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Description
The Rural Future Fund’s (RFF) Aspirations Incubator is a long-term, youth development program focused on raising aspirations by increasing resiliency for students growing up in rural Maine, giving them the opportunity to develop meaningful relationships through mentorship, community connection, and introducing them to new opportunities. RFF worked with a group of rural youth development organizations to implement the Aspirations Incubator (AI) model to create comprehensive mentoring-based programming for youth starting in Grade 7 and continuing through high school graduation. This study used a mixed-methods approach to explore the impact of the six-year pilot in five rural Maine communities. DIP staff conducted key informant interviews, student focus groups, student surveys, and site visits. The evaluation also incorporated the sites’ grant reports; the Holistic Student Assessment (HSA) which is a self-assessment measure of strengths and challenges; school attendance rates; and academic achievement scores on standardized tests. Most students noted some type of positive social or emotional change resulting from their AI program participation. AI students performed strong academically and had higher attendance rates compared to their peers. Students also reported that their AI program helped increase their exposure to new experiences, which included college and career exploration, and this expanded students’ ideas of what was possible for their lives, and inspired them to pursue different or more ambitious post-secondary plans. In fact, 83% of the 2023 AI graduating seniors planned to attend two- or four-year college, well above the 2022 state average of 52% for college enrollment. The implications of these results suggest that to improve rural young people’s lives, youth-serving programs and organizations should consider making relationship-building the core of their work.
Publication Date
10-28-2024
Recommended Citation
Goan, Sarah; Way, Elora; and Schwartz, Emma, "Investing in Rural Maine Youth through theAspirations Incubator Pilot" (2024). Rural Issues Symposium. 71.
https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/rural_issues/71