Field Notes is a feature highlighting the work of staff at Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront.
Name: Ken Stevenson
Title: Community Development Officer
Focus: I connect island and marine-economy dependent communities with people and resources to help them thrive.
In this photo: I am listening to Roger Berle of Cliff Island, founder of the Maine Islands Coalition, outside the Legislative Council chamber at the State House in Augusta.
At that moment, coalition members were coming together from a range of unbridged island communities at the beginning of two days of meetings in Augusta. They met with legislators, representatives of Maine’s federal delegation, and staff from state agencies about housing and health care challenges. They also gathered for a social hour at the end of the first day.
Bringing people together is a simple and powerful way to help communities understand each other and thrive. It can also be complicated to bring together several dozen people from various islands to gather, in winter, in Maine. I was glad that I wrote detailed directions for getting from the State House parking lot, through the hallways, tunnels, and staircases, to reach the room where this photo was taken. I was even more grateful that I walked through the directions myself and caught several mistakes, so that I could send out corrections. It came as a relief to see Roger and other coalition members right behind him.
I knew that bringing these great people together would lead to progress, if I could just get them all in the room together.
An islander emailed me later to say that “It was such a beneficial experience being in Augusta with people who are so deeply committed to the sustainability of their island communities. We see each other at our Zoom meetings but it is so different being together, hearing different perspectives and challenges.”
