Kid Friendly

“It’s very much an ‘if you build it they will come’ situation.”

Gerardine Wurzburg, Isle au Haut Community Development Corporation

Isle au Haut, Maine

The island town of Isle au Haut, Maine (population 74) struggles with a challenge common to lots of small towns: its population is dwindling. Not all the time—the picturesque New England island has no problem attracting visitors in the summer, but it has a heck of a time getting folks to stay put for the winter. Nowhere is that more apparent than at the island K-8 school, which has only three students. In four years when the youngest child moves on to high school, that will mean the end for the island school. And when an island loses its school, it isn’t long before it loses its year-round population, too. So town leaders are on a mission. They want to attract families with schoolchildren, and to do that they’re building two high-efficient, low-price rental houses. Anyone can apply to live in them, but town leaders are keeping their eye out for the perfect tenants: newcomers who can find work on the island or bring their jobs with them, who will participate in community life, and—most important—who have school-age children. How do the three kids on the island feel about getting additional school mates? They like the idea. As one boy points out, with only the three students now, they can’t get away with anything.

Read more → Heather Steeves, Island: Please come live here—and make sure to bring the kids, Bangor Daily News, December 17, 2011.