County group aims to create 1,500 jobs Aroostook Partnership for Progress seeking $50 million in investments

LIMESTONE – Aroostook County’s biggest export is its young people; its death rate outnumbers its birth rate; the population is getting older and smaller; and it is estimated that by 2025, there will be more people over 65 than under 20 living there.

Stark facts such as those prompted the creation of the Aroostook Partnership for Progress, which hopes to raise $50 million in new capital investments in Aroostook County and create 1,500 quality jobs to retain its young people and to bring others back.

The group, founded after a County summit held last January by the Northern Maine Development Commission, wants to stimulate growth and stem outmigration from Aroostook County. Several County companies have donated funds – $1 million to date – for a $1.5 million fund that will be used to generate $1.5 million of public money.

The fund raising is going so well that organizers believe they will surpass their $1.5 million goal and reach $2 million.

“We don’t have enough good-quality, well-paying jobs for those with higher education to come back for,” Nick Baynes, president and CEO of Maine Public Service Co., told the Loring Development Authority on Wednesday morning. “It’s a senseless loss of our most valuable resource: our youth.

“Economic development has to change to be done regionally,” Baynes, who also is chairman of the partnership’s board of directors, said. “The effort needs to be all-inclusive to save jobs or replace them.”

The LDA was shown a short video made by the group about Aroostook County’s problems and solutions that need to be considered.

The video depicted the loss of good jobs and farms and the issue of people falling prey to external issues. The video said Aroostook County is at a “critical moment to change.”

Baynes and other business leaders believe that things can be changed and that the destiny of Aroostook County is a matter of choice.

The group’s chairman told the LDA that Aroostook County has a “good quality of life … good schools … proactive people … and some of the best telecommunications links anywhere.”

“But we need to change the mentality to where we think as ‘we,’ not ‘us and them,'” he said. “What’s good for Caribou is good for Madawaska, and what’s good for Fort Kent is good for Houlton.

“We simply don’t have enough good-paying jobs,” LDA trustees were told. “The effort demands a new level of cooperation between government and the private sector.”

The partnership has four primary missions. The organization wants to enhance the Aroostook County economy, market the region to the rest of the United States, Canada and Europe, develop vibrant downtown areas and promote economic development dialogue for the region.