River Coalition head goes with flow to new job

OLD TOWN – Members of the River Coalition are sad to see their leader go, but said it’s a good time for a change.

Coalition Director Shawn Yardley, 47, has accepted a position as Bangor’s director of public health and welfare. After serving as River Coalition director for three years, Yardley is leaving the grass-roots organization in good shape.

The River Coalition is a nonprofit organization that focuses on children and their families in the river communities of Alton, Bradley, Greenbush, Milford and Old Town. Its purpose is to link resources, ideas, energy and experience to foster and support stronger, more caring communities.

“[Yardley] has taken us to a new level and now we’re ready for another new level,” Holly Swartz of the River Coalition said Friday. “I think the community’s ready for it, too.”

Yardley said that the decision was difficult, but he wanted a position with more regular hours so he could be home with his family. After raising four kids over the last 21 years, Yardley and his wife Rita recently adopted three girls.

“With three new girls, I need to be at home at night to tuck them in,” Yardley said.

In his three years as director, Yardley got thousands of dollars of grant money for the organization, moved its office to a more visible location and was able to connect with the community.

“He’s done amazing work here in the three years that he’s been here,” Swartz said. “He’s a person that knows everyone so we’re sad to see him leave.”

The coalition is scheduled to go on a board retreat next week, and discuss possibilities for a new director “will be a big part of the discussion,” Yardley said.

As for the numerous projects, such as the juvenile diversions and after-school programs that Yardley has helped to get off the ground, he said he is confident that they still will be successful.

“Any successes I’ve had have only been the result of people in the community stepping up and really mobilizing around issues, so I don’t see that changing at all,” he said. “The programs aren’t mine, they’re the community’s. I think there will be people quickly to step into any void that I create in leaving.”

Some new staff members recently joined the coalition, and Swartz said that everyone there plans to step up to the plate and keep the ball rolling.

“I think Shawn has kind of ignited the fires here in the community,” she said. “We’re excited about it.”

“The River Coalition communities are incredible in the way people come together and I’m going to miss that,” Yardley said.