Mission

We developed our mission with guidance from the Town’s Comprehensive Plan, an advisory document reflecting the collective desired future of the Town. It is 135 pages long and states at the outset its intent is “to promote and sustain a diverse year-round community, by managing change of Mount Desert’s principal resources.” It investigates five interrelated issues – Community, Economics, Environment, Health & Recreation, and Civic Participation. It sets seven goals, then follows up with implementation strategies to achieve those goals.

Mount Desert 365’s mission embraces the Goals of the Comprehensive Plan, with greatest emphasis on the first three:

  1. Population: To encourage growth in our year-round community that supports prosperity and sustainability.

  2. Economy: To expand the local year-round economy to enhance the quality of life for Mount Desert’s citizens, seasonal residents, and visitors.

  3. Housing: To promote a pattern of residential growth that sustains all aspects of our community and that is affordable for year-round residents.

We have defined our core values as follows, and believe they reflect those of the Comprehensive Plan:

Mount Desert 365 is a nonprofit 501(c)(3), community-based organization dedicated to promoting long-term economic vitality of the Town of Mount Desert, Maine, through expansion of sustainable year-round residential communities and economic revitalization of commercial districts.

Our Core Values:

  • Community is at the heart of all we do. Beyond the place where we live, work, and raise our families, community is the connection with neighbors, a shared appreciation for the natural beauty that surrounds us, and a sense of commitment towards mutual prosperity, communal health and well-being, and civic pride through engagement. We believe that a community that thrives 365 days of the year benefits all of us.

  • The mountains, waters, fields and woods that are an integral part of the community are precious assets that nurture us physically and spiritually. We have a responsibility to be good stewards and safeguard them for future generations.

  • A complex weave of people in the community creates a vibrancy that can enhance our best features – creativity, resourcefulness, and integrity. The coming together of people living among us year-round, part-time, or visiting briefly adds texture and color to the community and creates an interdependence that can’t be denied. We believe the knowledge, skills, talents and resources of each part of the community should be harnessed and lead to innovations for the benefit of all.

  • A shared vision of the community’s future, combined with focused energy, strategic collaborations, and careful use of resources will guide our decisions.

  • Building on the solid foundations of the generations before us to establish and preserve this community, we will endeavor to create opportunities to live and prosper that will stand the test of time.

Read the story of Mount Desert 365