To tackle the high unemployment in some of Maine’s rural areas, local community groups are tying education and job growth together in new and successful ways. They are doing this by providing networks of support through a variety of public, non-profit, and private organizations.
Some interesting examples from the western mountain area of our state were presented at a Maine Community Foundation meeting last week in Rangeley. The foundation and its donors give annual grants to worthy small and large Maine non-profit recipients. An interesting and informative presentation, on the prospects for Maine’s workforce, and the need for postsecondary education, was made after the first night’s dinner meeting, by a panel of four community leaders from the Franklin County area.
The panel, moderated by Dr. David Dixon, a Maine Community Foundation Board member, included Theo Kalikow, president of the University of Maine at Farmington; Gary Perlson of the Franklin County College Network; Tonya Swain, Executive Director of the Western Mountain Alliance; and Quentin Clark, Superintendent of Schools SAD 58.
In Franklin County, many high school students have never seen a traffic light, or been as far from home as Portland. Getting them to travel to colleges in more urban areas is a real challenge. Post-secondary career or college education was needed right in the community, for young people, as well as adults who need retraining, in order to find new jobs.
To better serve the community, a number of career and community college courses are now being offered at the local sites like the two high schools, Tech and Career Centers, the Franklin Memorial Hospital, local industrial facilities and the Saddleback Ski Area. By offering these programs right in the local communities, the environment does not seem threatening to either the high school youths or adults taking those courses.
The Western Mountain Alliance spokesperson brought up the area’s economic need for jobs. Western Maine is generally poorer than the rest of the state, with high unemployment, lower household incomes and lower rates of educational attainment. Many high school students drop out in their senior year. The region presently has unemployment rates greater than 14 percent, and in 2008, about 17.5 percent were living below the poverty level.
Higher education levels are associated with increased incomes and better jobs. The president of the university said that one formula for successful learning is having classes for parents, along with mentoring by faculty members, within the same facilities. Many parents in the area are becoming college students, at the same time as or after their children.
Cultural changes have taken place in Franklin County, because of the network of cooperation between the schools, colleges, non-profit organizations and businesses. The need for going to college is being talked about in the high schools. Students are now asking the supportive community network, “Will you please tell my parents to consider going to college, too.”
And when parents respond, “I don’t have child care,” or “I don’t have transportation,” the network replies “We can take care of it.”
They are doing just that in Franklin County, now. As the community educational network groups work to break down the barrier to higher education, which include high costs, and getting local sources setup to provide classes and support systems, more parents are realizing that an educated workforce means job growth and higher wages for their children and themselves, whether through a high school degree or career or college training.
The audience asked if an incubator program for small businesses could provide more opportunities for jobs, lower rental costs and management specialists on site for marketing and financial advice. Another alternate course is for unemployed youths to volunteer their services at local businesses to get experience in working on a job. It was also mentioned that another option would be to run high school buildings on a 24-hour-a-day basis, to save facility costs, heating costs and create more teacher jobs, too.
A lot of communities are addressing plans that could lead to more jobs and better wages. Maine lags the rest of New England in the percent of its population with higher education. Higher education is a major driver of economic development, as firms look to open businesses or plants in communities with well-educated workforces. Each city and county in Maine needs to work to improve educational attainment for its young people and its adults.
— Bernard Featherman is a business columnist and past president of the Biddeford-Saco Chamber of Commerce. He can be reached by e-mail: bernard@featherman.com.
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