During an anniversary trip to Kennebunkport over a decade ago, my wife and I looked at each other and said: We really like it here. We followed that trip up with a second visit, this time to Portland. We were sold.

In 2013, my wife, my then-4-year-old daughter and I boarded a plane and moved to Maine. Friends and family thought our “move of intention” was rash and perhaps even ill-advised. We gave up our jobs and all our professional connections in Colorado, where we had both lived since meeting in graduate school, so that we could have a slice of the “way life should be,” settling in Falmouth.

Of course, living somewhere and visiting somewhere are two very different experiences. Maine has far more dimension to it than any visit to shops and restaurants along the coast during a summer trip could ever fully translate.

Maine has good public schools, generous Medicaid benefits, a welcoming attitude toward immigrants, lots of nature and recreational land, and an admirable can-do attitude. There’s a reason so many people from cities on the East Coast moved here during the pandemic when remote work became a possibility for them. Maine is a great place to live. As much as I was initially drawn in by the tranquility of Maine’s rocky coasts, deep verdant woods and scenic landscapes that just ache to be put on a canvas, I have been equally impressed by the many wonderful people I have met since moving here.

However, Maine is not without its challenges. It is also a place where the population is spread across vast rural areas with few high-paying employment options. Because of this, Maine has a high rate of childhood poverty. This is an obvious social problem. The human consequences of child poverty include but are not limited to, hunger, disease, inequality, violence, exploitation, poor nutrition and higher school drop-out rates. Poverty takes away the opportunity for a quality education.

It is also an economic challenge. Maine should prioritize having a strong supply of productive residents going forward, residents who will need to be resilient to face the rapid pace of changes coming to our state. From the demographics of its residents to its climate to the pillars of its economy, the Maine of tomorrow will look different than the Maine of yesterday, and it will require more innovation and creativity to open doors of opportunity.

These doors are currently all but closed for more than a third of our young children because they are living in poverty. Gov. Janet Mills deserves significant credit for increasing tax credit benefit opportunities to families with young children. I am proud we are one of the 14 states willing to offer this investment to the future of our workforce. My 4-year-old daughter who boarded the plane with us to Maine is now in high school and beginning to assess where she would like to fit into the world as an adult.

As a high school teacher myself, I hope she and every Maine child can find their slice of the “way life should be.”

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