MELMAC Education Foundation Announces New $600,000 Initiative for Maine High Schools and Communities
Article published April 14, 2003
(Augusta) - The MELMAC Education Foundation announced its first major initiative, Connect Aspirations to a Plan, which will provide $600,000 over the next two years in grants to Maine high schools and communities. The initiative will fund school- and community-based programs that not only increase students' aspirations for higher education, but also help students to connect those aspirations to a plan that successfully facilitates enrollment in college immediately following high school graduation. The two-year grants will provide selected schools with $10,000 per year in funding and selected communities with $30,000 per year in funding.
"The goal of the Connect Aspirations to a Plan initiative is to raise Maine's college enrollment rate from 55% of all graduating seniors to the national average of 68% of all graduating seniors by 2008, resulting in 2,100 more seniors enrolling in post-secondary education each year," stated Wendy Ault, the Foundation's Executive Director.
The announcement was made at the Connecting Aspirations to a Plan: Best Practices from Successful College Access Programs conference, hosted by the Foundation. The conference, attended by over 150 people from over 120 Maine schools and organizations, highlighted successful college access programs occurring in Maine and Ohio that have dramatically increased the college enrollment rates at their respective sites. The purpose of the conference was to provide interested schools and communities with proven examples of successful college access programs. These schools and communities can then propose to replicate these model programs (or variations of these programs) as part of their application to the MELMAC Education Foundation for funding as part of this initiative.
"Given these tight economic times for state and local budgets, I am very pleased to offer our strong endorsement of MELMAC Education Foundation's Connect Aspirations to a Plan that will provide substantial funding to replicate proven programs and strategies that will increase the college enrollment rates of our high school graduates," state Susan Gendron, Commissioner of the Department of Education. "Maine does a great job of ensuring that students get a high school diploma. Now we need to continue that success in working with students to ensure that they successfully aspire to and, more importantly, actually attend college."
"The MELMAC Education Foundation inaugurates an impressive and timely education initiative," stated Arthur Doyle, Assistant Vice President, Northeast Regional Office, the College Board. “Its identification and prioritization of opportunities to deliver quality college access services will produce sustained benefits to students, schools, colleges, and the state of Maine as a whole."
The Foundation showcased six model programs at the conference:
· National College Access Network (www.collegeaccess.org) - an Ohio-based nationwide organization that assists in the development of community-based college access programs around the country.
· Ohio Appalachian Center for Higher Education (www.oache.org) - an Ohio-based college access program that has worked with high schools in rural Ohio to dramatically increase the college enrollment rate of high school graduates by an average 30% over two years.
· Bangor High School's Guidance Department - an academic-focused and student-centered guidance program that has significantly increased the college-going rate of seniors over the last few years.
· Stearns High School's Guidance Department - a comprehensive college access program in rural Maine that over the last two decades has resulted in college going rates from 63% to 90% of the graduating class.
· University of Maine at Farmington / GEAR-UP Partnership - an early awareness and college access program working with middle and high school students in Dixfield for several years.
· Pathway Partners - a mentoring program in Western Maine that connects students with professionals who mentor and assist the students in planning for and enrolling in post-secondary education
Connect Aspirations to a Plan applications are due by July 1, 2003 with grant awards being made in August 2003. For more information, visit the Foundation's website at MELMACFoundation.org.
Since January 2001, the MELMAC Education Foundation has given out over $500,000 in grants and scholarships. In 2001, the Foundation announced the Maine Principals Scholarship program in which one student from every Maine high school, public and private, will receive a $1,000 scholarship toward their first year of college at the school of their choice, in state or out of state. The MELMAC Education Foundation also operates the Financial Aid Enhancement Grant Program targeted at Maine’s post-secondary institutions’ financial aid offices to enhance and improve the delivery of financial aid.
The MELMAC Education Foundation is located in Augusta. The Foundation has assets of approximately 28 million dollars.