September 22nd Community Meeting with the Island Institute

BeaverIslandAssociation · Mon Sep 07, 2015 10:27 am

Seasonal and year-round Beaver Island residents are asking great questions about the upcoming meeting on September 22nd from 3-6 p.m. at the Community Center. "What is the Island Institute and what do they do?"

The Island Institute, a non-profit organization, was founded in 1983 with a goal of ensuring balanced use and a healthy future for the islands and waters of the Gulf of Maine (www.islandinstitute.org). With a staff of 41 full time and 4 part time employees, and 10 Island Fellows who live and work in island communities, the Institute operates according to a three-year strategic planning cycle, with priorities developed in collaboration with island residents and our 22-member Board of Trustees.

Their mission is to work to sustain Maineâ??s island and remote coastal communities and to exchange ideas and experiences to further the sustainability of communities there and elsewhere. Maine has 15 year-round un-bridged island communities, with approximately 5,000 year-round residents, and another 144 working waterfront communities reliant on fisheries, with a coastal population of 100,000. While these communities continue to struggle with extreme challenges in creating sustainable livelihoods and community institutions, the Island Institute has seen evidence of improvement and local success. Institutionally, they are dedicated to sharing lessons learned from our partnerships with island and remote coastal communities in Maine and elsewhere.

Current programming focuses on: K-12 education programs; college scholarships and internships; a leadership and entrepreneurship training program; small business support through a micro-loan and investment fund; and targeted programming to stabilize energy costs, affordable housing, and to ensure that fisheries remain a viable economic base for isolated natural-resource dependent communities. They also support Fellows who live and work in these communities on locally-defined projects for one or two years. In addition to programming, they publish a weekly e-newsletter, a monthly newspaper with a distribution of 65,000 (www.workingwaterfront.com) and an annual Island Journal.

We will add more as the agenda is released. Everyone is welcome to join us on September 22nd from 3-6 p.m. at the Community Center to learn more about how we can share ideas to support the vitality of our island community.

BeaverIslandAssociation · Mon Sep 14, 2015 9:21 am

Please join us at the Community Center on September 22nd from 3- 6 p.m. for an Open House. WBVI and News on the 'Net will provide coverage of the event. For further questions or comments, contact any board member of the Beaver Island Association.

BeaverIslandAssociation · Mon Sep 21, 2015 9:10 am

The purpose of the open house is to initiate on-going communication and collaboration between the Beaver Island community, similar islands in Maine, and the state of Michigan.

If you have ideas regarding critical Beaver Island needs, please come to the open house and share your ideas with your fellow citizens. These ideas will become an essential part of the dialog of the program.

Brad · Post by **Brad** » Thu Sep 24, 2015 7:51 pm

This was an excellent meeting and well attended. We've already gotten some good ideas. I'm more optimistic about our island then I've been in a long time. I'm looking forward to what our team comes back from Maine in November. It's nice to see the island pulling together.

Brad