Waldo Community Action Partners is pleased to announce that Keith Small will be the agency’s new executive director. Small will be the third executive director in the agency’s 46 year history.
Small has 30 years of experience in community action work. Prior to accepting the position of executive director at WCAP, he was the director of the Down East Business Alliance, a division of the Washington Hancock Community Agency in Ellsworth.
In his early years with WHCA, Small was a fuel assistance intake worker and then a community liaison. In 1985, his primary focus became small business development. The program grew from a single loan program in 1985 to the five loan program that it is now. It was in this program that Small, along with colleagues, piloted the first Incubator Without Walls Business Alliance Program, through which they served more than 400 small-business entrepreneurs in Washington and Hancock Counties.
Though Small grew up in Hancock County, he has spent a lot of time in Waldo County and appreciates the vibrant economic atmosphere of the coastal area, according to a press release from WCAP. Small also has a particular interest in the interior and western part of the county.
“I have an interest in the farming community here in Waldo County,” he said, in the press release. “[Incubator Without Walls] devised some training programs specific to farmers, and also piloted the first statewide Maine Farmers’ Market Convention… so, it really has grown to recognize farmers as small businesses too.”
Small will officially begin his tenure as executive director at the end of September, upon the retirement of the current Executive Director Joyce Scott. When asked about his new role, Small said, “I’m just honored to be selected for this position… with Joyce, there’s certainly huge shoes to fill. She’s become an icon in many respects and she knows the program’s details inside and out. I am up to the challenge and I really look forward to working with the very capable staff here at WCAP to help us all collectively meet that challenge.”
