Sustainable Prosperity Initiative
Through the Sustainable Prosperity Initiative (SPI), SCEC works with Washington County communities to grow and strengthen a sustainable and prosperous natural resources economy. Our work focuses on supporting resilient businesses, workers, and jobs by working together to protect and restore the natural systems upon which they depend.

LEARN MORE
Learn more about the Sustainable Prosperity Initiative at SCEC by contacting Tora Johnson, Director of the Sustainable Prosperity Initiative
Phone: 207-255-0983
Email: tjohnson@sunrisecounty.org
Imagining Sustainable Prosperity
Vision:
Communities thrive by rising to the challenges of a changing world
Mission:
- Act locally, build regionally, connect broadly
- Support agency, collaboration & strategic thinking
- Span boundaries
Supporting:
- Resilience
- Healthy people & ecosystems
- Hope & agency
- Systems thinking
SUSTAINABLE PROSPERITY PRINCIPLES
Bounce Forward Resilience
Bounce Forward Resilience means accepting, planning for and executing change (even if change is hard). In contrast, Bounce Back Resilience is a return to a previous state (even if that led to the problems in the first place).
Best practices to support resilience:
- Help folks to embrace change
- Providing tools, not prescriptions
- Build scenarios of the future
- Let go of preconceived notions of best path


*Hicks, Donna (2011-09-06) Dignity: The Essential Role It Plays in Resolving Conflict (pp. 25-26). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.
Serving with Dignity
Dignity is an “internal state of peace that comes with the recognition and acceptance of the value and vulnerability of all living things.” – Donna Hicks, Ph. D.
Elements of Dignity:*
- Acceptance of Identity
- Inclusion
- Safety
- Acknowledgment
- Recognition
- Fairness
- Benefit of the Doubt
- Understanding
- Independence
- Accountability
Interested in learning more? Download the Serving with Dignity Guide or reach out to schedule a workshop with your team!
SPI LEADERSHIP
Tora Johnson joined SCEC in January 2024 and is the director of the Sustainable Prosperity Initiative. A social scientist and geographer, Tora has a master’s degree in human ecology from College of the Atlantic and a PhD in human dimensions of natural resources from the University of Maine. Her work focuses on supporting resilience and economic development, sustainable fisheries, local and regional planning, and dignity-centered community engagement. Prior to joining the SCEC staff, Tora worked in academia, serving nearly 20 years on the faculty at the University of Maine at Machias where she is now a professor emeritus. She is an external graduate faculty member with the School of Forest Resources and an external faculty associate with the George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions at the University of Maine. She is on several boards and committees focusing on community and environmental issues in Maine and the Downeast Region.
Before becoming a mom in 1996, Tora made a career of teaching and crewing aboard several of the large sailing vessels that ply the coast of New England, as well as commercial fishing in Alaska. Also a writer, Tora’s award-winning book, Entanglements: The Intertwined Fates of Whales and Fishermen, was released in 2005. She was the marine reporter for the Martha’s Vineyard Times from 1998 to 2000, and she published the Guide to Freshwater Animals without Backbones with Arlene De Strulle in 1997. She has collaborated with installation artists and sculptors on community-based and place-based installation art projects.
Tora lives in Machias with her husband, fisherman and fish monger Chris Mullen. She loves to hike and snowshoe with her two dogs on the region’s many trails, as well as messing about in boats.