The youth of Vinalhaven are on a campaign to create their own world. Here’s why it matters.
Vinalhaven is a town facing challenges. With fuel and bait prices going up, there are concerns about the lobster economy. As land prices rise, taxes follow along. With the local mainstay industry uncertain, competition for building space intensifying, and the cost of year round living rising, the reality is that the working community of Vinalhaven is at risk of fading into a diminished service community, shadowed by the summer population.
The young people growing up on Vinalhaven are feeling an increasing pressure to look off-island for their future jobs. The essence of the Vinalhaven question is this: will the island’s young people stay, or go? And if they stay, how will they live? What will keep them here, if not lobstering? They need more jobs than lobstering can provide.
The youth are the life and hope of any town. To my mind, keeping the year-round population of Vinalhaven alive and well requires 1) that the island youth feel a deep, strong attachment to the town, and 2) that they are able to find and create jobs for themselves that do not rely on lobsters.
For about seven years, young people on Vinalhaven have been asking for a skate park. As time has passed, their vision has grown clearer and their voices louder. They want an outdoor recreation area with skate ramps and features such as basketball hoops for kids who don’t skate. They want it centrally located so that it will be easy to get to, safe for kids of all ages, easily observed and supervised by passing adults, and so that it makes a symbolic statement of the town’s willingness to protect and provide for the needs of its children. They want to get exercise and stay out of trouble. They want a public space designed just for kids, and in answer to their asking.
While working on the skate park project, titled VYZ (Vinalhaven Youth Zone), the middle school students learned of an already existing public space in want of help: the ARC (Arts and Recreation Center) building. They instantly refocused on the immediate need, and incorporated it into their vision. Already they have taken on upkeep and fundraising tasks, and have held their first student-organized event, a dance that was a huge success. They have conceived of an ambitious project, and laid it out in three phases.
The project is called ACCESS: Active Community Centers for Exercise and Safe Socializing. Phase One is “Keep the ARC Afloat.” Already having solicited and received donations from several individuals and Vinalhaven’s Chamber of Commerce, the ACCESS group is seeking $16,000 from the close community, through benefit events and donations, to cover needed repairs and operating expenses for the ARC. Phase Two is “The ARCafé.” With the help of adult volunteers, foundation grants and the philanthropic community, the students are converting the ARC kitchen into a serving station and putting in wi-fi. ARCafé will be the island’s first Internet café, managed by an adult hired to the position, and staffed by middle- and high-school students: an educational business model, a hands-on service learning resource. Phase Three is “The VYZ” outdoor rec. area. Surveying and design are underway, and the town of Vinalhaven will be asked to vote on the location at the next annual meeting.
For kids to invest in their community, they need to feel valued there. They need to feel that there is no other place they would rather raise families of their own, that it’s a good place to be a kid growing up. They need to feel ownership and responsibility, a sense of control over their own lives. They need to be optimistic about being able to adapt and find work. And it looks to me as if that is what the youth of Vinalhaven are finding, and doing. They are building themselves a home.
Tristan Jackson is an alternative educator and community organizer on Vinalhaven. For more information about the ACCESS project, call him at (207) 863-4891.