About The Community Connector

The Community Connector was established in the spring of 2005 as one place to go to search for services and opportunities in Greater Franklin County.

The Community Connector is sponsered by the following organizations:

The Healthy Community Coalition

Founded in 1989, Healthy Community Coalition (HCC) is an affiliate of the Franklin Community Health Network with a mission of promoting health and well-being in Franklin County, Maine and neighboring towns along the county, including Livermore Falls.

HCC runs programs and events to support healthy lifestyles that prevent disease and improve quality of life. HCC also helps neighborhoods grow and thrive—building a stronger and healthier community for everyone. Our mobile health unit and community outreach efforts appear in every town and corner of our community, offering screenings and health information, and task forces, volunteers, and health advocates take on the issues that matter in our towns and neighborhoods.

HCC is one of the largest and oldest healthy communities organizations in the country, and the affiliated volunteers and staff have received many awards and citations. HCC helped found the Maine Network of Healthy Communities and takes pride in its connection to the worldwide healthy communities movement.

HCC sets its goals by the priorities of our community. To understand the perspective of our neighbors, HCC administers the biennial Community Health Visioning on behalf of co-sponsors including FCHN, Health Leaders Forum, United Way of Tri-Valley, and HealthReach Community Health Centers. Also to help us understand the issues that matter in our community, HCC researches and disseminates periodic health assessments to report on the health status of our community and how our health compares with others in Maine and nationally. Using information from the Visioning and the health assessment, HCC sets goals and measures progress. The HCC Board of Directors has developed “tree diagrams” that outline HCC goals, strategies, and how HCC plans to measure its effectiveness.

HCC exists because of the generosity and support of a variety of agencies, foundations, and individuals. We are grateful to our many friends in our community who donate when they visit our mobile health unit and community events. And HCC is proud that Franklin Memorial Hospital, our affiliate, stands by us and values prevention and community building with their generous donation to HCC. We are also thankful to our first funder, the Bingham Program, for making it possible to start HCC.

The Franklin Resource Network

We all want to get help when we need it, without navigating through a maze of social service agencies, being told you can't be helped here, you have to go there, only to find once you get there, you are referred somewhere else. We want a better system - a system based on the philosophy that there is "No Wrong Door" to go through for help.

To get consumers what they need when they need it, the Healthy Community Coalition is coordinating The Franklin Resource Network with funding from, in part, an Aging and Disability Resource Center grant from the federal Administration on Aging and Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The Franklin Resource Network’s mission is to maximize resources in our community, so all residents, but particularly elders, people with disabilities, and caregivers, can easily find information about, and gain access to, services and opportunities to contribute their gifts and talents. The program also links existing networks serving our communities such as the Health Leaders Forum and the Agency Partnership. Linking existing networks builds on the ability of those networks to connect a large and diverse population of consumers to resources they may need to improve their quality of life.

The Franklin Resource Network is:

1. Convening Monthly Meetings

   Agency representatives and community members meet monthly to share programming information so Network members are aware of current services, and the group addresses ways to improve access to services.

2. Coordinating The Community Connector program, which is based on:

   Access to community resource information via technology using The Community Connector website TheCommunityConnector.org.
   
   Conducting Outreach Efforts
   

   Community members, bartenders and beauticians have been identified and are being trained to be "Community Connectors". They are trained to recognize that a community member may need to connect to a community resource, and then how to get that information. They do this connecting at their business, in an informal setting (like at the grocery store) or at a more formal setting like a food pantry where they may be available at specific times every month.

   Community Connectors access The Community Connector Website or "The Community Connector Tool Kit" that staff have put together and are distributing. The tool kit is a scaled down paper version of the most commonly requested services, such as fuel assistance and transportation. Fact sheets have also been developed that detail information such as: How to get help paying for a hearing aid, Ways to fight soaring heating bills, and What is available for home health care in Greater Franklin County?

   Staff and volunteers are very visible with resource materials at fairs and festivals throughout Greater Franklin County, including the Farmington Fair, Wilton Blueberry Festival, Phillips Old Home Days and many others. In addition, we have traveled extensively with the Healthy Community Coalition’s 29-foot mobile health unit as staff offer health screenings as part of Healthy Community Coalition’s more clinical health promotion efforts.

3. Sponsoring Trainings and Presentations

   The Franklin Resource network sponsors public presentations including a four-part Conversation Series on Memory Loss and Dementia, All You Need to Know About Medicare D, Memory Loss and Dementia, Brain Injury 101, Recognizing Suicidal Tendencies and Depression As We Age, An Introduction to Maine’s 2-1-1 system, and Veterans’ Benefits. Future presentations include a focus on customer service, access to assistive technology, and talking with your doctor, among others.

4. Coordinating Mapping Sessions

   Agencies and organizations participate in “mapping sessions” that are designed to facilitate a better understanding of how agencies and organizations in Greater Franklin County help consumers identify who to go to to get what they need for support. Presenters prepare answers to the following questions:

   • How does your agency or organization handle a call requesting service?
   • Who handles the call. What does that person do with the call, and how does that person figure out what to do next?
   • Is there an assessment tool?
   • If so, what happens next to the caller?
   • How do you determine if someone needs a formal service or to be linked with an informal network?
   • What do you provide or do for followup?

5. Sponsoring Events

   The Franklin Resource Network sponsors events such as Resource Fairs to build awareness of existing community services, and Senior Celebrations, held in conjunction with the local Area Agency on Aging, SeniorsPlus at which a variety of workshops are held including An Introduction to Navigating the Internet for Information using TheCommunityConnector.org, Proper Lifting and Reaching Techniques, and Healthy Foods for Healthy Aging.

6. Identifying gaps in services and determining how/where to move the issue.

   The Franklin Resource Network dedicates time at each FRN meeting to discuss an identified issue in the community. This way, the issue can be reviewed from all sides and a plan can be developed for each issue. Experts on each topic are invited to the meeting to thoroughly educate FRN members on the issue. The idea that is brought to the table then, will be brought in the spirit of collaboration with the following guide:

   • Share
   • Communicate
   • Educate
   • Collaborate
   • Take Action