Our mission is to ensure all Appalachian students succeed, and we pursue it using four interconnected strategies: Lifting Educational Aspirations, Building Academic Skills, Connecting College and Career, and Engaging Families. To support these strategies, we braid services and align funding streams — leveraging $42.9 million each year — to optimize results for over 50,000 young people and their families.
Lifting Educational Aspirations
We lift educational aspirations through college visits, cultural experiences and connecting students to people from similar backgrounds who have succeeded. [learn more]
As students learn to dream big and aspire to go to college, it becomes crucial that they have the opportunity and resources needed to build academic skills. [learn more]
Mentoring, college visits, career fairs and much more contribute to the successful transition to college and career. [learn more]
Engaging Families
Children with supportive and engaged families have better social and emotional skills which provide a foundation for educational success. [learn more]
Berea College’s Knox Promise Neighborhood Partnering with Area Colleges to Offer Postsecondary Support to Local Students
Appalachian Kentucky Service Year Impact Community Initiative Receives $150k Through Grant Program by National Nonprofit StriveTogether
Seven Organizations Named as Hubs for Results Count™ Leadership Development
Berea Independent Receives Full-Service Community School Grant
New Berea College GEAR UP Programs Offer Resources to Local Students
Rural College Access & Success Summit
Each year, the Rural College Access and Success Summit brings together teachers, principals, superintendents, legislators, non-profit leaders and many others to share ideas and strategies for ensuring that rural youth have the opportunity to successfully transition from high school to college and to career. The Summit highlights best practices and the unique challenges of increasing opportunity in rural America. Learn more.
Our Creative Promise
Our Creative Promise is an information gathering and sharing project designed to support communities in ten Southeastern Kentucky counties in taking inventory of the artists, cultural organizations, events, venues and other creative assets currently in the area. [visit site]
Meet JoAnne, a Family Engagement Hero
Meet JoAnne Richardson, the full-time volunteer that left her job at the library to serve her community through family engagement.
Our Programs
Partners for Education braids a wide variety of programs together to serve Appalachian students. Learn more about our programs and which counties they serve.
Our Leadership
Learn more about Partners for Education’s leadership and the strengths they bring to serving Appalachian students and families.
Data for Data Driven Solutions
ACT
Headquartered in Iowa City, Iowa, ACT provides high-quality assessments grounded in nearly 60 years of research.
www.act.org
(ARC) Appalachian Regional Commission
Established by an act of Congress in 1965, ARC is a regional economic development agency that represents a partnership of federal, state, and local government. It is composed of the governors of the 13 Appalachian states and a federal co-chair, who is appointed by the president.
www.arc.gov
(CDC) Center for Disease Control
The CDC serves as the national focus for developing and applying disease prevention and control, environmental health, and health promotion and health education activities designed to improve the health of the people of the United States.
www.cdc.gov
Ideas and Inspiration: Resources
AmeriCorps
AmeriCorps programs do more than move communities forward; they serve their members by creating jobs and providing pathways to opportunity for young people entering the workforce. AmeriCorps places thousands of young adults into intensive service positions where they learn valuable work skills, earn money for education, and develop an appreciation for citizenship.
https://www.nationalservice.gov/programs/americorps/americorps-programs
Save the Children
Save the Children began working with Kentucky communities in 1932 to provide support to school children during the Great Depression. They currently partner with 31 sites in 8 counties, serving 11,154 children.
www.savethechildren.org
myON
MyON is an award-winning personalized literacy environment that incorporates enhanced digital reading content, daily news articles written for students, the Lexile® Framework for Reading, cutting-edge literacy tools and embedded metrics to monitor activity and growth.
about.myon.com
AdvanceKentucky
The mission of AdvanceKentucky is to work with local, state and national partners to dramatically expand access to and participation and success in rigorous college-level work in high school, particularly among student populations traditionally underrepresented in these courses.
www.advancekentucky.com
Appalachian Community Federal Credit Union
Appalachian Community Federal Credit Union is a socially responsible financial cooperative that seeks to strengthen low-income and rural communities throughout its region by giving individuals access to fair and affordable credit and promoting employment opportunities through small business lending.
Media Contact
J. Morgan
859.358.6851
Berea Office
859.985.3622
439 Walnut Meadow Road
Berea, KY 40403