Maine Solutions: Examples of Success

Solving community problems in a new way

Examples of successful collaborative processes in Maine implemented with the assistance of current Maine Solutions staff or advisers:

Mount Desert Island (MDI) Tomorrow was initiated in 1987 in response to citizen concerns that seasonal growth and development threatened the stability of the year-round community. In 2001, the process was revitalized to deal with persistent and new issues, and to tap into renewed citizen interest in the future of the island. Now, as in the initial process, non-profits have provided key leadership, choosing to highlight that MDI Tomorrow runs parallel to and is supportive of efforts by each of the four island towns to respond to issues and plan for the future. Citizens in the current process are directly involved through participation in one of eight issue or project areas. Where the earlier process officially “stopped” when a “preferred future” of the island was published along with a summary of current   conditions and trends, the present effort has linked vision with implementation.

The Collaborative Fisheries Management Program (CFMP), a joint program of the University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Maine Sea Grant, has two primary outreach components — interactive workshops to improve the existing management process for a particular fishery and community-based fisheries case studies to replace conventional, top-down management with a new decentralized, collaborative model.

Gateway 1 — Asset Preservation Through Partnerships. Gateway I is a landmark long-term strategic land use and transportation planning project for Mid-coast Route 1 fostered by the Maine Department of Transportation. Involving a collaboration among communities, state and federal agencies, Gateway 1 explores new ways of combining transportation and land use decision-making, thereby helping to balance community growth and local values with transportation services and needs.