REM Community Catalyst 2009

Active Community Initiatives

There are so many reasons why you should take a look at the initiatives listed in the table below and decide how you will participate.

Things are tough. Funds are limited. If we donate our labor, we'll have more money to spend on materials. REM is all about doing it yourself. It works around the house; it works to build community too.
If we do the building, we get what we want. Waiting for someone to come from the outside to build their dream can be a disaster for ours.
Feelings of accomplishment are good for you! Getting out, meeting people, making friends, learning new things, sharing your knowledge…these are all great things for our emotional and mental health.
Taking responsibility for ourselves brings us balance. As a free people, we enjoy so many rights. Balancing that with a sense of responsibility grows our democracy.
Creating a community where people thrive is not just a dream, but the way life should be. What possible reason would we have to do less?

What will be your part in that journey? Call 873-4444 or email rem@rem1.org and we will help you decide.

(Initiatives shown in blue italics were added at the Community Catalyst Check-up this May.)

Team 1 – Develop a Vibrant Economy

Involve area high school students in entrepreneurial tour
Create YuleTide Festival to encourage shoppers downtown during winter holiday season
YuleTide Lighting of the Lights as part of parade – transform Waterville Main street into a lighted gingerbread village
YuleTide Dickens Night – concentrate on one night of the festival and create a Dickens-type atmosphere filling the streets with carolers and shoppers.
YuleTide Hospitality – help the community dress and accessorize to be part of the YuleTide celebration.
YuleTide Village – Create a miniature YuleTide Village in REM's Main Street windows.
Involve REM volunteers in Barrels Community Market
Develop and establish a strategy to maintain and expand our farm economy. Determine and market products that serve local consumers and meet future needs for locally produced farm products.
Fill the empty storefronts in Waterville's downtown
Promote Mid-Maine as an opportunity for information technology support businesses
Increase addressability for handicapped people in the downtown which includes designating more parking spaces for handicapped (include curb access)
Solicit develop incubate employers who will create jobs for our citizens who have a strong work ethic.
Establish a committee in the legislature that will keep an eye out for legislation proposals that would impact small business and communicate with small businesses as to their need to respond to the proposal.
Combine all regional economic development organizations – possibly by joining Mobilize Maine
Support the Mid-Maine Sustainability Coalition with their work

Team 2 – Excel in Education

Support all preschool care and education and make accessible on all economic levels – Educare Maine
Support parents in participating in their children's education process, preschool – graduation
Towns in our area advocate to change and allow teachers greater flexibility in how to teach the requirements.
Create greater efficiency in the time spent in school for both teachers and children.
Reduce time on the bus – perhaps by having more schools closer to homes.
Provide opportunities for kids to be with kids older or younger by 2 – 4 years.
Call a meeting of regional area citizens to discuss the education initiatives and develop teams to address them
Daily physical activity for every child K – 12

Team 3 – Protect Human Potential

Develop and support early childhood programming ages 0 – 5
Reduce domestic violence
Promote a better societal understanding of mental health
Tourmaline Singers – Sing to patients to ease the passage of the dying
Neighbor to Neighbor – One on one daily phone conversation with people who are at risk
Develop an in-person resource to assist people to fully understand the benefits of their own commercial health insurance plans and assist them in maximizing their benefits for existing and new claims, whether they be simple or complex

Team 4 – Promote Arts and Entertainment

Make REM Calendar more available and accessible to community.
Call together the 8 arts teams (Fine Arts, Crafts, Music, Theater, Dance, Film & Media
Develop arts and entertainment events under each of the 8 teams.
Drums Along the River – Create a percussion festival along Kennebec Messalonskee
Arts in the Park – Invite area artists to gather in Castonguay Square to display their talents and wares
Take a proposal to establish the amphitheatre on the Riverfront to the Waterville
Establish a regional arts school
Establish free cultural Christmas events in places around town
Call a meeting to consider establishing a TV and or radio show promoting local artists and arts events
Replace the marquee on The Center with a digital sign operable from the REM office that promotes downtown events.
Establish public art on the trails including an art show in September

Team 5 – Beautify the Environment

Build Amphitheater at Head of Falls tied to boardwalk, trails and gardens
Beautify median strips via an "Adopt a Median Strip" program involving area garden clubs and families; include signs indicating who is caring for it.
Install doggie bag receptacles in our cities and towns
Establish a dog park

Team 6 – Empower Young People

Convene a community wide forum to discuss the need to empower children to be more self directed.
Establish a community-wide program to encourage children to "fast" one day a week from their electronics and encourage them to play.
Convent a community wide forum to decide how to establish high school students on local school boards and councils and have them act as liaisons between the adults and students.
Free to Be Me – A program which helps prepare young people to move freely in society by providing them the etiquette and life skills they need to feel confident and comfortable.
Lego Mania - Involve youth in planning and implementing an event which stimulates creativity and brings area youth together socially around a commonly held passion.

Team 7 – Build Community

Annually review our stages of accomplishment for our community vision and make sure we are doing all that we can and what we should be to reach our vision by the year 2020.
Design promotional materials that express our vision and get it out to the community.
Revisit our idea to create a Community Building Convention
Convene a community forum to discuss how me might establish more public transportation
Establish "Friday Family Fun Night" at REM Forum as a place for families to gather for fun, food, music and to explore the greatest variety of social experiences possible.
Get the word out about REM and REMnet and update our site so we know what's happening at REM on our Home Page.
Connect with similar communities to learn about successful strategies and best practices.
Establish public restrooms
Renovate REM's café space into a REM Lounge space for meetings and community gatherings with optimal downtown visibility.
Renovate REM's Forum space to include a technology which enhances use of the space
Local Voices – provide the community with an opportunity to promote their work and express their passions via a community journalism project to be inserted in the Morning Sentinel
Dinner Around the World and Game Night – Celebrate and showcase the richness of our heritage by sharing the food and games of our diverse ethnic backgrounds..
Mrs. Santa's Workshop – An appreciation of the art of giving for young children the day
Talk to the Animals – Provide an opportunity downtown for young children to meet animals up close, learn about their care and the products they bring to us.
REM Partners – Create an area nonprofits partnership for the purpose of learning their needs and providing them; work collaboratively to address issues falling through the cracks.

Team 8 – Expand Fitness and Recreation

Complete the KMTrails network
Create a central clearing house for information on available programs and facilities
Map and deal with safety issues for bike and pedestrian use throughout the community
JOY of Cooking Show – Design and produce a cooking show focusing on creating low-cost nutritional meals which address health issues such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes.

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