Maine Rural Resilience Champions

Multiple programs and entities in Maine support community resilience, but gaps still remain in engaging small rural communities in these efforts. MAINECAN’s Rural Resilience Champions reach out directly to rural communities (especially in Aroostook, Penobscot, and Washington Counties) and learn where their strengths and gaps are, connecting them to existing programs and identifying areas of potential new program development to support rural community resilience.

Based on interest from existing rural community collaborators in these regions, the Rural Resilience Champions are organizing this effort around the formation of a cohort of communities interested in conducting local “vulnerability assessments” to help them identify areas of local need and assets/resources to help address those needs. The Rural Resilience Champions focus primarily on communications, outreach, relationship-building, and facilitating peer-learning and collaboration with town government officials and/or residents of rural communities in Aroostook, Penobscot, and Washington counties that are listed as having “high” social vulnerability on Maine’s Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), with a targeted (but not exclusive) focus on those that have not yet enrolled in Maine’s Community Resilience Partnership. 

The Rural Resilience Champions are supported with funding from the Maine Community Foundation and guidance from the MAINECAN Support & Research Team.