December 31, 2018 marks the conclusion of CCLC’s first twenty years; 2019 dawns upon its next. The theme of this edition of Cobscook Currents is Legacies and CCLC’s Emerging Future. It is offered as a “come all ye,” inviting your participation in securing that emerging future for the Center and the people and communities it serves.

CCLC’s founders committed themselves to identifying, building upon, and creating best practices in education to serve people in easternmost Maine. They sought to establish a beautiful and welcoming campus to support the educational interests and needs for learners of all ages and to help improve the quality of teaching and learning throughout the region. They felt that improvements in education in our home region would lead to improvements in the social, ecological, and economic conditions here as well.

During our first twenty years, we spent a lot of time paying attention to the strengths and challenges of life in rural communities. The vast majority of educational research, policy, mandates, and measures are urban in origin and then applied to all communities in America. Yet, it is clear that societal structures and systems are out of balance and out of touch with rural America, which, by all accounts, is suffering. We believe the emerging future for CCLC allows us to contribute both at home and at the state and national levels, in helping to build from within, one community at a time, that balance and well-being for rural communities.

As you read on, you will gain insights about CCLC’s emerging future from our Board President, Sarah Strickland, and from each of CCLC’s division heads. University of Maine graduate students and faculty describe their recent immersion experience at CCLC’s Heartwood Retreat Center. Four individuals describe how and why they have included CCLC in their planned giving. And, you are introduced to Tobias Francis, son of the late Passamaquoddy artist David Moses Bridges, who is crafting the fifth and final 100 Hearts Campaign ornaments as a gift to all of you who have participated in the 100 Hearts Campaign for Heartwood Lodge and Classrooms.

Thanks to all of you who have contributed to making CCLC’s first twenty years possible. Please help us expand our circles of support to ensure the impacts of educational innovation and collaboration continue for the next twenty and beyond.

With eternal thanks,