Two of The County’s longtime economic development organizations are joining forces, hoping to streamline their varied ventures in pursuit of common goals.
The Aroostook Partnership for Progress and Leaders Encouraging Aroostook Development have merged to form one group named the Aroostook Partnership.
With backing from major employers like Emera Maine and MMG Insurance and the Northern Maine Development Commission, Aroostook Partnership is tasked with continuing the economic missions of both organizations — going back 30 years in the case of LEAD — while also engaging younger generations.
“It only makes sense to advocate greater involvement of young professionals,” said Robert Dorsey, CEO of the Aroostook Partnership for Progress and head of the new group, at a meeting in Presque Isle last Wednesday. “It is their future.”
The existence of both the Aroostook Partnership for Progress and LEAD left some “confusion” for employers and entrepreneurs about what organizations do what, Dorsey said: “Why do we have all of these economic development organizations? … Two boards meeting, covering largely similar things, why can’t we all join together to do it as once?
With one board, but a more diverse representation, the Aroostook Partnership can bring more organizational efficiency and more ideas across agriculture, forestry, energy, manufacturing, healthcare and other industries — and ultimately attract new investment and young workers both here and from away, Dorsey said.
While Aroostook County’s population continues to get smaller each year, several of the goals the two organizations set for the next several years are within reach, Dorsey said. Per capita income has already grown more than the $35,000 they’d hoped, from $31,153 in 2010 to almost $36,000 today, Dorsey said.
He also pointed to investment in a number of industries across The County, totalling $673 million and almost 600 new jobs since 2012, including a new wind farm in Oakfield, a utilities upgrade and several multi-million expansions at manufacturers like Twin Rivers, Porvair, Smith & Wesson and Pineland Farms.
The United Kingdom-based manufacturer Porvair, for instance, spent $2 million and added 20 positions to its plant in Caribou, making specialized filter technology for use in aviation, energy mining and environmental lab testing.
Going forward, Dorsey said the Aroostook Partnership has six goals for Aroostook County — the major one being to grow the proportion of workers under the age of 44, which now stands at about 29 percent, to help offset the wave of retiring skilled employees. Dorsey said the group also wants to promote value-added forestry, diversified agriculture, manufacturing and renewable energy, and “spearhead efforts to advance mining.”
The first board meeting of the Aroostook Partnership will be held Friday, Dec. 11 in Caribou, at the Northern Maine Development Commission office.
