Rural areas of Maine deserve equal consideration
By U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud
(D-Maine)
Rural areas of our country deserve, but don’t always get, the same consideration as urban areas when it comes to the implementation of federal policies. Unfortunately, this rural-urban divide became evident in a recent decision that affected an organization in Fort Kent.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently announced that it had approved grant funding for communities through a demonstration project that is seeking strategies to limit teen access to alcohol. It came to my attention that a grant application submitted by Community Voices of Fort Kent was denied based on criteria that should not have been part of the evaluation process. In fact, it was worse than that.
In an e-mail to Community Voices notifying them of the denial, a contractor that was tasked by NHTSA to review the grant applications said: “We don’t make the ratings public, but I can tell you that your proposal was in the top 4 and was the subject of a lot of discussion.” But what he followed with was the most concerning: “Fort Kent is WAAAAAAYY off the beaten path. The panel felt that the logistics of getting our staff and consultants there and back was just too time consuming and expensive, compared with other communities. This factor would have been less important had the final four proposals been more disparate, but, as the ratings were quite close, the panel ultimately leaned toward ‘convenience.’”
I understand this e-mail was likely sent by a well meaning person trying to explain why the organization didn’t receive a grant. But the reasons stated for denying them had nothing to do with the grant’s requirements. It actually sounded to me like the funding was denied just because visiting Fort Kent might require extra time in a car. This is ridiculous, and it’s no reason to deny a worthy project federal funding.
Community Voices deserved to be judged fairly. That’s why on June 8th I wrote a letter to NHTSA asking the agency not to award the grants until it had an opportunity to reevaluate each proposal based on the relevant criteria that was made available to each applicant.
I was pleased that NHTSA responded to my request a couple of days later. Despite the agency’s opposition to the characterization of the process by their contractor, the review they conducted found that the initial evaluation process was in order. But they also said the competition for the grant was so tight, that they’d work to find funding for the top finalists, including Community Voices in Fort Kent, because the applications were so strong. Although no specific funding amount was provided, such a decision is expected soon.
While our state is rural, that shouldn’t be a reason to deny our communities the resources they need to get ahead. I’m pleased that NHTSA responded to my request and is looking for ways to fund this worthwhile project in Fort Kent. But the rural status of the community shouldn’t have worked into the grant review in the first place. It’s my hope that federal agencies take note of this situation and work to ensure that all rural areas receive fair treatment in future federal funding decisions. Rural communities in states like Maine deserve equal consideration.
