Community Forum: Building A Connected Community: Taking Place Wednesday September 16

Farmington, ME, August 31, 2015:  The “We Are Franklin County! Where Every Life Matters” collaborative is convening a community forum on Wednesday, September 16, from 6-8 p.m. at the Mt. Blue High School Auditorium. Every member of the community is invited to attend and participate in a discussion to discover ways to better connect services to those requesting them. Information obtained from the forum will be utilized by local service agencies to improve coordination and delivery of services. Pizza will be served and free child care will be available on site. Ask your neighbor if they need a ride and bring them along!

The “We Are Franklin County! Where Every Life Matters” collaborative is a new joint venture among the Mt. Blue Regional School District, Franklin Community Health Network (FCHN), the University of Maine at Farmington (UMF), and many local service agencies. Its mission is to build efficient, timely and sustainable systems to meet the needs of the community so that no member feels like they are out of options.

The collaborative is directed by the Mt. Blue Regional School District Safe Schools Committee, which consists of representatives from the community, local service agencies such as Franklin County Children’s Task Force, Sexual Assault Prevention & Response Services, as well as FCHN, UMF, and the Farmington Police Department. The collaborative and forum are supported by a Venture Grant from the United Way of the Tri-Valley Area. This community forum is the collaborative’s first effort in a plan for county-wide connection.

As Nicole Ditata, director of the Healthy Maine Partnership for the Healthy Community Coalition and Safe Schools Committee member states, “This forum can support so many different areas in our community.”