Molly Curren Rowles brings extensive experience in Maine non-profit management, public interest advocacy, and law.
PORTLAND – The ACLU of Maine today announced Molly Curren Rowles as the organization’s next executive director. The announcement comes following an extensive nationwide search by the board and staff. Molly’s first day in the office will be May 13, 2024.
“Curren Rowles brings unique experience in nonprofit management from various areas of public interest, including religious liberty, housing access, refugee resettlement, and domestic violence advocacy,” said ACLU of Maine Board President Robert T. Kelley. “I am thrilled that after an exhaustive search, we found the best candidate right here in Maine. Molly's diverse experience in advocacy and law will continue and strengthen the ACLU’s tradition leading the fight to extend the promises of our Constitution to all people in Maine.”
Most recently, Curren Rowles served as the executive director of the Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine. There, she developed new programs, grew the agency’s capacity, and engaged interfaith and community connections in an array of ways, including collaborating with HIAS to build a refugee resettlement program that has resettled over 300 people in Maine since it opened in 2022.
Earlier, Curren Rowles spent seven years at Pine Tree Legal Assistance, where she specialized in complex family law cases and domestic violence advocacy. She then served as the York County Attorney, providing direct representation in many types of cases, including consumer, eviction, public benefits, and habitability. She also connected clients who had experienced discrimination with accessible legal assistance. In 2016, she returned to Pine Tree to build and manage a new statewide intake program.
“As a child growing up off the grid in rural New Hampshire, I developed a deep connection to the natural world and a profound appreciation of the Bill of Rights,” said Curren Rowles. “The Constitution provides a framework that empowers each American to be free to pursue meaning, purpose, and happiness. Though its promises are guaranteed to all, we still face the deliberate denial of rights and opportunities to those with less power, authority, or access in our society. I am honored to have the opportunity to join the ACLU of Maine’s team to champion the rights of all people in Maine – through strengthening our democracy and creating a fair legal system, to preserving bodily autonomy and holding government accountable.”
