Media Release
Contact: Jean Dempster, Workforce Development Program Manager
Phone: (207) 621-3434
Email: dempster@maine.edu
Graduates of New Ventures Maine (NVME) Career Planning classes who plan to enroll in college will now receive coaching and other services designed to improve their chances of completing their degree and finding career success. With funding from Bank of America Foundation, the Maine Community Foundation’s William and Norinne Stoloski Fund and the Lawrence P. Ralston Fund, NVME will assist 30 adult learners over a 12 month period by providing them with individual support, skill-building, and connections to resources.
The Career Planning class is a first step in building confidence, developing problem-solving and communication skills, exploring career fields, and setting career and life goals. Adult learners can face a number of challenges as they balance their responsibilities as students, family members, and employees. Studies indicate that financial pressures alone – managing household expenses while in school, as well as paying back student debt, can often derail educational plans.
This initiative will connect students with a ‘coach’ and with their peers, and over a period of time, support them in developing the foundational skills, including financial and digital literacy, that will help them in school and on the job.
“NVME will use this initiative to track our graduates and assess whether this model of a more comprehensive student support system is effective in increasing degree completion. We are grateful for our funding partners and look forward to working with our colleagues within the University and Community College Systems”, according to Gilda Nardone, Executive Director.
New Ventures Maine, a program of UMA and the UMS, helps people all over the state venture in new directions by offering tuition free programs for career, business, and financial education. Training is offered in person and online. The next on-line Career Planning class begins July 6; for more information about this or other classes, please see our website: newventuresmaine.org. Jean Dempster can be reached at 621-3434.
Brian King of Bank of America presents check to Gilda Nardone, Executive Director, (right) and Jean Dempster, Program Manager (left) to support Career and College Success Initiative.