MaineQuality

Nonprofit, business and community leaders share their visions for Maine in monthly interviews with MaineQuality host Orion Breen.  

Jess Maurer from the Maine Association of Area Agencies on Aging talks about age-friendly livable communities, the Tri-State Learning Collaborative on Aging and Bowdoinham's Advisory Committee on Aging. Click here for the five minute teaser.

Click here to listen to MaineQuality on iTunes. Logo by Ian Marquis at www.behance.net/ianjmarquis and music by bensound.com

Jess Maurer from the Maine Association of Area Agencies on Aging talks about age-friendly livable communities, the Tri-State Learning Collaborative on Aging and Bowdoinham's Advisory Committee on Aging. Click here for the full interview.
Click here to listen to MaineQuality on iTunes. Logo by Ian Marquis at www.behance.net/ianjmarquis and music by bensound.com

Check out the Maine Assoc. of Area Agencies on Aging for info on healthy aging in Maine at www.Maine4A.org and on Facebook. Tweets by @MaineAAAA Click here to sign up for Elder Advocacy Alert Updates.

After you click on "Submit" for your interests you can sign up for our Newsletter or follow these links for more info on Buy Local, Hour Exchange, Civic Action and Political Activism
We wish to invite you to join us and share your ideas and talents to improve the quality of life in Maine. Tell us what issues interest you the most and we can help connect you to other organizations and individuals who share your passion. We all know the State we want to live in and leave our children, a State of abundance and prosperity, sustainability and opportunity, equality and inclusion. Fortunately, Maine is full of amazing community leaders in nonprofits, businesses, and government all working towards this goal. There is tremendous opportunity right now to seize the moment and by working together, create real and lasting prosperity. We know that to have great jobs in Maine we need to sustainably utilize and preserve our natural resources, we need the healthiest and best educated workforce, we need to invest in innovative partnerships between the public and private sectors, we need to ensure equal access to opportunities for everyone. In short, we all need to work together to help to ensure that Maine always remains "the way life should be."

Click here for the Facebook event
5:30pm on Thursday, Sept. 27th at 303 Payson Smith Hall on USM's Portland Campus (off Falmouth St. see map below) - Hour Exchange Portland with USM's Sociology Department and Student Sociology Association will be hosting a free screening of the documentary Fixing the Future featuring David Brancaccio host of NOW on PBS.  
 
Fixing the Future features Hour Exchange Portland along with other local solutions to fixing the economy including local banking, buy local campaigns, local currency, worker owned cooperatives, and more. We recommend arriving early when the doors open at 5pm to assure you get a seat and hear introductions to the film to discuss some of the innovative solutions happening all across Maine. Those who can’t attend the event can sign up above to receive more information.  
 


The first edition of the documentary can be viewed here: www.pbs.org/now/fixing-the-future/ Hour Exchange Portland creates an alternative local economy of neighbors helping neighbors. Neighbors exchange service cash-free and tax-free based on the currency of time, where everyone’s time is equal no matter what the service being provided. Over the years Hour Exchange Portland members have exchanged over 150,000 hours of community service and provided over 25,000 hours of free health care. Anyone interested in finding out more or joining Hour Exchange Portland can visit their website www.HourExchangePortland.org  

I really don’t want to comment on our Governor and the Gestapo, but unfortunately I fear something very important may get lost amidst all the cacophony of the 24 hour circus of punditry.

LePage’s words may have been poorly chosen, but they were deliberately chosen. These were not off-the-cuff press conference remarks, this was his weekly prepared address to the state (and represents our state to the nation and the world when our state should be representing delightful summer vacations). Though he may apologize for using specific words which have caused offense, Lepage firmly believes the sentiment he spoke and unfortunately it is not an uncommon one.

Even as LePage blocks voter approved investments to research and development for Maine businesses and forces through a partisan budget cutting basic services like early childhood education, he equates those who collect taxes with mass murderers and those of us who pay taxes as being accomplices to genocide.

He is not the first of those who govern (or wish to govern) to promote fear and hatred of government and he won’t be the last. This kind of hypocrisy has become fashionable. And though it is now becoming commonplace, it is no less irrational and no less irresponsible.

It is all too easy to complain and blame taxes for anything and everything. But, dare I say it, taxes are good. It may not be the most popular thing to say, but it does have the benefit of being true. Taxes are used for building schools, hospitals, fire and police departments. Our taxes go to protecting our air and water and our civil liberties. Taxes fund scientific discoveries that inspire us, expand our knowledge of the universe and improve the human condition. Taxes invented the internet and put a man on the moon. Taxes fund our justice system and our democracy. In a very real way, the price of liberty is the taxes we pay.

I will say it again, taxes are good. Yes, money is spent on things you don’t like, that’s the way it is sometimes in a democracy. Yes, our tax code should be made more fair. Yes, we all like to complain and joke about how much we hate paying them. But we aren’t going to get anywhere fixing anything if we can’t admit that taxes are more than a necessary evil, they are a necessary good.

A version of this article appeared in the Twin City TIMES 7/19/12 pg.3.

“Corporations are people” Mitt Romney is often quoted, arguing that what is good for corporations is good for people. But this is a backwards way of looking at the truth, it’s not the cart that pushes the horse. If corporations are made of people, then what is good for people is good for corporations. There is always talk that Maine is not business friendly. But if we really want to attract business, the question we should be asking is “how can we be more family friendly?” How can we improve the quality of life here in Maine so this is the place where people want to continue to live and raise their families?

I met Paul at a Birth Roots parenting class, a new father, like me, of a beautiful baby girl. Paul works for a company with affiliates in Chicago and Portland, he told me he chooses to live in Maine even though it means he makes 20% less than his peers in Chicago. Paul isn’t the only one making this choice, people are always moving to Maine from big cities like New York because they want a different way of life, and they bring their business and their clients with them. There is something about living in Maine that transcends pure economic rationale, something about the beauty and the community that nourishes the soul. In Maine you feel you can live better even with less money. But Maine didn’t just happen this way by accident, it took us communally investing in our future and valuing what is truly priceless.

So what can we do to make Maine the most family friendly state? Cutting Head Start, as the Maine State Legislature just did, is the exact opposite of what we want to do. Research has continuously shown that early childhood education is the best investment we can make. A study in San Bernardino County, California showed society receives nearly $9 in benefits for every $1 invested in Head Start children. These benefits include increased earnings, employment, and family stability, and decreased welfare dependency, crime costs, grade repetition, and special education. Failure to support early childhood education is catastrophic, for our country and our children. The argument that by spending this money now we are mortgaging our children’s future simply can not be made. If we don’t make this investment now there may be no family home to mortgage.

The Maine State Chamber of Commerce needs to back re-instituting full funding to Head Start. In fact, they need to advocate increased funding, these children are the innovators and business owners of the future. If we want Maine and America to stay in business, investing in our children and our families is the only way to remain globally competitive. The bumper sticker says: Maine, the way life should be. Let’s try to keep it that way. Please contact the members of your local Chamber of Commerce and tell them to use their lobbyists in Augusta so putting families first is Maine’s first order of business.

You can find the 19 Maine State Senators and 75 Representatives who voted to cut Head Start funding here: www.mainelegislature.org/LawMakerWeb/rollcalls.asp?ID=280043557

You can find your town's Representatives here: www.maine.gov/legis/house/townlist.htm

A version of this article appeared in the Bangor Daily News 5/24/12 and the Portland Daily Sun 5/23/12.

My friends are proud Yankee penny pinchers, we even jokingly call ourselves "Miser Snobs" as we compete with each other to find the best bargains. But our frugality is the opposite of Scrooge, we try to save on the everyday expenses so we can be more generous with the things and people we love.

Even a Miser Snob recognizes that in order to save a lot later, you may have to spend a little now, and that's especially true in Maine. As they say in Maine there are two seasons, winter and the 4th of July. And I just may have found the most bodacious bargain to put all the other Miser Snobs in the state to shame.

Last year the state of Maine planned to weatherize 4,400 homes with the help of nearly $41.9 million in funding from the Recovery Act. This year there ain't no Recovery Act, but next year I found a way we may be able to weatherize over 4,000 homes for only $40 thousand. Now that's a savings!
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While waiting to be seated at one of my favorite local restaurants I decided to play a word game. "What is the word that makes Portland so special?" I asked myself. The secret to its success? At the top of "best of" lists across the nation and the world? And even closer to home, it is growing while every where else seems to be declining. In Maine, the census confirmed state with the oldest population, Portland still has a healthy balance. What is it that brings young people to Portland, and that young people bring to Portland?

The Opportunity here is more than just proximity to Boston, it is deliberate work to cultivate local Entrepreneurship. Yes, young people want jobs, but we want to be more than a nametag in a faceless conglomerate. We want more than to just work for someone, we want to work towards something. We need Mentors, we need to be able to look around and see positive role models of people who have done it, who took the risk, who started their own business, and found a community there Supporting them.
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Maine has the oldest population in the country, and that's just fine with me. My grandfather would probably say we have the most experience and the most character. The country that forged the golden idol of perpetual youth, where everything comes fast and easy and immediate gratification is king, is now waking up with one heck of an economic hang over. And the guy with the white beard who told us to work hard now and save for what's really important, that nothing worth having comes easy, he is starting to make a lot of sense right now.

He could gloat and say I told you so, but he won't, that's not the way he does things. He knows we have to learn some lessons the hard way. But have we learned our lesson? Have we got our priorities straight? Sometimes, as my grandfather would say, it seems we can't tell our tail bone from our elbow.

There was a time when communities valued the wisdom of the elders, when age was not a detriment, but an advantage. I dare say, our biggest untapped resource is not the gulf steam wind currents waiting to turn the turbines of giant floating wind farms, our biggest untapped resource is our elder population.
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Plastic made from corn and potato starch is safe, non-toxic, biodegradable, and supports local farmers and businesses over foreign oil and chemical companies. It is a safe alternative to plastic which contains Bisphenol-A (BPA) which has been linked to breast cancer, diabetes, miscarriage, birth defects, and more. Find out more about Potato Plastic at the Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine.

Why support locally owned businesses? Just see Portland Buy Local's top 10 reasons or check out the comprehensive benefit studies done by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. There are also Buy Local campaigns in Bangor, Scarborough, South Portland, Deer Isle-Stonington, Biddeford-Saco, and one called Seacoast Local covering southern Maine and coastal New Hampshire. BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies) has a national directory you can search as well. A study by the Maine Center for Economic Policy found that every $100 spent at locally owned Portland businesses contributes an additional $58 to the local economy. By comparison, $100 spent at a chain store in Portland yields just $33 in local economic impact. The study concludes that, if residents of the region were to shift 10 percent of their spending from chains to locally owned businesses, it would generate $127 million in additional local economic activity and 874 new jobs in Cumberland County.

Think globally, act locally. Civic duty doesn't end with voting, that's just where it begins. It is not just your right to petition your government, if you see injustice, it is your responsibility.
Contact your City Councilors, State Legislatures, and United States Legislative Representatives and give them a piece of your mind. (Find your Maine State Representative here.)
Amplify your voice by joining a community action group that shares your values and organize an event, start a petition, notify the press and write letters to the editor. The Maine People's Alliance is a good example of a grassroots community organization, they focus on issues of Health Care, Affordable Housing, The Environment, Immigration, Workers' Rights, Economic Justice, Racial Justice, and Democracy. Other organizations you may want to check out include The League of Young Voters, Occupy Maine, and Peace Action Maine.
Take your issue directly to the people. Write your own law, get signatures, and go on the ballot with a Citizen Initiative.

What if we all did just one hour of community service every week? What a difference it would make! You could help an organization like your local food pantry or just a neighbor down the street. To make it easy you could join a community service exchange where if you help a neighbor for an hour providing a service they need then you earn an hour of service from anyone else in the exchange, the idea is that everyone's time is equal, everyone has something to offer, and everyone gets what they need. Check out Hour Exchange Portland for a great example.

Let us pledge to give of the best of ourselves to make a better life, a better way, a better world. Let us put an end to the disparities between what we believe and what we do. Let us live our principles. Let us stand together and be united. Let us see the equality of all people and treat each other with the respect we all deserve. Individually let us come together for the good of all, and together work to protect each individual's right to life, to food when any child is hungry, to medicine when any elder is sick, to shelter when we are cold, to good health and rewarding work and a modicum of comfort mixed with the plentiful joy of community. Let us put our priorities first. Let us find our joy in service and accomplishment, in the progress we make in working together to make the world we want to live in. Let us pledge to do without the unnecessary until all of us have what is necessary. And let us do so joyfully, for we know our hardships can be blessings with the greatest lessons to teach us and the challenges we face are only opportunities to prove ourselves. We recognize that happiness and perfection is not found in isolation but in union. We all rise or fall together, which is why we pledge to work together to make the future better today.