Washington County Community Conversation

September 29, 2016

Visions

 Everyone has access to medical, dental, and mental health services

 Everyone who wants to work can have a full-time job with living wage and benefits

 We’ll take our place as the first county on the eastern seaboard and use our small population to our benefit

 Public transportation system

 Develop an attitude of cooperation among our towns, less competition

 Every home will have broadband access

 A safe place to raise families

 A place we are proud to live in, young people stay, great place to raise a family

 Everyone has food security (affordable, nutritious food)

 An environment where people can achieve their full potential

 Every young person has confidence in school system

 Build the infrastructure in Washington County (places to stay, places to eat)

 Elderly are taken care of

 The ability to retire/age in place

 Senior college is a plus

 Well managed land and water

 Washington County’s wells and water infrastructure are functioning well  We think of Washington County as home

 Arts become an important part of our schools and communities

 Improved Infrastructure will bring people

 Communities work together.

Strengths

 There is plenty of opportunity to get involved as there is a lot happening here

 Great collaboration

 Large network of conserved lands

 We know each other in the community

 Strong commitment to place

 Environmental core – collaborative efforts with stewardship

 Excellent collaboration with the community colleges and UMaine Machias

 Creativity, persistence, perseverance and a toughness = great characteristics for innovation, entrepreneurship, and microenterprise

 Plentiful resources available to people who want to start their own businesses – “incubator without walls”

 Healthy Acadia is growing and partnering to address healthcare issues in Washington County

 Two great hospitals

 We have great assets, including two wildlife refuges, a scenic byway, and many natural attractions. How do we conserve and attract tourists? What is the balance?

 The Community Caring Collaborative is a big asset and a model for innovative collaboration

 UMM is a community and a university

 Extraordinary coastline and clean waters are a huge magnet for scientific research institutions, especially in areas of climate change and marine biology

 Strong respect for the rights of individuals to live the way that they want to live  Deep history here

 Strong sense of family

 Natural resources are spectacular

 Amazing leadership and strong volunteers. People step up!

Challenges

 Substance abuse

 Lack of safe, affordable housing

 Transportation

 Generational poverty, difficult problems to address

 The “us” and “them” divide needs to be bridged

 Challenge of keeping businesses open year-round

 People want things to be different, but they don’t want change

 Washington County needs hope

 Literacy is an issue in Washington County

 Educational attainment rate

 People starting college, but then unable to finish

 Student loans

 Need good early childhood education

 Need to raise aspirations of people in Washington County

 Need to adapt to climate change

 Lack of basic skills (cooking, budgeting, etc.)

 Broadband connectivity

 Sometimes we don’t value all people

Building on Strengths to Address the Challenges  Convene community circles; embrace new technology for transportation; build capacity for development; asset-based community development – grow thoughtfully and with a plan

 Bring funders together to address issues and merge resources

 Create strategies to balance tourism and the economy; become a four-season destination, embrace winter

 A willingness to share funding around collaboration

 Look for long-range funding opportunities

 Investing in youth: expand EdGE program; more mentoring programs with businesses; sharing of history so children can develop a strong sense of place

 Build jobs, inform and imagine

 K-12 education programs for entrepreneurship and technology

 Apprenticeships to connect youth with jobs

 Create a listening project to breakdown the “us” and “them” mentality

 Create a county-wide strategic plan: what do we want? Where do we want to be?

 Addressing poverty and basic needs: Become a national model (challenge: resources/funding); we can’t address government issues, but as a county, we can solve local issues together, we could become a model for this and a national example

 Change perspective: Washington County is the beginning of the road, not the end of the road

 Transportation; infrastructure; libraries; healthcare; activities for all ages

 Transportation is a challenge – develop an Uber-like system or could we be the pilot for driverless cars in rural area?

 Cultivate a sense of community outreach to newcomers

 Promote green businesses, tourism, biking

 Create a system or network to better utilize the assets of our elderly population

 Broadband: collaborate; pursue funding; more outreach

 Brand our image of Washington County  We build our aspirations

 Educational attainment – break down barriers so that people who want to can go to school and/or complete their education

 We need some kind of central communication that will bring us together as a county