Category: In the news

A new report from the Island Institute reveals that 10 Maine coastal communities with lowest incomes are in downeast Washington County while the 10 communities with highest incomes are in Cumberland, York and Sagadahoc counties. The report also shows that employment in the 30 coastal and island communities in Maine with the lowest incomes are almost five times as likely to be dominated by fishing, farming and forestry as by any other field. The Island Institute’s 2018 edition of “Waypoints: Livelihoods on Maine’s Coast and Islands” is a first-time look at a range of coastal community employment indicators, according to the Rockland-based nonprofit.

With the help of a fellowship at Peaks Island Elementary School, students will learn how to become better stewards of not just their own island community, but the planet as a whole. There will also be a renewed focus on ways to live more sustainability, and making intergenerational connections with the island’s older residents, according to Kelly Hasson, the new teacher leader of both the Peaks and Cliff Island schools. Under the two-year fellowship, the Peaks Island community will have someone committed full time to implement an Edible Schoolyard project while also crafting a plan for better, more supportive aging-in-place programs for seniors.

Year-round Monhegan Island residents Carley Mayhew and Mott Feibusch started production at Monhegan Coffee Roasters in June, adding a new business to the island’s economy. Feibusch and Mayhew told the Lincoln County News that starting a business on the island presented unique challenges, including the cost and supply of propane and the logistics of bringing supplies onto the island.

A United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development grant has connected three small Maine islands – Great Cranberry, Little Cranberry and Sutton – to the world by helping connect them to high-speed internet. A $1.3 million USDA Rural Development Community Connect grant was used to build a high-speed fiber and wireless connection for residents.

It’s expensive to live on an island. Energy costs more. Food costs more. Just about everything costs more. Last week, residents of Islesboro found out ferry service will start costing a lot more.
On Monday, new increases in ferry service fees will double the per-trip costs for just about everyone.

It’s inspiring to see what one small community can do to change its future. The Cranberry Isles, a year-round island community off the coast of Mount Desert Island, has finished the first phase of a fiber-to-home broadband network.Just a year ago, residents had internet that was sometimes too slow to send an email.
Upload and download speeds on the Cranberries now exceed 100 mbps, meaning they are able to join the global economy with faster internet than most of the U.S.’s metropolitan areas. Both the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the ConnectME Authority were clearly impressed with the ambition of this project. The recently awarded $1.3 million in federal funding will help cover almost all of the construction costs.