FARMINGTON — Western Mountains Alliance has merged with Maine Rural Partners.
The alliance has been an advocate for Western Maine over the past 25 years. MRP will continue to operate its office at 165 Front St. in Farmington, Mark Hews, interim executive director, said.
The staff has gone on to pursue new opportunities, he said. A part-time person will man the office while the new Maine Rural Partners makes a strategic assessment and realignment for the combined organization.
Part of that work involves holding regional listening sessions around the state.
The first session will take place in Farmington from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 17, in North Dining Hall on the campus of the University of Maine at Farmington.
Hews has been named interim director until the first of the year. Part of his responsibility is to obtain a candid assessment of the organization’s mission, its programs and projects in light of the merger, he said.
Maine Rural Partners is looking for feedback and responses on what the rural community is facing.
They want to hear about how people succeed in rural areas and what they feel is most important in their area that helps them stay there or creates viable “stay options,” he said. They are looking at what can help young people and those on fixed incomes remain in rural areas.
He said they hear about the “brain drain” or young people moving away to pursue opportunities. What is left are people who cannot find jobs or high paying ones and people on fixed incomes, he said.
“Demographics show a migration from other counties to York and Cumberland,” he said. “Maine has a stagnant population that is falling behind other New England states.”
The 2012 census reports Maine is the most rural state in the country according to population density, Hews said.
“The state has some more populated cities such as Portland, Lewiston-Auburn and Bangor,” he said. “But compared to cities in other states with urban density, they still have a rural feel to them.”
Hews invites all members of the community to come share their responses on what is needed to help them stay and live successfully in rural Maine.
Over the years, both organizations, Western Maine Alliance and Maine Rural Partners, have worked together with an emphasis on rural advocacy, he said.
“Based in Orono, Maine Rural Partners is the state’s federally recognized state rural development council, within the National Rural Development Partnership. It is dedicated to advancing collaborative, integrated approaches to rural development,” according to its E-Newsletter.
A listening session will take place in Norway from 3 to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 23, at the First Universalist Church.
Others will be held in Unity, Machias, Bangor, Caribou and Standish in September and October.
abryant@sunjournal.com
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