MAINE'S FIRST LADY
KAREN BALDACCI
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MAINE'S FIRST LADY |
"I think it’s particularly important to listen to the voices of young people when it comes to fighting childhood drinking. They know best about the pressures they face to drink and they also have great ideas about the most effective ways to help them resist those pressures." — Karen Baldacci
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New from Mrs. Baldacci: |
Introducing Karen Baldacci, First Lady of Maine
First Lady Karen Baldacci, Leadership Co-Chair, brings a long-standing dedication to public service to Leadership. As First Lady, she devotes herself education, family literacy, and child nutrition and health care issues. Since joining the initiative in 2004, she has actively participated in efforts to promote underage drinking prevention in her State.
Mrs. Baldacci led the State response to Acting Surgeon General Kenneth Moritsugu’s Call to Action To Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking by promoting the Call to Action at a press conference in March 2007, and hosting the Surgeon General’s visit to Maine in June 2007.
(See Mrs. Baldacci's photo gallery.)Mrs. Baldacci works with the Youth Empowerment and Policy Group (YEP), a statewide youth advocacy organization that studies alcohol and underage drinking issues and produces reports with recommendations offering a youth perspective. The program received a Leadership State Stipend in October 2006. In February 2007, Mrs. Baldacci supported the group's campaign to award a laudatory sign to stores that keep alcohol displays away from areas frequented by children.
Mrs. Baldacci also works with State officials to support prevention efforts. In early 2007, she and Attorney General Steven Rowe attended an event to help the State Office of Substance Abuse commend officers and deputies from 15 local and county police departments for their efforts to reduce underage drinking. In 2006, Mrs. Baldacci joined Mr. Rowe to promote the “Alcohol Retailer's Local Marketing Code of Conduct,” developed by the YEP. She and the Attorney General also attended a forum in Lincoln County to discuss the growing underage drinking problem in the county and the State.
Also in 2006, Mrs. Baldacci and Maine's Health and Human Services Commissioner and Office of Substance Abuse Director announced a media campaign, “Find Out More, Do More,” to raise parents' awareness of their teens' behavior. The campaign features a series of television advertisements and a State Web site to support the ads.
Mrs. Baldacci has participated in SAMHSA's underage drinking prevention campaigns. She and Governor Baldacci recorded a welcome video in 2006 that was shown statewide at the Town Hall meetings. She has also supported the Reach Out Now National Teach-Ins, including leading a Teach-In for an elementary school class on the dangers of underage drinking.
In 2005, Mrs. Baldacci hosted the “Partners in Prevention” awards at the governor's mansion to honor seven significant contributors to statewide underage and high-risk drinking prevention efforts on college and university campuses. Maine's Higher Education Alcohol Prevention Partnership (HEAPP) sponsored the awards.
Mrs. Baldacci serves on the Leadership committee for the National Governors Association Governors' Spouses' Program. Among her other activities, she is the chair of Governor’s Children Cabinet, the Governor’s Task Force on Early Childhood, Maine Reads, Read with ME, and the Coordinated School Health Program. She also serves as Honorary Chair of the March of Dimes Prematurity Campaign, and Raising Readers. She established the Maine Youth in Excellence in Art Program, and developed the Maine Community Literacy Project, which provides grants to local libraries to increase literacy rates in Maine communities.
Mrs. Baldacci holds a master's degree in teaching and a bachelor's degree in foods and nutrition, both from the University of Maine in Orono. She has worked as a clinical dietician, served as a registered dietician for the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program, and taught kindergarten. The Baldaccis have one son.
Spouses of Governors who have completed their terms in their State houses are able to continue their work to prevent childhood drinking as members of the Leadership To Keep Children Alcohol Free Emeritus Group. Click here for information on the Emeritus Group and a complete list of members.
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| Updated 04/10/08 | ||
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