OFFERING STABILITY TO RURAL NEW HAMPSHIRE IN A TIME OF CHANGE
An Interview with Catherine McDowell
Catherine McDowell has been the Executive Director of the Family Resource Center in Gorham, NH, since its incorporation in 1998. She has founded and directed three other non-profits in the Androscoggin Valley, including the Family Planning and Education Center, Coos County Family Health Programs and the Gorham Community Learning Center. From 2002-04 she was chair of the Androscoggin Valley Economic Recovery Corporation after the mills closed in Berlin. She recently received an honorary degree from the Community Technical College in Berlin for her work in the community, and has a Master’s degree in Organization and Management.
Interviewed by Amy Seif on 7/25/06.
Amy Seif: What are the present-day challenges for New Hampshire’s North Country, the service area for the Family Resource Center at Gorham?
Cathy McDowell: Clearly the whole economic base is changing for the North Country–and really for all of rural New England. The closing of the pulp mill in Berlin and the Groveton Paperboard in 2006 along with other cutbacks has had a major effect on the economy. In addition, our population is both older and poorer than the population statewide. All of these factors are combining to create some major challenges, but also perhaps some opportunities for the region.
AS: How has the Family Resource Center been shaped by these challenges?
CM: The Resource Center began eight years ago with a focus on providing support to families with young children and after school programs for youth because these were the two areas identified by our community advisory group as needing our attention. For the first several years we worked to develop these programs, and we now have significant support systems in both these areas. The Center provides home visiting for pregnant women and their infants as well as families at risk. We also now serve 400 students in grades 1-8 with after school programs in Berlin and Gorham.
In 2001, however, when the mills in Berlin and Gorham declared bankruptcy and closed abruptly for nine months, it became clear to us that support programs alone are not enough. Since that time the board and staff of the Center have begun to focus on helping families and the region develop strategies for financial stability. We now have a workforce development program for unemployed and underemployed young adults. The Center became a VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) site in 2004 and we provided over 75 families with free on-line tax filing and information on how to access the Earned Income Tax Credit. This year the Center is starting a pilot project to incorporate financial literacy information into the home visiting and after school programs.
AS: What important lessons did you learn from the closure of the mills?
CM: When the mills closed in 2001, the health and human service providers came together to try to coordinate services and support for the laid off workers, their families and others – such as loggers and restaurant workers – who also lost income and jobs due to the shutdown. We created a group called “The Concerned Community Providers” (CCP) that met almost weekly in the early days of the crisis. At the same time a group of business members from the community formed the Androscoggin Valley Economic Recovery Corporation (AVER) to create an economic development strategy for the region. After several months these two groups began to work more closely together as we realized that in order to effect meaningful change, the business people needed to understand the community pressures and realities and the social service providers needed to understand and appreciate the economic drivers in the situation.
As a result we moved from an economic development plan to a community development plan which recognized that housing issues, education and health care needed to be addressed. We began to redefine the economic base for the region and the social service providers became more aware of the complexity and trade-offs required for economic development. It was an important growth experience for both groups.
AS: Where did this “joining of forces” take you and did it involve compromise?
CM: One of the significant industry opportunities early on was the possibility of a federal prison. The human service community initially reacted with concern, but as we came to understand both what a prison could offer and what the economic options for our community were (not many), most came to support the prison. A prison would bring stable, middle class jobs with health benefits (an asset for the hospital), it will bring in middle class families with younger children, and it will provide a platform for stabilizing the outflow of people from the region. No one is happy that a prison is our best opportunity, but the reality is that we need something to replace the jobs we have lost and this prison will give us a place to build from. If we see the prison as our economic savior we have failed, but if we use the prison as a first step towards building a new economy that will have many different facets, including expanded technology opportunities and heritage based tourism, then we are making a needed step towards a diversified economy.
AS: Why are middle class families so important to the economic and social fabric of the North Country?
CM: These are the families that support the tax base, participate in the education system, and build “social capital” that strengthens a community. Karl Stauber has pointed out in his work that “without the middle class, rural America will become the involuntary home of the poor and the chosen home of the pleasure seekers, producing a rural ghetto and a rural playground.”
AS: How has the Family Resource Center changed since the time of mill closure and job loss?
CM: We have a broader vision now of the work that we do and the goals that we have. We see ourselves as part of the community development effort for the region, and our goal is to make sure that families are connected to the economic growth opportunities that are developing. We see financial stability as both good for children and good for the community.
AS: How has good research informed the work and changing directions of the Center?
CM: This has been an important part of the process for us. When the mills first closed in 2001, the Concerned Community providers wanted to create support programs for the laid off workers. We started to respond but then realized that we were reacting to anecdotal stories and that we really needed data and facts to create meaningful assistance. The NH Commissioner of Health and Human Services, Don Shumway, assigned us state researchers and a data analyst to help us collect the information we needed. This was so important because it helped us understand, and then explain to the wider community, that the major challenges facing the community were really stemming from the aging population, persistent poverty, bighted housing and lack of access to preventive health care. These were chronic issues that had been glossed over while the mills were running. This information helped us to design completely different strategies than what we had originally intended. It also prompted us to seek out information and research for what was happening in other rural communities so that we could learn from them. We learned from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Ford Foundation and most recently, the Carsey Institute.
AS: What direction is the Resource Center moving in now?
CM: The Resource Center, in conjunction with AVER and CCP (which is now called the Androscoggin Valley Community Partners) has just published the Upper Androscoggin Valley Community Profile. The Profile was researched by Sarah Savage at the Carsey Institute and supported with funding from Jane’s Trust. The Profile looks at community and economic factors for the region. We plan to use this information to help us create community and economic development plans that take into account the region’s challenges and builds on the region’s strengths.
Visit the Family Resource Center @ Gorham
