Fen's Franklin County History
Fen Fowler was born in Fort Fairfield, graduated from Brewer High School and came to Farmington in 1969 to attend the University of Maine at Farmington (UMF). Fen became actively involved in Student Government as a sophomore and went on to become student government president from 1971-1973. Although Mathematics was initially his major, Fen sought to develop a major that combined his interest in math, with his passion for understanding evolving community issues and helping those in need. Thus a mentor, Professor Dr John Bingley, encouraged Fen to develop a proposal for a major that focused on Geography, Sociology, Economics which he entitled-“Contemporary Social and Economic Issues”. Fen enrolled in a variety of geography, economic and sociology courses and undertook a focus on Farmington housing. Although still a student, Fen realized that because the town had no zoning or building codes, apartments were hastily being developed to appeal to students. Students renting an apartment for the first time were not cognizant of the high cost of having electric heat-the lack of storage or closet space or little room for parking a vehicle. Neighborhoods were not used to having students living so close by and soon conflict emerged between students and landlords and UMF and the Town.
Fen with assistance of University professors designed a survey instrument to map where rental housing had developed and study the changes and the impact on students. Fen in turn created an off campus housing office in 1973 that allowed incoming students to see past opinions of their units by previous tenants-and review the lease before they rented their apartments.
In 1973, Fen graduated from UMF with a BA in Mathematics in 1973, along with a minor in contemporary social and economic problems. This was the year of the first oil embargo, a slump in the economy and few jobs. Fen worked in construction for two years while he searched for a professional job in his field. Luckily Fen’s construction experience and mathematics degree qualified him to become a construction inspector of USDA’s Farmer Home Administration in 1975.Fen also began working part time for Western Maine Community Action doing a Housing research study of County needs.
Fen was offered a full time job by Western Maine Community Action in 1976 to start a new Housing and Energy office. These projects ranged from rehabilitating existing homes, creating new Elderly Housing units, and establishing community Green space and parks. Fen also led a team of energy experts who working with area contractors and successfully weatherized over 1000 homes to new energy standards , saving residents thousands of dollars in energy cost.
A major Community revitalization project was established in Farmington in 1987 when a notoriously low income housing project came up for sale. Fen worked with Reverend Scott Planting of Fairbanks Union Church to organize area churches, the residents and interested citizens in creating an alternative plan for a particularly impoverished part of the community. Eventually a coalition of 9 churches, and 6 community groups created a plan to invest 1.1 million dollars to revitalize 13 apartments and replace 19 mobile homes. The Community came together and volunteered over 11,000 hours to make the new community-“82 high street’ a neighborhood to be proud of. Today the corporation is over 25 years old and continues to be a thriving community in the center of downtown Farmington.
Fen became Executive Director of Western Maine Community Action (WMCA)in 1991. The services include family planning clinics in 4 sites, Career Centers at 5 sites, 6 Head start centers, 3 WIC Clinics and , Centralized administration, housing and energy services in East Wilton. The staff of over 200 employees located sites of Farmington, Rumford, East Wilton, Lewiston, Auburn, South Paris and Norway served a range of customers from the womb to the tomb.
The purpose of WMCA changed over time but continually focused on helping citizens from falling into poverty and helping those in poverty to work themselves out of it. The tagline of “Helping People and Changing Lives” exists to this day. WMCA’s services in health care, employment and training, child development, nutrition, and energy conservation were effective tools in helping our region evolve over 5 decades.
Fen’s leadership at WMCA came during a time of great change: Bass Shoe closed down, wood novelty mills were being dismantled, and Forster Manufacturing was forced to close its doors. Thousands of local Franklin County workers were being laid off. Hard working class men and women, who had spent their entire lives working with their hands in area mills, now needed to find new jobs that were already harder to come by. Sensing this growing tension and uncertainty in Franklin County, Fen partnered WMCA with the State of Maine, UMF, Adult Education,the Community Colleges,women work and community to develop a lifelong learning culture for the impacted workforce. Hundreds of citizens over the next two decades worked to obtain college degrees and certifications affording them the ability to migrate to new jobs.
Today, Fen views the path forward for Franklin County, as returning to our roots of community. Fen intends to lead with facts, compassion, accountability and a keen ear turned to LISTENING to the needs of our community members, young and old. Fen has nearly 40 years experience working alongside all walks of life in Franklin County - a living made not on self interest and wealth, but rather one made on devotion to making our community a better place for citizens of Franklin County. In order to thrive, we must take back our long standing history of working together as a community and remove leadership that is unwilling to listen and promote a dialogue of what would benefit all of our community in the next decade.
Fen with assistance of University professors designed a survey instrument to map where rental housing had developed and study the changes and the impact on students. Fen in turn created an off campus housing office in 1973 that allowed incoming students to see past opinions of their units by previous tenants-and review the lease before they rented their apartments.
In 1973, Fen graduated from UMF with a BA in Mathematics in 1973, along with a minor in contemporary social and economic problems. This was the year of the first oil embargo, a slump in the economy and few jobs. Fen worked in construction for two years while he searched for a professional job in his field. Luckily Fen’s construction experience and mathematics degree qualified him to become a construction inspector of USDA’s Farmer Home Administration in 1975.Fen also began working part time for Western Maine Community Action doing a Housing research study of County needs.
Fen was offered a full time job by Western Maine Community Action in 1976 to start a new Housing and Energy office. These projects ranged from rehabilitating existing homes, creating new Elderly Housing units, and establishing community Green space and parks. Fen also led a team of energy experts who working with area contractors and successfully weatherized over 1000 homes to new energy standards , saving residents thousands of dollars in energy cost.
A major Community revitalization project was established in Farmington in 1987 when a notoriously low income housing project came up for sale. Fen worked with Reverend Scott Planting of Fairbanks Union Church to organize area churches, the residents and interested citizens in creating an alternative plan for a particularly impoverished part of the community. Eventually a coalition of 9 churches, and 6 community groups created a plan to invest 1.1 million dollars to revitalize 13 apartments and replace 19 mobile homes. The Community came together and volunteered over 11,000 hours to make the new community-“82 high street’ a neighborhood to be proud of. Today the corporation is over 25 years old and continues to be a thriving community in the center of downtown Farmington.
Fen became Executive Director of Western Maine Community Action (WMCA)in 1991. The services include family planning clinics in 4 sites, Career Centers at 5 sites, 6 Head start centers, 3 WIC Clinics and , Centralized administration, housing and energy services in East Wilton. The staff of over 200 employees located sites of Farmington, Rumford, East Wilton, Lewiston, Auburn, South Paris and Norway served a range of customers from the womb to the tomb.
The purpose of WMCA changed over time but continually focused on helping citizens from falling into poverty and helping those in poverty to work themselves out of it. The tagline of “Helping People and Changing Lives” exists to this day. WMCA’s services in health care, employment and training, child development, nutrition, and energy conservation were effective tools in helping our region evolve over 5 decades.
Fen’s leadership at WMCA came during a time of great change: Bass Shoe closed down, wood novelty mills were being dismantled, and Forster Manufacturing was forced to close its doors. Thousands of local Franklin County workers were being laid off. Hard working class men and women, who had spent their entire lives working with their hands in area mills, now needed to find new jobs that were already harder to come by. Sensing this growing tension and uncertainty in Franklin County, Fen partnered WMCA with the State of Maine, UMF, Adult Education,the Community Colleges,women work and community to develop a lifelong learning culture for the impacted workforce. Hundreds of citizens over the next two decades worked to obtain college degrees and certifications affording them the ability to migrate to new jobs.
Today, Fen views the path forward for Franklin County, as returning to our roots of community. Fen intends to lead with facts, compassion, accountability and a keen ear turned to LISTENING to the needs of our community members, young and old. Fen has nearly 40 years experience working alongside all walks of life in Franklin County - a living made not on self interest and wealth, but rather one made on devotion to making our community a better place for citizens of Franklin County. In order to thrive, we must take back our long standing history of working together as a community and remove leadership that is unwilling to listen and promote a dialogue of what would benefit all of our community in the next decade.