Community Success

Community Catalyst™

Community Catalyst™ Movie

Community in Crisis

The population of Limestone, Maine crashed from 8,000 people to 2,000 when the local military base was closed by the BRAC commission. Since the town couldn't be saved, the remaining community members decided to re-create it. This is their story.

16 min 13 sec - Jan 21, 2006

This is the miraculous story of Limestone, a small farming community in northeastern Maine. In 1992 it learned that Loring Air Force Base, the social and economic focus of the community for almost fifty years, would be closed. After informal discussions among townspeople failed to produce useful results, community leaders requested a Community Catalyst™ strategic plan. This event, held in October, 1994 was successful in uniting local citizens and helping them achieve a set of long-term goals.

Within five years community leaders estimated that 80% of these goals had been achieved. A second Community Catalyst™, held in January 1999, built on the successes of the previous plan and laid the groundwork for longer-term success.

Today Limestone is the most economically successful community in Aroostook County, Maine. It has managed to retain control of local schools in an era of school consolidation and has replaced all the jobs lost as a result of the closure of Loring Air Force Base.

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