RUMFORD, Maine — The town of Rumford, nestled among the Oxford County hills, has received millions of dollars in grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That money is designed to address challenges the rural community faces and help it pave its way toward a brighter future.
Last month, USDA Rural Development Maine State Director Rhiannon Hampson met with local leaders in Rumford to celebrate three particular recent grants, which are:
- A Distance Learning and Telemedicine grant. This $982,191 is bringing interactive video-conferencing equipment to classrooms in Oxford and Franklin Counties.
- A Rural Energy for America Program grant. This $500,000 is helping to install an energy-efficient hydronic heat pump system at the old Bag Mill development downtown.
- A Water and Waste Disposal grant. This $8.5 million is allowing Rumford and Mexico to make upgrades to the local wastewater treatment facility and pump station.
"We’re taking the existing infrastructure in these places, and we’re creating a new face for it for the 21st century," Hampson told NEWS CENTER Maine via Zoom.
For Hampson, this work is personal. She grew up in rural Maine and currently runs a dairy farm in Knox County. She said she believes everyone should have the option to live wherever they want without facing any barriers.
"It shouldn’t be a punitive thing to live in rural spaces," Hampson said, later adding, "I shouldn’t have to feel like I’m making a big tradeoff for myself or my own family in order to live in a place that I’m drawn to or from.”
Hampson said a big goal of hers is helping remote communities to thrive by lifting up the natural resources they bring to the table, which more-urban centers do not. She said she wants Rumford and the surrounding area to consider how success may look different going forward compared to decades ago when mills reigned supreme.
"We don’t always need to look to the past to determine what we want to be in the future," Hampson said.
George O'Keefe is the economic development director of Rumford. He said this development and redevelopment trend isn't unusual in formerly-industrial municipalities throughout Maine and northern New England. Now, Rumford is getting on board.
"The USDA’s investment in our community is going to help drive continued diversification and a substantial amount of, I think, new business activity and visitors here, as well," O'Keefe said, later adding, "It really helps to put us on a level playing field with other communities."
O'Keefe said he's hoping to retain current residents and attract new ones, as Rumford works to reinvent itself.
"It’s really essential for rural areas to be seen and understood as belonging," O'Keefe said.
At RSU 10, technology director Brian Carrier is excited to be installing that interactive video-conferencing equipment in all of the school district's classrooms. He said a similar grant a few years ago brought these devices to some select rooms, and they became popular.
"It gives [students] a doorway and a pathway to explore and kind of stretch their horizon," Carrier said.
Carrier was born and raised in Rumford and said he recognizes how useful technology can be in connecting kids in rural places with the outside world.
"They can use it for distance learning, remote learning, field trips," Carrier said, later adding, "There shouldn’t be any reason why a student should be limited... because they don’t have access to a physical location."
You can learn more about the USDA Rural Development here.