WHOS NOT AT THE POLICY TABLE?

Change May Begin with a Solo, but Thrives with Many Voices
Kaileigh Tara

hen I became mayor of Maines second largest city a year ago, I had an aversion to politics and a poor opinion of government and the political process. In the past year, however, I have become a born-again patriot with a new reverence for American democracy. Where else but in the United States of America could a twice-divorced, former welfare mother with absolutely no prior political experience and a license plate that read WLDWOMN be elected mayor of a traditionally conservative community like Lewiston?

Still, far too often, many voices are not heardin fact, are not sought outwhen policies are established, thereby ensuring policy failure or at least ineffectiveness. Amazing ideas sit in a processing, analytical limbo, never moving into the action phase, because policymakers dont involve others in the process. Take the case of Project Pioneer, a federally funded welfare-to-work project based in the Lewiston-Auburn area. The idea was to provide skilled labor for Pioneer Plastics Inc., a large employer in the area. A customized training program was developed to offer a variety of support services and deliver a marketable set of skills to welfare recipients. It all sounded wonderful to policymakers and Pioneer. But at no time in the planning process was the welfare population consulted. Had they been, they would have told organizers to market the program in ways that would reach welfare recipients, rather than via the local newspaper, which proved ineffective.

Though the program had projected enrollment at 150, recruitment was difficult and the actual number of participants barely topped 100. Only near the end of the project were participants asked to help with recruitment ideas. Whether we are in the medical or legal profession, the education system, the economic development arena or politics, we often get too comfortableand perhaps unintentionally exclusivein our circles. No doubt, its simpler to keep our circles closed than to risk the discomfort of inviting others in, especially those who might pose a threat to our base of power. Outcomes are more predictable when we all think alike or come from the same circle. To include others who are very different might change the color and texture of the process, perhaps even change the product. We have our own acronyms, our own language and rituals. In our own comfort zone, we see ourselves as differentperhaps betterthan them. And our circles do not overlap. This has profound implications for interstate cooperation in New England.

COMMUNITY CHANGE
Real community change occurs at the local, grassroots level. Certainly, leadership plays a role. But the really tangible changes take place at town meetings and community action forums where average citizens are heard. The political experts in the community were shocked by my election not only because I was an unknown, but because I won by going directly to the people. I refused to use political strategies. Instead, I went to community events and Bingo halls and I invited people to be a part of the solution. During the campaign, people would ask me: What is your vision for

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Lewiston? Id say: It doesnt matter what my vision is for Lewiston. What matters is your vision and how you intend to be involved in making it happen. I continue to go to the people as mayor and it works. In fact, the entire community has been energized and we have seen a renewal of community pride and civic involvement that is truly inspiring. I have learned that there is no constituency for change. Although everyone wantsin fact, demandschange when they elect you, they mean other people will have to change, not them. For example, residents of Lewiston and other communities demand relief from high property taxes and say they support economic growth as a strategy for property tax stabilization. But when the infrastructure required for expanded economic development is planned, there is huge resistance. Sure, a new overpass might be needed, residents agree, but not in my neighborhood.

average per-capita income in Aroostook County will be only half that of Cumberland County. This tension within one state does not bode well for six-state cooperation. But I believe in New England regionalism, particularly on matters such as environmental protection, education and law enforcement.

Policymakers should start by making a list of all those people whom instinct tells them should be involved in a decision. Then, they should put that list aside and start over.
Henry Bourgeois of the Maine Development Foundation has suggested establishing a regional council that would propose strategies with clear goals and objectives. If we are to institutionalize regionalism throughout New England, the process must be all-inclusive, drawing on people from cities, towns and villages and giving them input in the implementation of new policies. But policymakers should not merely include shareholders in the process; they must listen to them. The city of Lewiston recently embarked on an Empowerment Zone application process that included 65 steering committee members and more than 2,000 residents in the design of the application. Residents called for increased investment in the library as a community cultural center. But when the application plan was presented to the city council, councilors attempted to overrule the peoples decision and follow a capital spending plan that city officials had developed years earlier. It took some insistence to ensure that residentswho pay the taxes after allwould determine the priorities for public investment. We need to ask how the single mother with two children in rural Maine benefits from New England regionalism. How does the elderly couple on a very limited retirement budget benefit from regionalism? How does the small business owner in Maine benefit from regionalism? How does the social service provider in inner-city Boston benefit from regionalism? When these individuals and others are invited to the table, their perspective is refreshing and challenging. And when these folks decide change is necessary, the groundswell is all but impossible to ignore. I hope regionalism moves beyond rhetorical limbo into a dynamic process for change. That is one journey I would like to go on. I have begun to imagine the possibilities and they are grand. We just have to remember to buckle our seatbelts it could be a wild ride. Kaileigh Tara is the mayor of Lewiston, Maine.

REGIONAL VOICES
How does all this relate to interstate cooperation in New England? The New England Board of Higher Educations recent Future of New England survey shows that New Englanders support regional cooperation, but the depth of their interest in collaboration is unclear. I suspect the support ends at the point where individuals are asked to act decisively in behalf of regional cooperationsay, to share revenue or redistribute public spending. That would be new and, for a lot of people, uncomfortable. But this resistance is not insurmountable as long as its anticipated. And being proactive about resistance should be part of a strategic grassroots marketing and education campaign that is marked by inclusiveness. It is critical that we stop and notice who is not at the table. Policymakers should start by making a list of all those people whom instinct tells them should be involved in a decision. Then, they should put that list aside and start over. Get outrageous. List people who oppose the idea. List people who might not even understand it, people or groups who are often discussed but not present at the table, and even include people who drive you nuts. Also make it a point to include young people in the policy decision-making process. Policy is all about creating a better place for our children, so ask them what that better place should look like. Collaboration works. The synergy that is created can be transforming for all involved. But its also messy, uncomfortable and downright frustrating; and on a regionwide basis, it will be particularly difficult. Even within Maine, we refer to the Two Maines because of the cultural and economic differences in regions within the state. Maines State Planning Office predicts that by the year 2005, the

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