Incubating Aspirations Across Maine

Story by the Rural Schools Collaborative

The Rural Youth Institute is supporting students throughout rural Maine by supporting youth-serving organizations.

Across Maine, young people in rural areas are facing critical challenges that present significant barriers to achieving postsecondary success: higher-than-urban rates of childhood poverty, elevated levels of Adverse Childhood Experiences, and significant geographic isolation that can leave students feeling disconnected and unable to see a future for themselves in their home communities. With limited resources and scope, the public school system is unable to meet all of the needs of the whole child, which, in turn, is left to families, local institutions, and community-focused organizations.

Community-based organizations, however, frequently lack capacity, resources, or longitudinal data to improve programming for youth. Thus, the Rural Youth Institute was born, which seeks to empower youth-serving organizations and equip youth-development professionals with high quality training and support to enhance strategies that promote rural youth aspiration building and thriving. At the core of their support for organizations is implementing an intentional focus on mentorship and relationships, which founder Don Carpenter describes as essential: “When youth programs move beyond short-term interventions and focus on sustainable, transformational relationships, they unlock new possibilities for young people– especially those in rural and under-resourced communities.”

Read the rest of the article here.