Formation of the Sponsoring Committee

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After deciding in September 2002 to focus their initial organizing efforts in the unusually hard-hit region of Kennebec and lower Somerset Counties, regional and local Maine leaders formed the Kennebec Valley Organization Sponsoring Committee (KVOSC) in May 2003 to plan and carry out the organizing campaign. Institutions joining the KVOSC pledged their name, representative involvement, members’ participation in leadership development, and commitment to finding the resources necessary to establish the permanent Kennebec Valley Organization. IVP hired Dan Koehler to begin work in the Valley as KVOSC’s Organizer in June 2003.

After reaching its start-up fundraising goals in February 2004, KVOSC incorporated in the state of Maine and assumed responsibility from IVP for its own operating budget, under the fiscal sponsorship of the Maine Conference of the United Church of Christ. In March 2004, KVOSC voted to join IVP, becoming its sixth member organization.

On October 24, 2004, KVOSC leaders decided on a 12-month action plan that would take the organization into Listening Campaigns to build relationships and determine initial issue priorities, Issue Campaigns to take action on the issues identified, and a Founding Event on November 6, 2005 to formally establish the permanent Kennebec Valley Organization.