Age-friendly community initiative, bethel area

WHEN DID YOU ORGANIZE AS A REGIONAL APPROACH?

AFCI was the first regional AFC in Maine. When we first formed in 2015, we assumed the “traditional” organizational structure of a single town (Bethel), but almost immediately realized that wouldn’t work in our situation, for the reasons listed below.

WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO TAKE A REGIONAL APPROACH?

The 6 contiguous towns have historically been considered a “Bethel Area” unit – School Administrative District, non-profit organizations, etc.  Bethel, at ~2600 population, is by far the largest town/village and is thus the center of most cultural, educational and business activity, and the outlying towns-people are, to a large extent, centered here.  Therefore, it is unwieldy and potentially divisive to plan for only the “central” town.  Additionally, we realized that at least 2/3 of our initial founding committee were non-Bethel residents.

HOW MANY MUNICIPALITIES ARE INCLUDED IN YOUR REGIONAL APPROACH? 

Six

PLEASE DESCRIBE YOUR REGION

Our region is very rural and a tourist area.  Newry, home of the Sunday River Skiway and Resort, is the largest tourist draw, but there are many other attractions in the area, making it a popular vacation destination.  Over the decades the region has enjoyed a tremendous wealth of cultural, recreational, and intellectual resources, especially Gould Academy, the National Training Laboratory (Behavioral Science/Organizational Development Institute), and the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School in Newry. 

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE ORGANIZATION OF YOUR REGIONAL APPROACH?

Volunteer – 501 c3

While the resources described above are a tremendous advantage, a parallel reality is that AFCI has always struggled to define its unique slot in providing community services and to attract volunteers amongst all the other community service organizations.  We became a non-profit corporation in 2018 to afford greater independence in fiscal exchanges.  It has done this and no obvious further benefits or opportunities, but the process has been simple and inexpensive, so very worth the effort.

IS EACH OF YOUR MEMBER MUNICIPALITIES AN INDEPENDENTLY ENROLLED MEMBER OF THE AARP NETWORK OF AGE-FRIENDLY STATES AND COMMUNITIES?

Yes. This approach has always seemed the most sensible, and we’ve found that there are minor – but real - advantages.  We use it as we can to encourage the 6 towns – for instance, presenting them with plaques of membership, which hang in their town offices.  Most definitely it prevents any unintended “jealousy” or feelings of inferiority.

PLEASE DESCRIBE ANY KIND OF FISCAL RELATIONSHIP/CONTRACT

We have a fiscal relationship with the six towns that is informal, but substantive.

From the beginning, the 6 towns have provided our only source of operating expenses.  We are always aware of the importance of subtly reminding them of AFCI’s contributions to their towns – for instance, our annual report and the distribution of seasonal and program-specific flyers in a multitude of town locations.  Each year we send a letter of request for town funding (there is no stated formula), which is readily granted.  The goodwill is decidedly fostered through our 6 (actually just 5, currently) town representatives

WHAT HAVE YOU FOUND TO BE THE BENEFITS AND DOWNFALLS OF THE REGIONAL APPROACH?

The benefits are all listed above, basically: (a) it’s the only feasible structure for our area and (b) member towns contribute our only regular budget revenue.  The only real downfall is that It requires constant energy to keep redefining AFCI’s relevance to the individual towns.  We addressed that with a 2021 AARP Challenge Grant, which purchased materials for the construction of 17 benches or tables that were gifted to the 6 towns.  It was a magnificent project, involving all donated labor for the furniture construction, the exquisite painting and decorating of the furniture, and lovely commemorative copper plaques.  Community officials and residents have loved the gifts.  (Did we mention how much work this collaboration was?!)

WHAT SUGGESTIONS DO YOU HAVE FOR OTHER PEOPLE CONSIDERING A REGIONAL APPROACH?

It’s not necessarily easy to combine towns in a collaborative unit.  Know your community!  What is the history and nature of the potential region you’re envisioning?  Know the local politics and demographics before considering the regional approach.  If it is not already positive, lay some good groundwork before embarking on the arrangement.  Avoid engendering a climate of competitiveness amongst your member towns.

 An inherent challenge in the regional approach is the “herding cats” syndrome.  How difficult will it be to keep the unit reasonably cohesive?  Are there long distances to cover in visiting the member towns?  Are there existing alliances or, conversely, touchy areas/issues?  Will you be able to keep in fairly close communication?  AFCI has not solved, but addressed this through our defined structure of having a representative from each town on our Board (there’s one tiny town where that hasn’t been possible, but a designated Board member keeps in touch – and the town continues to pay an annual contribution to AFCI!)

 Be transparent about your organization, keeping residents and town leaders, and administrators fully apprised of your goals, programs, and contributions to the community (an annual report is a good idea).  Invite town administrators to your organization’s meetings and engage in meaningful discussion, inviting administrators’ opinions.  Elaborate on what your organization can contribute to the town.  AFCI often suggests that we can link towns to funding opportunities, even writing grant proposals for town projects. 

 One major example for AFCI: we received a 2021 AARP Challenge Grant, whose major purpose was to provide tangible benefits to our 6 towns, as a reminder of their membership in our Regional AFC.  The project capitalized on major in-kind donations from community members of all 6 towns.  A local volunteer group of retired men has, for many years, met weekly to construct simple furniture to donate to local non-profits.  For this project, they constructed a total of 18 benches and picnic tables, the Bethel Area Arts and Music group designed and painted lovely motifs on each (including checkerboards on the tables), and a local artisan made and donated beautiful copper plaques to commemorate all project contributors.  It was wildly successful, with benches and tables all across the local landscape!