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Business and economic leaders from around the state gathered Thursday in Augusta at a strategic planning session to kick off formation of a 10-year economic plan for Maine. Quincy Hentzel, left, CEO of the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce, brainstorms with table mates Lisa Brown, of Finance Authority of Maine (back to camera) and Susan Woods, a member of the ConnectME authority board. Not seen, to Woods' right, is Kate Dickerson, founder and director of the Maine Science Festival.
Nearly 200 business, economic and nonprofit leaders gathered at the Augusta Civic Center Thursday for a brainstorming summit on how to strengthen the state's economy — the public kickoff of an effort aimed at forming a 10-year economic plan for Maine.
A public/private partnership will be necessary to make the plan work, Bruce Wagner, chairman of the plan process steering committee told the group.
"Don't think of it as being the state's plan," Wagner, who is CEO of the Finance Authority of Maine, told the 180 people gathered at Thursday's summit.
He said public involvement is crucial "to make sure we're not making assumptions that are wrong," and that the plan will be formed with a nonpartisan perspective.
It will be "about what is right, not who is right," he said.
The process was introduced with a vision statement by Gov. Janet Mills, who said that by 2030, "Maine will be known as a national leader for its forward-looking work in creating a diverse and sustainable economy. We will empower innovators and entrepreneurs, attract young families and new businesses, and revitalize rural Maine so that every person will know unequivocally that living in Maine means not only an unmatched quality of life, but an unmatched opportunity for good-paying jobs in innovative industries across the entire state."
The planning process is based on data and trend analysis, which is provided in detail in a packet available on the state website. From that data, three major strategic goals and general strategies to meet the goals have been formed.
"This is a data-driven exercise," Maine State Economist Amanda Rector said. The process, she said, "puts numbers behind the ideas."
Rector gave an overview of data focused on "high-level trends," including human capital, micro-economic, economic sector and cluster, innovation and entrepreneurship, governance and business climate, and physical and virtual environmental.
While much of it highlights concerns most in the room were familiar with — the state's workforce skills gap, aging workforce, lack of diversity, low wages, housing issues — there are also positive numbers.
While population nationwide is decreasing, for instance, there was a 0.8% increase in Maine last year, including a rise in those moving here from out of state.
"In the past couple of years it's really picked up," Rector said.
She and Wagner said the aim is to not only turn around some of the challenges, but find ways to leverage the positives.
Mills, who was tied up with the end of the legislative session, appeared by video, reinforcing her vision statement. "To achieve these goals, the state government must be a leader and partner, not an impediment," she said.
She said she was looking for a wide range of nonpartisan feedback and encouraged creative thinking.
Thursday's session was an opportunity from those involved in the state's economy from across Maine to brainstorm on the goals, barriers to reach them, and possible solutions to the barriers.
The effort to form a strategic plan — the state's first in 24 years — comes under the umbrella of the state Department of Economic and Community Development.
Heather Johnson, commission of the department, said Wednesday the point is to talk about possibilities, "not where we've been."
"If we're going to create an impactful plan, everyone is not going to be happy in the end," she said at a breakfast forum sponsored by the Maine Real Estate and Development Association in Portland. She said the state will pick a couple of things that will work, get them running, "then pick a couple more things and get them running."
Next week, 10 workshop sessions will take place across the state with an aim similar to Thursday's summit. A draft of the plan is expected by Nov. 15, in time to go before the second session of the 129th Maine Legislature in December.
Strategic goals of the plan are to:
Each goal had half a dozen or so general strategies for success, which were among the topics hashed out at the tables at the Civic Center Thursday. The included everything from more of a focus on research and development; adding productivity; environmental responsibility; growing the workforce; recession-proofing the economy; distributing wages more fairly across gender, race and region; retaining aging workers in the workforce longer; and adding supports, such as child care.
After Rector presented the data, she told the group, "The next part is up to you."
Thursday's workshop focused on the high-level trends Rector had detailed, and the room was divided into clusters of tables representing each of the trends. Those at the tables discussed barriers and solutions at the table, then with their entire trend group, ultimately presenting their ideas to the room as a whole.
At a table in the "physical and virtual environment" cluster, the discussion focused on workforce, transportation and housing challenges, but also bigger-picture topics, such as a "lack of vision" in both small and large forms.
"It's about more than policy," said Susan Woods, a board member with ConnectME, which oversees broadband expansion in the state.
The table also included Kate Dickerson, founder and director of the Maine Science Festival and Quincy Hentzel, CEO of the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce. The table's facilitator was Lisa Brown, of FAME.
Those at the table also said divisions in Maine between rural and urban, particularly southern Maine and the rest of the state, and even Portland and the rest of greater Portland, often are barriers to greater economic success.
Dickerson said the Maine Science Festival draws from across the state. The festival holds workshops, events and has an expo over several days and is aimed at students, the state's science achievements and businesses. But she often has trouble getting buy-in from southern Maine businesses.
"But [the students who attend] are students who may end up working for their business," she said.
Every region, and the state, is stronger when there's a wider range of input and involvement, Hentzel said.
"We need to focus on the value" of all the voices in the state, Woods added.
They did see opportunities to bridge those gaps, largely through education, marketing and communication.
The process will continue with next week's regional workshops and then a Sept. 10 summit before the steering committee makes a report to Mills Sept. 10.
Next week's meeting are:
Monday, June 24
Wednesday, June 26
Thursday, June 27
The steering committee includes Wagner, Rector, and Sarah Curran, senior policy analyst, Governor's Office of Policy and Management; Peggy Schaffer, director, ConnectME; Kate Foye, legislative liaison, communications manager, Department of Economic and Community Development; and Torrey Gray, development program manager, DECD.
The work team includes the steering committee as well as Yellow Light Breen, president and CEO, Maine Development Foundation; Kim Smith, deputy commissioner, Maine Department of Labor; Amy Landry, executive director, Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments; Ben Gilman, government relations attorney, Maine State Chamber of Commerce; Brian Whitney, president, Maine Technology Institute; John Burns, managing director, Maine Venture Fund; Keith Bisson, president, Coastal Enterprises; Joan Ferrini-Mundy, president, University of Maine; John Napolitano, president, Maine State Building and Construction Trades Council, labor representative; David Daigler, president, Maine State Community College System; Paul Towle, CEO Aroostook Partnership; Kimberly Hamilton, president, FocusMaine; and Julia Trujillo Luengo, director, Office of Economic Opportunity, Portland.
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