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By DOUG HARLOW
Staff Writer Wednesday, July 18, 2007

More than a half million people live in rural Maine and an estimated 12 percent of those rural households live below the poverty line.

Twenty-two percent of rural Maine children under 18 live in poverty.

In an attempt to reverse those troubling trends, John Fitzsimmons, president of the Maine Community College System, has scheduled public meetings to discuss how community colleges can help strengthen the state's rural economy.

The meetings are set to run in all 16 counties throughout the summer and into the fall, according to a release from Fitzsimmons' office.

"The goal is to learn from local leaders about the workforce and educational challenges of their region and to identify ways in which the state's seven community colleges can play a greater role in helping to address those challenges," Fitzsimmons said.

Fitzsimmons will travel to more than 15 cities and towns to meet with focus groups of local business and community leaders, according to the release.

The meetings are to begin Thursday in Dover-Foxcroft. Fitzsimmons will travel to Kennebec Valley Community College in Fairfield for a focus group meeting in August.

"Steady job losses in traditional manufacturing and natural resource based industries have contributed to poverty and unemployment in many rural areas of the state," Fitzsimmons said. "The economic and educational gaps between our urban and rural communities are deeply troubling.

"Without focused intervention they are likely to continue to grow. We need to explore how Maine's community colleges, working in partnership with local businesses and communities, can do more to strengthen and sustain rural areas of Maine."

Maine's community colleges are uniquely situated to help address some of the major workforce challenges confronting rural parts of the state, Fitzsimmons said.

The seven colleges and their nine off-campus centers are located within 25 miles of 92 percent of Maine's population. Programs of study are the most affordable in the state and both credit and non-credit offerings are focused on creating a skilled labor force that is responsive to the changing needs of the Maine economy, according to the release.

Over the course of the summer and fall, Fitzsimmons will hold meetings in all 16 Maine counties.

By late fall, he intends to issue a report that summarizes findings from the meetings and details recommendations on how to move forward.

Doug Harlow -- 861-9244

dharlow@centralmaine.com

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