United Way seeks residents’ views of community needs

BANGOR – For more than 60 years the United Way of Eastern Maine and its member agencies have decided what projects in a community should be funded. Now the organization wants to hear from area residents about the issues that concern them.

As part of a new business model, United Way officials will hold discussions with people in 20 to 25 communities across eastern Maine this summer to identify their most pressing needs.

With each community’s agenda in hand, the United Way hopes to find solutions by garnering help from residents as well as representatives of schools, churches, businesses, economic development groups and state and local government.

Later, the organization plans to help develop a way to measure the results of the community’s work.

“We’ve been operating with a gap in knowledge about the needs of the communities and what things the citizens thought were most important,” UWEM President Jeff Wahlstrom said Monday.

“We really believe we need to know more about the special challenges communities face and how we might work together to strengthen those communities,” he said.

A sampling of about 15 people in each community will be invited to participate in the discussions, according to Wahlstrom.

But in July surveys will be available at branches of Bangor Savings Bank, which is helping to sponsor the new concept, so any resident can offer comments.

The United Way will continue to raise money through its annual workplace campaign and payroll-deduction plan and then allocate funds to more than 70 health and human service agencies throughout the region.

The new concept, which has been adopted by United Way chapters across the country and in Canada, makes a lot of sense, according to John Bragg, chair of the UWEM board of directors.

“Every year we have two major projects. One is raising money and the other is figuring who should get what,” he said Monday.

“The challenge of trying to figure out whose cause is more worthy than the next is very difficult. Over the years, we’ve put together a team of a few hundred people to wrestle with that. But it’s never easy. So this approach is trying to answer that in going to the community first to determine needs and then encouraging the supporting agencies to address those needs.”

The organization has embarked on the additional strategy for a number of reasons, particularly the desire to make a difference, Wahlstrom said.

“We believe we’ve got a real obligation to … donors and what those donors tell us is that they want to see results, who’s being helped, how we’re making a difference. We really need to be able to demonstrate for them what has changed,” he said.

“We know an enormous amount of wonderful work has been done by our partner agencies, so many lives have been changed and touched. But when we talk about measurable, large-scale changes in the community, we’re not at this point able to able to measure in a meaningful way and say how the region has changed.”

Another reason for the new way of doing business is that many of today’s issues are too complex to be addressed simply by funding certain agencies and hoping they will take care of the solution, according to Wahlstrom.

“We don’t want to just provide funds and hope for the best … [we want to] make sure we approach an issue from every direction and really mobilize the community and the region,” he said.

The changing business climate also has contributed to the United Way’s decision to use a different approach.

With many employees now working at home, putting in odd hours and changing jobs more often, United Way representatives find it difficult to communicate with workplace donors.

In addition, an increasing number of businesses are owned by out-of-state companies that feel less obligated to local communities, Wahlstrom said.

What’s definitely not behind the new way of doing business is the tight economy, according to the president.

Although the most recent campaign has been projected to yield about $2.5 million, the same as last year, the bottom line from the past five years has increased annually by 8 percent.

The financial problems that have plagued the Eastern Paper mills in Brewer and Lincoln and the closing of the HoltraChem plant in Orrington likely have contributed to the flat campaign, Wahlstrom said.

Member agencies that provide essential services to the community will continue to receive their core funding, although they may be asked to refocus their strategies once the communities have spoken, he said.

Funding decisions will be based on a program’s ability to show measurable results, Wahlstrom said.