Written by Robyn Raymond
I care deeply about this community.
As the adult and community education director in Jay/Livermore Falls and a resident of Farmington, I meet new people living and working in Franklin County every day. Their stories both inspire and motivate me. Having worked in adult and higher education for seven years trying to understand the inner needs of our learners I recognize each learner requires a different level of care.
Some of our students are parents/guardians. They relish the opportunity to enroll in free parenting classes to ensure better communication and connection with their children. We are able to provide this wonderful opportunity in our enrichment programming through partnership with Franklin County Children’s Task Force.
After attending the RSD 9 budget meeting last week, a question posed quite frequently in response to a social worker position added to the budget was, “why are parents not parenting?” While it would be brazen of me to say that the classes offered through our community will eradicate this issue, it is making a difference in the lives of children whose parents are enrolling with the end goal of family and self-betterment.
Other adult education students are without a vehicle. They perpetually struggle to attain their classroom goals without reliable transportation. In this, the assistance of Western Maine Transportation Services (WMTS) has been invaluable. It has made all the difference for a number of learners in Greater Franklin County attaining their high school credential. Recently, a survey was conducted by WMTS that received an outpouring of community response. Over 280 people in Franklin County weighed in expressing their need for transportation services. When the Community Relations Director for WMTS presented at the Farmington Rotary Club last week, he explained that this cut from the commissioners would take a bus offline further reducing access to health care, education, and basic living necessities.
With 149 people affected by layoffs at Verso in the last nine months, Western Maine Community Action, the service umbrella overseeing the Career Center, provided on-site career counselors and benefit specialists in our adult learning center to ease the tension of transition for displaced workers.
From helping us to establish retraining programs to advocating for our college preparatory courses, WMCA has played a crucial role in helping our neighbors get back on their feet. Forty percent (40%) of those that lost their job at Verso in the last round of layoffs are now back in the workforce. Forty-three percent (43%) are utilizing their TAA/TRA benefits to become skilled and knowledgeable in another field with hopes of finding employment locally.
The hope is that the hard work they put into training will pay off. There is good reason that it will, but such hope may well be misplaced if economic development takes a $60,000 cut in our county.
Economic development should be at the forefront of our concerns. Both adult education centers in Franklin County have worked hand in hand with Greater Franklin Development Council. We ensure that local area businesses are promoted, thriving and have access to a pool of educated, skillful applicants living in Greater Franklin County for hire.
With all the services mentioned above facing funding cuts from the county, how might we continue this level of care and meeting the needs of our community? I fear that we are being short-sighted and not looking at how this will affect people through a holistic lens. There is a tremendous need for social services being funded, but moreover there must be an understanding from those in a position of power to see how one cut affects all agencies and programs.
We are all connected.
We work collaboratively to ensure a safe, well-educated, and supported community. When one of us takes a funding cut, it creates a ripple effect that we all feel. When multiple agencies are zero-funded, we dismantle this network of care.
While I understand that my expression of concern may not provide a solution for taxes being “too high”, I can speak to the fact that people with more education earn higher incomes and pay more taxes, which helps communities prosper. The higher the education level, the less likely they are to be incarcerated. While I encourage people to explore adult education facts listed on this website: http://www.worlded.org/WEIInternet/us/adult-ed-facts.cfm, I think it is important to point out a few of particular relevance:
Federal, state and local governments stand to gain $2.5 billion in tax revenue and reduced expenses for every 400,000 adults who earn a high school diploma.
Adult education makes communities safer. Inmate participation in adult education reduced recidivism by 29% according to a study of three states.
Over 40% of all incarcerated adults in the US have not completed high school.
Voting is strongly correlated to educational attainment. The voting rate for adults without a high school diploma was less than half the rate for those with advanced degrees in 2008.
In the U.S., more than in most other countries, 60% of those with lower academic skills feel that they have no influence on public decisions and the political process.
I’m very much concerned about the social services provided in our towns and how these proposed cuts will affect day-to-day operations.
The funding for continuation of these valuable services in our area is critical.
I ask our commissioners to look at the vision statement of the Maine County Commissioners Association and self-reflect. Are you an embodiment of what is outlined below?
Maine County Government is a well-respected network of regional governments that have the authority to recognize and solve regional issues. The Maine County Commissioners Association provides relevant (vital) services to our citizens in a responsive, efficient, credible manner.
Mr. Brann, Mr. Webster, and Mr. Barker: please reconsider your proposed funding cuts. Be a part of the solution for our regional issues. Let us all reap the benefit of living in a healthy, educated and progressive community.
Robyn Raymond
Farmington
Robyn, well said. The services offered by all of these agencies are important to a healthy and safe community. Regardless of whether the commissioners understand it, there WILL BE a ripple effect and detrimental impact on our community if they discontinue funding for these services. AND, this impact will have fiscal implications, as well.
Well done, Robyn
That’s a pretty good argument that I feel I cannot afford.These funded programs need to get their funds from somewhere other than the already overtaxed.If you want more money then first you will have to show me how to pay my own bills,if I have any left over we can talk about it.Just because these programs have been getting ever increasing funding does not make them entitled.
Thank you, Robyn, for a well written argument in support of our valuable, quality community network!
Never mind the whining and excuses from the bigots and misers who won’t willingly help their fellow person! I’m sure you’ll agree that if everyone paid TWICE as much in taxes, it could help prevent the deaths of lots of starving people around the world, and imagine if you paid THREE times as much in taxes, how many MORE you could feed! And those people will ALSO need clean water, solar power, adequate housing, comprehensive medical care, contraceptive and abortion services, flat screen tvs, hi-speed internet, smart phones, late-model cars, decent clothes, proper liberal arts education, substance abuse counseling, subsidized public transportation, job training, community organizers, Civil Rights and Global Warming training, political indoctrination, and so much more! Surely you won’t want to shirk your global responsibilities! Please contact Robyn, or your local Democratic Party Headquarters for more information, pamphlets, etc.! They need volunteers to handle the phones, make signs, march, protest, write letters, and knock on doors, also. Together, you can DO this!!
So if I understand Robyn’s comments, she feels the commissioners are “short-sighted and not looking at how this will affect people”, don’t have “an understanding how one cut affects all agencies and programs”. and that they’re “not part of the solution!” Guess they must be part of the problem, then, eh? I think she owes the Commissioners an immediate apology!
Dear Arnold P., your comments demonstrate exactly why we are in the mess we are in. You should have attended the public comment hearing on the county funding just so you would have a clue about what you are talking about.
You should apologize to the hardworking, blue-collar residents that are struggling to get by. They are not looking for a hand out, but just a hand up. Do you think they wanted to be laid-off from Verso Paper? Do you think they chose to have a catastrophic illness? We need to support all of our citizens so that they can intern support themselves.
Shame on you, Arnold P. You, like the Commissioners, precisely demonstrate why we’re in the “ah, screw em” situation we’re in. You and them see the community you live in as you and you alone. You see your neighbors as people who out to fleece you and anything that might help them in some small, constructive, future-leaning way is something taken from you. The people who use the services Robyn and others described are not out to harm you. Not out to take from you. In many, many cases things have happen to people completely outside their control. Should it happen to you or a family member, you’ll see the value. Unfortunately, til that time, the “ah, screw em” mentality will flow. Thank you Robyn, for speaking with facts not anger.
A nap,
Or some serious couch time.
Arnold..you really should “talk” to someone .
Hey… There just might be a subsidized program available.
Quoting, “The Commissioners precisely demonstrate why we’re in the “ah, screw em” situation we’re in.” People like Robyn, Glenn, and Stan are a big part of why TRUMP was elected, and their behavior SINCE the election will help assure that he has a second term. While both Robyn and Stan were insulting toward the Commissioners, the only “anger” I see came from Glenn and Stan. Probably all three are still smarting since the election and this is another chance to vent. We’re already more than 1/4 way to the 2018 election, and they’re just digging their hole deeper! We appreciate that! Hope they keep it up! We’ll replay a lot of it at election time!
Who can forget those immortal words from that old Creedence song, “And when you ask them “How much should we give?”, aww, they only answer “More, more, more, more!”
Arnold P:
Other immortal words:
Incarcerate, not educate…
It takes a village….not just to raise a child…..which should we go for?
Wow Arnold……. That’s great that you can figure out what political party people identify with because they believe in doing what’s right for our townspeople! !!! You seem to have a lot of neat skills! like rapid fire commenting on the Bulldog like it’s your full time job.
I recall Glenn’s speech the other night (from the meeting you clearly were NOT at) and he spoke about our governer and Trump’s job growth plans. Doesn’t sound like a diehard Dem to me…… but I could be wrong……
I also had the opportunity to meet Robyn and talk face to face. Something I doubt you would have the gall to do. And while I am not personally using any of the services being cut I hope that if I ever need to reach out for help people like Robyn answer my call.
She talked about the work her program has done with laidoff mill workers and how many are now going on to college. Great work keeping people here local after loosing their job.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say it has nothing to do with political parties but just compassion and making sure people are taken care of.
I don’t enjoy paying high taxes. But I can appreciate what is being done where I live and investing in the lives of others. just like Citizen Responsibility said…… I’d rather pay for them to be educated now instead of paying for them to be behind bars later.
Yes, it’s true, when you rob Peter to pay Paul, Paul likes it, and wants you to keep doing it. You can even create a political party around that policy, using the Carrot and the Stick ploy, (you have to make sure the donkeys never quite get the Carrot, so they’ll continue to take you where YOU want to go.)
So the choice is between paying for people’s education and living expenses, medical costs, etc., or having them turn to crime? Sounds like a choice between being robbed by a pickpocket or a mugger!
Lots of people get caught up in ideals they ignore practical reality. One earns money, but that would be impossible without a state to protect contracts, provide infrastructure, provide currency and keep social peace and stability. Without public education and a decent social welfare system, society would probably fall apart and even the wealthy would find it hard to earn money (unless they turned to organized crime). That’s based on how the real world works, no ideology. No one’s money is completely their own, they couldn’t earn it without a web of social connections and an effective regulatory state.
So nobody is robbing Peter to pay Paul, that is a misleading false analogy.
I do know many people who are very successful who benefited from government programs at one point in their lives. I know of one person who insists she would not be where she is had these things not existed. Practically, these programs bring unseen benefits by yes, preventing people from turning to crime, but also creating avenues to success that improve the community and make it easier for those who are successful to earn more. Money spent on children might help turn around a cycle of dependency and poverty. A narrow “it’s my money and it’s their fault if they’re struggling” perspective leads to a false interpretation of reality, and a destructive selfishness that does more harm than good.