What's New?

Sign up for the KEYSeNews listserv on the "Neighborhoods and Networks" page and have updates emailed to you.

Upcoming:

Your news can be added here: email it to info@keysregion.org

Also check the new calendar at www.the236diner.com While the focus is on South Berwick, many of the items listed are regional.

OCTOBER 2008

October 6, 2008, Monday, 7pm, Green Mondays at the Eliot Library: Have You Been Greenwashed? How to know if a company's claims that they are "green" are true with Lise Laurin of Earthshift http://www.earthshift.com/about04.htm

October 6, 2008, Monday, 7pm, The Eliot Historical Society will present a free program entitled "Stories of Eliot". The meeting will be held at the Eliot Grange Hall in Eliot,Maine. All are welcome & refreshments will be served. For more info call 748-0889 or 748-0040.

October 10, Friday, 7am, Eggs and Issues: Selma Botman, President, USM "Higher Education in York County" - USM President Selma Botman will share her goals for USM, including her plans for collaborations with the Community Colleges, as she embarks on her inaugural year as the University’s 10th president. Networking: 7:00am - Breakfast: 7:30am - Speaker(s), followed by Q & A: 8:00am. YORK COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE - 112 COLLEGE DRIVE, WELLS www.yccc.edu/cebs Register by phone at: (207) 646-9282, EXT. 203 Please register in advance! $10 per person with pre-registration - $15 at the door.

October 11, Saturday, 9:30am – Noon , The Natural Step Study Circles Facilitator Training, Portsmouth Public Library, 175 Parrott Ave., Portsmouth, NH. This training is for anyone who would like to learn the skills to lead a study circle on the book The Natural Step for Communities by Sarah James and Torbjorn Lahti. If you have already attended a study circle or if you are interested in attending one in the future you are invited to this training. There is no charge. Please email Bert Cohen to let him know you are planning on attending or if you have any questions. bertcohen@comcast.net

October 16, Thursday, 1-2:30pm, Caring for Your Aging Family Members - Strategies for Independent Living. Location: Senior Center at Lower Village, 175 Port Rd, Kennebunk. Pre-register at 967-8514. No charge. FMI: AOSullivan@SMAAA.org

October 17-19, Piscataqua Region Interfaith Sustainability Weekend: Sustaining Food and Spirit Through the Winter Ahead. All are welcome and there is no charge. Friday Evening, 10/17at 7:00pm: The Slow Food Movement: International and Local Perspectives, at the Dover Friends Meeting House, 141 Central Avenue, Dover, NH, with John Jemison, University of Maine Cooperative Extension, and representatives of Slow Food Seacoast and Seacoast Eat Local www.slowfood.com/ www.slowfoodseacoast.blogspot.com/ www.seacoasteatlocal.org Saturday Afternoon from 1 4pm at the Portsmouth Library: Putting Food By: Workshops on Preserving Food, Root Cellars, Extended Season Gardens, and Slow Food. Sunday October 19 at 10am at South Church: Sustainability and Faith - a joint service presented by Rev. Roberta Finkelstein and Rabbi David Mark. For information www.southchurch-uu.org

October 20, Monday, 7pm, Green Mondays at the Eliot Library: Getting Green through Education of our Youth with Laurel McEwen, BS, MBA of Stepping Up Green and Kristen Sweeney, BA, MBA, BS, Science Teacher in Dover, NH. Learn from two Eliot citizens how they have partnered to create a unique curriculum for 8-12th graders. By using primary data collection in a home energy audi and a carbon footprinting model, the students use technology to analyze data, work with climate change models to predict future global outcomes, and design a green home.

October 29, Wednesday, 7:00-8:30 PM: An introduction to Citizen Participation: The New Public Hearing, First Congregational Church of Kittery Point, 22 Pepperell Road, Kittery Point, Maine 03905. Sponsored by the CWC/KEYS Coalition and Everyday Democracy. Citizen participation in the democratic process in public hearings and at the voting place is often considered the most mysterious aspect of an open and transparent government. Why do some people participate in their town’s public hearings and others participate only thorough the ballot? How can municipal leaders encourage an open and constructive democratic process when making and furthering municipal goals? Is consensus possible and measurable before a commitment of public funding? Is consensus desirable? The CWC/KEYS Coalition and Everyday Democracy invite you to explore these questions with us. For additional information: Everyday Democracy http://www.everyday-democracy.org/en/index.aspx
RSVP is important: Glen MacWilliams glen@keysregion.org or 207-363-8104

NOVEMBER

November 10, Monday, 9-11am, Senior Leadership Coalition Meeting, Meetinghouse Village, Kittery (no meeting in October) http://www.keysregion.org/keys_ofbd/topics/seniors_SLC.htm

Ongoing:

The Family Resource Center at Landmark Hill has the September/October calendar up at the website for downloading:

http://www.connectingfamiliestogether.org/programnewscalendar.html

Seacoast Hospice is now offering services in Maine. FMI: www.seasoasthospice.org Phone 1-800-416-9207 (this number works from Maine)

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Maine's York County Office is
growing! We are currently recruiting both Bigs and Littles in York County.
Sharon F Trafton, Match Support & Co-Program Coordinator
773 5437 ext 32
cell 207-749-3243
You don't have to change your life to change theirs - Become a BIG TODAY!

The Natural Step for Communities: How Cities and Towns Can Change to Sustainable Practices by Sarah James and Torbjorn Lahti is a book being read and studied in the Piscataqua Region. Participants go to an introductory meeting followed by 8 study circle sessions, and there is no monetary cost other than the purchase of the book. Topics include energy, housing, transportation, business, land use, etc. If you are interested in joining a future study circle in the KEYS Region or in Portsmouth, email info@thepsi.net (PSI = Piscataqua Sustainability Initiative) or go to www.thepsi.net.

Time Bank Organizing in the KEYS Region: Time banking is based on the idea of neighbors helping neighbors. As a time bank member, you earn time dollars doing things you like to do for another time bank member. Then, you can use those time dollars having another member do something for you. FYI: www.yctb.org or contact Tory Leuteman toryl@yccac.org , 324-5762 x2951

Support Group for Families Raising a Child with Special Needs: Meets the last Friday of most months during the school year, in the evening. For more information call 207-384-5041 or email mflinkstrom@comcast.net

Coastal NH Adoptive Families Network From Julie Burke:

Coastal NH Adoptive Families Network, based in Portsmouth, reaches as far as South Berwick to Andover Mass. and anywhere in between if the families are willing to drive for our gatherings. We were orignally an online group that has grown to 60 and we meet up and have playdate monthly, book club, discussion group and will be doing larger events come summer to that reach out to adoptive families of all types and our communities, as well as working on Grants to get more info on adoption in the local seacoast libraries.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CNHAF/ Or Contact Julie Burke @ jlcoffey1274@yahoo.com

Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund Grant: the Environmental Protection Agency announced in May 2007 that the Southern Maine Regional Planning Commission was the recipient of a one million dollar Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund Grant. SMRPC will provide the funds to businesses and municipalities in the region to aid in the assessment, clean up and redevelopment of former industrial/commercial sites in downtowns and villages throughout the region. For more information, contact Paul Schumacher or Chuck Morgan at 207-324-2952.

Old but Good

http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080528/LIFE/805280345/-1/NEWSLETTER100

School Merger Citizen Forums and Meetings - Reports

Short Summary Report on first three forums (webpage); Kittery Forum 10/23 Report (webpage or pdf), Marshwood Forum 10/29 Report (webpage), York Forum 11/1 Report (webpage), and all towns Informational Forum 11/13 7pm at Kittery Trading Post Conference Room (feedback form responses/webpage). January 1, 2008 update (webpage). March 13, 2008 update

• KEYS Our Future by Design webpages are released for use!

The OUR FUTURE BY DESIGN Webpages are ready to use!! (Click on any topic to the left to see the new pages.)

On October 20, 2006, the two-year project "KEYS: Our Future by Design - Better Together" released its web-based report to the public. Instead of a static printed report, these webpages share, in a form that can continue to grow and develop, the results of the process, from vision and plans to accomplishments, next steps, indicators, and resources. You can see the new pages by clicking on any of the links to the left, and read the October 20th article about the project in The Weekly Sentinel, here: front page pdf and page 11 pdf .

Comments about and suggestions for the new webpages are welcome and may be sent to info@keysregion.org

• Information and Referral for York County is on the phone and online!

www.211Maine.org is now up and running! This is a huge new listing of resources! "Get connected! Get answers!" And now you can also dial 211 for information. It's a free call, and Thanks to United Way of York County for this news, and for being a big part of creating this new resource!

• The Workforce Housing Coalition June 2006 Forum

The WHC of the Greater Seacoast region (including the KEYS towns) held a dynamic forum on June 23, 2006. Check their website http://www.seacoastwhc.org/ for monthly meeting times. Below are some of the newsprint drawings, made collaboratively at separate tables during the visioning process. There was a remarkable similarity in the community visions of those present, with an emphasis on citizens being involved in the design process to address housing, transportation, and land use in the context of sustainable, rapidly growing communities.