Adult Education program awarded grant, plans expansion (3)

Director Ray Therrien of the Mt. Blue RSD9 Adult and Community Education program received a $50,000 grant to expand services in Franklin County.

FARMINGTON - The local adult and community education program is planning a significant expansion, including the establishment of a new, northern learning center, after receiving a $50,000 grant.

The Maine College Access Challenge Grant, one of 16 across the state, was awarded through the Finance Authority of Maine and will provide Mt. Blue RSD Adult and Community Education $51,008 to fund educational programming for Maine residents. Director Ray Therrien said that while receiving the grant "shocked" him, the need for additional services was readily apparent in Franklin County.

"I think it shows how pressed we are here," Therrien said, "to meet the demand coming through the doors these days."

While the funds will boost access to college preparatory and related courses throughout the system, the most significant geographic expansion will be in the northern part of the county, where the Adult Education program intends to install a northern learning campus at Saddleback Mountain. Therrien had intended to focus on serving Saddleback employees, but the company wanted to open up the program to the community.

As always, the adult education program will be working with a number of partners, including the Franklin County Community College Network, which assisted in developing the grant proposal, and will incorporate ongoing efforts run at Rangeley Lakes Regional High School. Saddleback Mountain, Therrien said, had offered space in their downtown real estate office, including phone and internet access, as well as classroom space and a daycare at the mountain itself. RLHS will provide classroom space as well.

The northern expansion will be directed by John Jenkins, former state senator and mayor of Lewiston and Auburn, who has a background in education at several different levels.

Therrien lists the three greatest barriers to a higher education for a non-traditional student as "cost, distance and culture." By bringing services to the northern part of the county, Therrien and his partners hope to bring those barriers down.

"I feel all the ingredients are there," Therrien said. If the program can show solid participation and significant need, he added, he believed funds could be leveraged to continue to add programming.

The precise nature of the programs is still being determined, although Therrien did say that surveys conducted in the region showed a strong need for college-ready classes; college-level literacy and technology courses.

Adult Education also helps organize community classes for skills ranging from computer technology to snowmobile repair to aviation and fly fishing, as well as assist residents in completing in getting a GED. The Adult Education program and FCCCN have spent years developing a system which provides a "seamless path of development" as Therrien puts it; a student could theoretically earn a GED, take college preparatory courses to improve literacy, learn basic disciplines and how to utilize common technologies such as Moodle or Blackboard, and then be enrolled into Central Maine Community College or another school.

"This is one new way of possibly making it all work," Therrien said of the expansion.

The program is preparing a kickoff in early November, and will have more details later. For more information about Adult Education programs available throughout Franklin County visit msad9.maineadulted.org or call us at 778-3460.