Civic Engagement & Employment
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Meeting with Chelsea's Town Manager
Promoting Involvement in Municipal Decision-Making
Bangor Livable Communities: promoted citizen engagement in the comprehensive planning process by asking residents of all ages to participate in walk audits and share their results with the Bangor Planning Department
Age-Friendly Chelsea: hosts quarterly meetings for residents to meet and talk with their town manager
Age-Friendly Readfield: engages a committee member to act as liason to each of the town's volunteer committees (recreation, comprehensive planning, and more)
Age-Friendly Saco: hosts annual "Meet the Candidate" events
Age-Friendly Yarmouth: is the go-to organization that municipal leaders consult when they are contemplating changes impacting older residents
Lifelong Communities - Volunteer Maine conference
Engaging Volunteers
Bangor Livable Communities: hosted a volunteer fair for organizations throughout the community to recruit volunteers
Age-Friendly Community Initiative (Bethel region): collaborates with local high school groups to perform household chores through the Handy Neighbor Program
Age-Friendly Communities of the Lower Kennebec (Bath region) matches volunteers with programs that excite them and encourages volunteers to take leadership roles
Age-Friendly South Portland promotes volunteering and neighborhood connections in their snow shoveling program
Age-Friendly Sullivan: welcomes all ages to volunteer in their Spring Clean-Up, followed by a community BBQ to say thank you
Promoting Accessibility in Bucksport
Age-Friendly Businesses and Organizations
Age and Ability Friendly Bucksport: awards a "Golden Shovel" to the local business that does the best job clearing snow so that residents can enter and leave safely
Age-Friendly Portland: provided a free portable ramp to 10 businesses/organizations that were not able to add a permanent ramp entrance; all participants were added to the growing number of designated Age-Friendly Business and Organizations certified by Age-Friendly Portland and promoted in the Portland Visitor Guide
Please note that this is not an exhaustive list of all programs, services, and activities developed in Civic Engagement & Employment but is a sampling of approaches adopted. We update this section regularly to highlight the many strategies implemented in Maine communities.