Downtown program promotes
healthy choices
Staff photo/Kathy McCarty
KEN ARNDT, director of planning and development for the city of Presque Isle, explains to City Council a grant from the Main Street Maine Program that will help promote healthy lifestyle choices for downtown business owners and their employees.
PRESQUE ISLE — Efforts are being made to make downtown a more vital place not just for businesses but a place of improved health for business owners and their employees. To help achieve this goal, City Council members recently authorized City Manager Jim Bennett to enter into an agreement with the Maine Downtown Center to participate in the Healthy Maine Street Program.
Ken Arndt, director of planning and development, gave a brief explanation of the program and the accompanying grant.
“This is hard to summarize,” Arndt told councilors. “This will network the community of Presque Isle with the Main Street Maine group.”
Arndt said only a select few municipalities have been invited to take part in the program, which is designed to promote a healthy lifestyle.
“We were approached to become one of 20 Main Street Maine communities to not only stimulate growth in the downtown area but to also promote downtown as a healthy area of our community. We’re already working on a farmer’s market and the bike path,” said Arndt, adding more can and will be done as time and money become available.
Arndt urged councilors to authorize the city manager enter into the agreement.
“This is at no cost to the city. It’s a two-year commitment. Main Street Maine will give us $10,000 a year to run this two years,” said Arndt.
Through the program a Wellness Council will be established as a subcommittee reporting to the city of Presque Isle/Downtown Revitalization Committee. A core function of the Wellness Council will be to disseminate and promote community-based health and wellness resources to employers within the community (e.g., farmer’s market information, community blood pressure and cholesterol screenings, trail maps, walking clubs, healthy eating seminars, weight management programs, tobacco cessation support groups and stress management workshops).
The committee will make a commitment to implement at least three evidence-based interventions, one addressing each of three areas: physical activity, healthy eating and tobacco use. The target will be to recruit at least 10 small businesses (less than 20 employees) downtown to participate in the workshop wellness program. Each employer will have at least one representative on the Wellness Council.
Anyone interested in learning more about the program can call Arndt at 760-2727.
