‘Maine Voices’ listens to area citizens’ concerns

    PRESQUE ISLE – Low-income people from the state’s highest poverty areas are being asked for their ideas on ending poverty in Maine.
    “Maine Voices,” a program organized by the Maine Community Action Association and funded by a grant from the Maine Community Foundation (MCF), is seeking direct personal feedback through a series of forums this summer. Moderators/facilitators for each forum are volunteers from Community Action agencies.     Forum participants were invited from towns identified in the “Poverty in Maine: 2006” report produced by the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at the University of Maine. In Aroostook, 11 individuals accepted an invitation to participate in and explore forum topics during a session hosted by Aroostook County Action Program (ACAP) last month. Others sessions are slated for Bangor, Portland, Wilton, Skowhegan and Searsport.
    According to Irving Faunce, director of program operations for Western Maine Community Action and project coordinator for Maine Voices, the ideas received and priorities identified in these forums will help create the agenda for the second annual Maine Symposium on Poverty and Economic Security to be held in Augusta Oct. 27.
    “These are informal forums where we ask each participant to tell their story,” Faunce said, “and to identify what aspects of life could be better and what they could do differently. It’s also an opportunity to speak of individual dreams and goals, and to identify what stands in the way of achieving them – education, lack of transportation, a health condition or other reasons.
    “With the help of forum participants, we want to identify the ways that both local and state governments, social services agencies, families and social networks can help those who are having a hard time making ends meet,” he said. “In the end, through the work of this and future symposium gatherings, our goal is to alleviate and ultimately end the cycle of poverty in Maine. It’s a big task, but we need to think big.”
    The MCF grant provides a stipend to each participant to cover transportation and childcare expenses for each forum and will make available additional stipends for those who wish to attend the Augusta symposium.