WILTON — Western Maine Community Action, serving families in Franklin, Oxford and Androscoggin counties, will celebrate its 50th anniversary with a daylong symposium next month.
The event is titled “Symposium: Past, Present, Future” and is scheduled for Friday, June 12, at the University of Maine at Farmington.
“We have never done anything alone,” Executive Director Fen Fowler said. “We’ve always involved the community and community partners.”
The community is invited to participate in the celebration, which will look at what’s been done to address poverty over the past 50 years, where the situation is today and what might be of interest in the future, Fowler said.
The six areas of programming that day are: seniors, employment, housing and energy, nutrition, youth and health.
U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, will be the lunchtime speaker and U.S. Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Kevin Concannon will be the dinner speaker, Fowler said.
A history display for WMCA will be featured in Emery Community Art Center and a dance concludes the day.
Throughout the years, more than 300 people have served on the board and more than a thousand people have been employed by WMCA. Anyone with photos or news stories about the organization is welcome to submit them for the display, Fowler said.
This will also be Fowler’s last day as executive director, a position he has held for 40 years. WMCA employed 200 people when he started. Now there are 54, he said.
A fee for the symposium will help with meals. The day is broken down so people can choose to attend only portions.
Franklin County Community Action Council incorporated on June 1, 1965, and started in Strong. After President John F. Kennedy died, President Lyndon B. Johnson continued Kennedy’s efforts to eradicate poverty.
Because each state has county extensions, the extension service was asked to pull together community people to discuss the need, what could be done and what the federal government could do to alleviate poverty, Fowler said.
One third of the group were elected officials, one third private business people and one third people living in poverty, he said. WMCA’s board of directors still includes representatives from the three areas.
Community Actions were started under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. WMCA is one of 10 in Maine and 1,000 in the nation.
WMCA provides programs in five major areas: housing and energy work, CareerCenter services, nutritional services, elder services and community services. There are two to five programs under each area dedicated to helping people be more independent, he said.
When WMCA started, one major local concern was family planning. It started the first family planning office in Maine in 1969 and operated family planning services for 45 years in the three counties. The program became part of Maine Family Planning a couple of years ago, he said.
In recent years, WMCA started Keep Seniors Home, which helps seniors to age in their homes, he said. It has also established a network of navigators to help people sign up for insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
There is less traditional poverty, Fowler said, but the greater risk for poverty now is seen when someone loses a job or health care. In rural Maine, finding another job with benefits is difficult and can lead to poverty.
Fowler said medical technology helps people live longer but also puts seniors at risk of outliving their resources. It is a new challenge to communities, he said.
For more information about WMCA or the symposium, visit www.wmca.org and click on WMCA News.
abryant@sunmediagroup.net
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