Mainebiz

W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 13 J U N E 1 2 , 2 0 1 7 smile by sarah No one has a smile like you. And no one can keep it healthy like us. Like Sarah, your smile is unique. It deserves Delta Dental, the nation's leading dental benefits provider. With the largest network of dentists nationwide, quick answers, and personalized service, we make it easy to keep your smile healthy. www.nedelta.com Northeast Delta Dental Libra Foundation launches investment in Maine's poorest county B y J a m e s M c C a r t h y Monson — The Libra Foundation is making a sig- nificant investment in Piscataquis County, initially focusing on acquiring and developing several vacant properties in Monson. Craig Denekas, Libra's chairman and CEO, told Mainebiz in an interview that the foundation has spent roughly $1 million since last fall, buying vacant prop- erties in Monson seen as having strong potential for restoration and reuse. Additional money is being spent on renovations, many of which are already underway. Among them are the town's former elementary school, which is being renovated into the Monson Community Center, and its closed general store, which will reopen this summer as a market selling locally grown foods as well as Pineland Farms beef, potato and cheese products. "We've been up there since November, going to town meetings and meeting with local people," Denekas said. "This is a multifaceted project in a county that, like many areas of rural Maine, is expe- riencing a long-term and deep economic downturn." Piscataquis County, Maine's poorest county, has also had a 3.9% decline in population from 2010-16, to 16,843, according to the U.S. Census. Median household income was $37,495 in 2015, compared to $49,331 for the state. Nearly one in five county residents, or 19.1%, live in poverty, compared to 13.4% for the state, according to the Census. The county is larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined. The coutny has seen the closing of paper mills, an aging of its population and the drain of local young people moving away. "We were challenged by that," Denekas said. "We thought that would be the challenge we would focus on." Denekas said Libra's initiative is guided by exten- sive meetings with local leaders, including those in nearby Greenville. "We met with town and county officials, business folks, artists, potters and artisans … a lot of really interesting people," he said. "The folks up there are ready for action. We said, 'Let's do something.'" Libra realized it had a ready model in the two- pronged strategy it employed in Aroostook County, where it invested more than $30 million in the Maine Winter Sports Center as well as investment in the Mars Hill-based Pineland Farms Potato Co. (now a division of Bob Evans Farms Inc., which purchased the company for $115 million earlier this year) and the Pineland Farms Natural Meats feedlot in Fort Fairfield. "It became clear to us that we could try to do in Piscataquis County what we did in Aroostook," Denekas said. Its investment strategy focuses on three sectors: The arts; food and agriculture; and recreational, out- door and visitor activities. Since its founding in 1989, the Libra Foundation has made grants totaling nearly $188 million, tradi- tionally in the form of small grants to an array of orga- nizations rather than large grants to a few. Schools, libraries, museums, homeless shelters, community health services have been beneficiaries. B R I E F From left, Jere Michelson, president, chief operating officer and chief financial officer of the Libra Foundation; Erik Hayward, senior vice president; and Craig Denekas, chair- man and CEO, display a historic map of downtown Monson in a conference room at the foundation's Portland office. P H O T O / JA M E S M C C A R T H Y

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