We are engaging the community to create a Community Center for 72 Parris St in Portland, Maine

Photo from our First Community Visioning Session on June 24, 2024

Video Produced by Zack Bowen, Documenting our initial process

72 Parris St. Community Center

When Fork Food Lab left 72 Parris St. in 2023, building owner Justin Alfond committed to donating the building and land to the community. Since then, a community process—led by local residents, organizations, and the 72 Parris St. Steering Committee—has shaped a shared vision for the site:

A multi-use space, with a Community Center at its heart, that reflects the evolving needs of Bayside and serves the rich diversity of the neighborhood and Portland.

What is this Community Center?

It’s more than a building. It’s a place where power and resources are shared—where community members lead, create, and connect. It is envisioned as a space grounded in racial, economic, and gender justice, supporting the social, physical, and spiritual well-being of all who enter.

Project Updates

The Community Design Process started in the winter of 2023. Justin Alfond and Jonah Fertig-Burd (the project facilitator) began meeting with individual organizations and residents in Bayside.

  • The process was publicly launched at a Community Visioning and Design Day in June 2024.

  • A Steering Committee was selected in the fall of 2024, and they met for a year, holding public meetings and engaging the community in deciding on the future use of the site.

  • During this time, Food for All needed a new space, and there was a strong interest in not having this space be vacant, so they moved in and started operating a food pantry and grocery store.

  • In the summer of 2025, the community decided that the site would be a Community Center, and the Steering Committee released a request for applications for collaboratives, entities, and individuals to apply to be a part of the future of the Community Center.

  • In January 2026, the Steering Committee selected the Collective (Maine Association of New Americans, Palaver Strings, and Project Home) to lead the development process and endorsed Food for All to remain as a tenant at 72 Parris St.

  • The Collective will be supported by and consult with a new Development Committee with representatives from Baysidre and Food For All.

Our second video Produced by Zack Bowen about the Community Priority Process

Co-create a community owned building

Learn more

Timeline of the Process

Spring 2024: Initial Outreach

Justin and Jonah met one-on-one with residents and organizations in Bayside

June 24, 2024: First Community Meeting

Over 100 people came together at 72 Parris St. to share their visions and ideas about the future of 72 Parris St. Out of this came different visions that are captured in this document.

Fall 2024: Forming the Steering Committee

We shared a request for applications for steering committee members and worked with a selection committee to choose 11 people to be on the Steering Committee

Food for All moved into the building in December of 2024 and will be using the building for the next year for an African food pantry and store while the community process unfolds and a decision is made about the future of the building.

December 10, 2024: Second Community Meeting

We held a smaller community meeting at Two Fat Cats in Bayside. We did a landscape analysis of the eight primary ideas that came out of the summer community visioning session.

Winter 2025: Steering Committee Meetings

The Steering Committee meets twice a month and is researching feasibility, exploring different models for the site, and developing structures for the community to decide on what they want to happen with the building and property.

April 14, 2025: Community Priorities Meeting

At this meeting, we will share more research about each of the different visions and engage the community in prioritizing the different visions. See above more info.

Meetings with Community Organizations

This spring we will meet with more community organizations to get their input into the process.

July 28, 2025: Release of the Request for Application

September 22, 2025: Application Deadline

Fall 2025: Steering Committee Review Applications and Make Decision on Applicants

January 20, 2026: Community Meeting

At this meeting, the Steering Committee presented the selected applicants and received reflection and feedback from the community. At this meeting there will be recognition of the Steering and an official handoff to the future Development Committee.

2026: Project Development Committee & Implementation

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Get involved

We are continuing to engage our community in bringing their voice, vision and ideas into the redevelopment of 72 Parris St. Add your contact info to get notified about our next community meeting and to receive updates.

Feel free to get in touch directly with

Jonah Fertig-Burd at jonahfertigburd@gmail.com

Justin Alfond at jalfond@gmail.com

FAQs

  • The current vision is to tear down the existing building a build a new larger building.

  • Justin Alfond owns the building and initiated the process in collaboration with Jonah Fertig-Burd, of InterRooted. A 11 person Steering Committee lead the process in collaboration with Justin and Jonah in 2024-2025. Now the Collective (Maine Association of New Americans, Palaver Strings and Project Home) are leading the implementation phase. The Collective will be supported by and consult with a new Development Committee with representatives from Baysidre and Food For All.

  • We are defining community primarily as people who live or work in Bayside and our interest is creating a project that meets their needs and fulfills the visions. At the same time, we recognize there is a broader community that has connections to Bayside and we are engaging them as well.

  • You can sign up on our contact form to get updates about the project. We will send out updates about future ways to get involved inlcuding our next community meetings.

  • We believe that when this property is governed and owned by the community of Bayside it has so much potential to meet the needs and be an anchor for the future of the neighborhood. We hope that this will inspire property owners and developers to use new models of community development.