10th Anniversary Story Archive

Each month Educate Maine will be highlighting a "Mission Moment" to showcase the work done over the past 10 years. Please enjoy our archive of these stories!

March Mission Moment: Students

Educate Maine is committed to experiential learning through all of our programs including our internship program. We are also proud to host interns each summer and throughout the year when possible. In 2019 we partnered with Live + Work in Maine to host four campus-based interns across the state to promote internships and career experiences at college campuses and drive interest in living and working in Maine after graduation.

Maddie Stevens was based at the University of southern Maine where she was an undergrad studying Marketing, Tourism, and Hospitality.

We asked Maddie about her experience and what made this internship stand out among her other experiences. "Educate Maine gave me the opportunity to meet one on one with employers and to make connections in Southern Maine." Maddie added, "At the time I was a student who had very limited networking interactions - this connection helped tremendously giving the connection and a purpose to learn more about Maine employers."

April Mission Moment: Higher Education

Our partnerships with Maine’s higher education institutions run deep and the strong relationships we have intersect across all of Educate Maine’s programs. We intentionally work to support student aspirations, success, college and career preparation and career readiness with our higher education partners because that work is at the heart of our mission.

When strategically planning out our work for the year, we connect and collaborate with our higher education colleagues to make sure we are aligning events, networking opportunities, programming, and professional development. Our cooperation is firmly rooted in doing the best for students so they persist and complete their education and go on to be successful contributing members of Maine’s economy.

Our deliberate alignment of Educate Maine priorities with higher education initiatives is evident in Education Leaders Experience, Maine Career Catalyst, Maine Teacher of the Year, and Project>Login. Additionally, we often participate in policy and advocacy work together with our higher education partners. Making gains in educational attainment is a shared goal and directly tied to MaineSpark, of which we are all members.

We are grateful for the continued leadership and dedication of faculty, staff, and students at Husson University, Thomas College, University of New England, Maine's Community College System, and the University of Maine System campuses. Educate Maine is proud to partner with all of you!

MAY MISSION MOMENT: SUPPORTING TEACHERS

Educate Maine is excited to announce a matching grant from Gorham Savings Bank. During the month of June, the first $2,500 in donations to Educate Maine will be DOUBLED!

Giving during the next month will be directed toward our programs supporting Maine's amazing educators. To learn more about our work with teachers, our website donation page. Thank you for your support!!

June Mission Moment: Education Advocacy

Educate Maine engages in outreach and advocacy to advance education policies and practices that prepare Maine students for postsecondary learning and the workforce. Working with educators to develop their advocacy skills is a core part of our work. Through high-quality professional development, earned media, and participating in advocacy coalitions, Educate Maine champions policies that support career readiness and education attainment.

As the first session of the 130th Legislature comes to a close, Educate Maine is proud of the bipartisan support for education and workforce development during this session. Over the next few days with final votes, the state will fulfill its commitment to fund 55% of local education costs for the first time in history, provide needed support for Maine's higher education institutions, launch the Maine Career Exploration Program, and make important investments to implement the State Economic Development Strategy. These investments will help Maine meet its state attainment goal of 60% by 2025.

July Mission Moment: Workforce Development

Educate Maine engages in workforce development across all of our programs to strengthen career readiness for all Mainers. Project>Login and Maine Career Catalyst are two programs built on this mission that work directly with employers throughout the year.

Maine Career Catalyst's goal is to improve the perception of Maine as a vibrant place to live and work and increase the attraction of skilled workers to Maine. We do this through partnerships and ongoing professional development events for college students across the state that cultivate their career skills and expand their networks. On Friday, twenty-five students from multiple disciplines and industries will join in an interactive, half-day Social Justice Leadership Workshop to learn how to be lead in this area as they move through their careers. The event is being led by WeMaxx Consulting and featuring leaders from Prosperity Maine.

Project>Login has worked with employers and training and education partners to build a network of career ready individuals with the skills necessary for employment in the IT and computing fields. We do this by bringing together students, faculty, staff, and businesses to connect about career exploration and targeted job preparation across Maine, including employer-based events, virtual workshops and campus-based networking opportunities. We also continually work with employers to identify the top skills they need for their in-demand roles, and then communicate those skills and necessary training to students, faculty, jobseekers, and the general public.

AUGUST MISSION MOMENT: BUILDING A STRONG ORGANIZATION

“Educate Maine is all about partnership. As a statewide organization focused on increasing educational attainment and career readiness, we operate best by coming together with partner organizations to work on mutual goals to benefit Maine students and educators. By aligning the education and business communities, we are able to greatly improve educational outcomes for students and provide needed support to make sure students are ready to thrive in the workforce. In short, we are stronger when working together.”

Jason Judd

Executive Director

As Educate Maine prepares to mark ten years as an organization, we wanted to reflect and look to the future. In this, we asked ourselves: what makes Educate Maine unique? As an organization, we all collectively find our partnerships to be both our uniqueness and our strength. As quoted brilliantly by a board member: “If there was no Educate Maine, we would need to invent one.” At our core, Educate Maine works to connect business and education so students can thrive inside and outside the traditional education pipeline. As Maine looks to grow, we view our work as imperative in allowing our students to become the leaders and workers Maine businesses want and need.

SEPTEMBER MISSION MOMENT: Partnership with Nonprofits

Jason Judd

Executive Director

In Maine there are so many wonderful nonprofit organizations with whom we collaborate with to accomplish our mission. The benefits of partnership with like-minded organizations include strengthening our programs, increasing organizational efficiency and effectiveness, and pursuing greater impact for people across Maine. This month we highlighted many of these valuable nonprofit partnerships.

OCTOBER MISSION MOMENT: Engaging Maine's Businesses

"Business and education partnerships are the heart of our work at Educate Maine. Staff have engaged more than 80 businesses over the years, as board members, program advisory committee members, through networking events, business tours with our ELE program, and countless other events and initiatives.

Through our Maine Career Catalyst program, Educate Maine works closely with Maine businesses to improve and expand their internship programs and attract high-quality young talent to Maine. Through our Project>Login program, we work closely with businesses to understand the most in-demand skills for tech careers and then we work with schools all across Maine to proactively cultivate opportunities for students to grow those skills. We could not run our ELE program without businesses - they're the subject of our regional tours throughout the year, where education leaders learn about all the exciting careers in Maine and all about the wonderful employers we have in our own backyards.

Business partnerships are critical to everything we do. Thank you to all of the businesses who partner with us to improve opportunities for Maine students and grow a thriving, skilled workforce!"

Katherine Johnston

Director of Research and Strategic Initiatives

NOVEMBER MISSION MOMENT: Research and Reporting

A core part of Educate Maine's work is leveraging data to inform our programs and advocacy. The annual Education Indicators for Maine report highlights important data points that Maine schools, parents, and policymakers should be aware of as they seek to make policies that support all of our learners throughout the education pipeline, from birth through adulthood. In addition to the annual report, Educate Maine publishes policy briefs that highlight timely issues in education and the workforce and shine a light on strategies that Maine communities can implement to strengthen our education system. You can read all of our research and reports here.