roundtable Zoom discussions on key topics. These discussions will be held through September with topics ranging from implicit bias to combating the digital divide. The discussions will be available to all members and non-members, as the MEA continues to work to reach those who do not yet belong and share the value of membership. Keep an eye on your email to learn more about availability of these programs and be sure to register! You can also contact MEA Professional Development Director Dan Allen (dallen@maineea.org) if you’re interested in participating or facilitating one of these discussions.
MEA Learning & Leading Webinar Series and Virtual Conference
The MEA Learning & Leading Conference is going totally digital this year. While we want you to be safe from COVID-19, we don't want you to miss out on the fantastic content your fellow educators provide. MEA will host a series of webinars between August and October on topics our members need to effectively teach and support students during the pandemic. You'll hear from experts on distance learning tools, social and emotional learning, and creating classroom community during remote learning. The series will culminate on Oct. 24th with a one-day virtual conference where you'll hear from Teacher of the Year, Heather Whitaker. MEA will offer several tracks during the one-day event including: trauma-informed teaching, implementing restorative practices, and equity. Watch your email for more information. If you’d like to present or have a topic to suggest, contact MEA Professional Development Director, Dan Allen (dallen@maineea.org).
FREE Student Loan Forgiveness Support
NEA Member Benefits has partnered with Savi to provide MEA/NEA members a free online student loan evaluation tool to determine their eligibility for federal repayment and forgiveness programs. Just answer a few questions on our secure website, and the Loan Forgiveness Navigator will do the rest. The Loan Forgiveness Navigator checks your loans against free federal repayment and forgiveness programs. The average user finds over $1,500/year in new savings! As an educator, you may also be eligible for special teacher forgiveness programs. The program provides real savings, just ask Sara who said: “I’m an Ed Tech...in the past, I've qualified for paying $0 a month. Using Savi was definitely worth it- having someone who knew what they were doing handle the paperwork helped! Thank you so much.”
Ask a Member to Join
Membership is a year-round effort, but most people join in the beginning of the school year. Our strength as a union is in the power of our collective voice. We saw the power of that collective action when our schools closed and members needed support, including guaranteed pay regardless of hours worked-that’s the power of the MEA. The more members, the greater ability to collectively create teaching and learning conditions that are in the best interest of our educators and our students. Together, we are stronger, and we need members to keep the MEA train on track. So, ask someone who isn’t a member to join. Share with a non-member the work of MEA and ask them to belong. Many non-members say they haven’t joined simply because no one asked—so why not ask? It will make us a better, stronger union if you do! September 2020 • www.maineea.org
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