“The vision of a community:” Ribbon Cutting Welcoming Remarks by Executive Director Ian Yaffe

Good morning and welcome to the ribbon cutting ceremony for Hand in Hand Apartments, Maine’s first affordable housing project for farmworkers.  It is my great honor to stand before you today and introduce you to some of the people and organizations that have been so essential to this project’s success.

Just 8 months ago, we broke ground on the site I’m standing on and started construction on the building you see behind me.  Fast forward $1.4 million in total project expenses and over 5,000 manhours by Maine carpenters, electricians, plumbers, architects, lenders, and other professionals, and here we are today.  Let me turn the clock back a few years and tell you how we got here.

 

Twenty years ago, Milbridge experienced a rapid influx of migrant farmworkers who decided to leave the “migrant stream” and settle here in Downeast Maine.  Mano en Mano was founded shortly afterward, originally as a project of the Public Library, and eventually, in 2005, a non-profit corporation.  Our mission is to “build a stronger and more inclusive community in Downeast Maine by working with diverse populations to provide educational and affordable housing opportunities, remove barriers to health and social services, and advocate for social justice.”  Today, our programming can generally be divided into four categories: educational services and scholarships, outreach and community events, advocacy, and of course, affordable housing.

Five years ago, Anais Tomezsko, Mano en Mano’s previous Executive Director, met with representatives from HUD to talk about issues related to farmworker housing at the recommendation of Maine’s Department of Labor Monitor Advocate, the Director of the Maine Migrant Health Program, and the Assistant Director of the Sunrise County Economic Council.  Trees, blueberries, and marine life are abundant natural resources in this area and represent the foundation of our economy.  However, they often don’t pay enough at the farmworker level to allow families to thrive in this area and still work the land and sea.

Farmworkers are not the only people who find themselves in this situation: 71% of Milbridge households cannot afford fair market rent, meaning that they cannot pay for a modest 2-bedroom apartment without using more than 30% of their income.  Today, there are 67 families on the waiting list for subsidized housing at Saybrook Apartments alone.  While this project does not nearly meet the need for affordable housing in Milbridge, it’s a very promising step in the right direction.  Offering affordable housing options to local families who choose to make some of their annual income from working on a lobster boat, on the blueberry barrens, or in the clam flats will help keep these workers in the area as they support our resource-based economy.  Let us never forget that the families benefiting from this project are working families.  Like so many of us, they are hard-working folks who want nothing more than to put in a full day’s work and be able to afford to feed, shelter, and educate their children.

This project will also allow those families to save money and invest for the future.  So far, we have 2 sternmen, 1 clam digger, and 2 blueberry raker families on the waitlist for the apartments that you will have a chance to see in a few moments.  One of those families currently lives in employer-provided housing, but wants to get a chance to move somewhere else so that they can get better jobs and open new doors for their children.  Right now, they can’t afford anything on the fair market so they are trapped in an endless cycle of knowing that there are better opportunities, but not being able to do anything about it.  After moving into Hand in Hand Apartments, they’ll be able to better their career prospects and eventually, move into a place that is truly their own.

These apartments represent the vision of an entire community and long over-due support for some of the families who embody the character and tradition of Downeast Maine.  At long last, the farmworkers who have made this area special for generations will have a building that they can afford to live in that was designed with their needs first.  I’m humbled by the opportunity to formally offer these families an opportunity to stay in Milbridge as they help sustain our local economy, enrich our community, and foster our quality of place.

As you can imagine, a project of this magnitude requires a remarkable number of partnerships, most especially financial.  This one point four million dollar project was financed by a one million five thousand seven hundred and twenty two dollar USDA Rural Development Farm Labor Housing Loan, a one hundred seventy six thousand seven hundred and seventy eight dollar USDA Farm Labor Housing Loan, a two hundred twenty thousand dollar loan from Coastal Enterprises, and a sixty thousand dollar pre-development loan from MaineHousing.  Federal, state, and non-profit lenders have placed their trust in us and we will live up to that trust through careful financial stewardship of this property.

Everybody in this audience and many who aren’t able to join us today have played an important role in the success of this project.  I’d like to thank the American people for their support of projects such as this one and thank all of you gathered here for being with us today, tomorrow, and always.