Rural Impact Initiative

ECMC Foundation’s newest initiative, the Rural Impact Initiative was approved by the ECMC Foundation Board of Directors in late 2023 and builds on nearly a decade of existing grantmaking to support rural learners. We are excited to unite that body of work under this initiative. 

In the United States, some 46 million people live in rural areas, and while they graduate high school at higher rates than their urban or suburban counterparts (90% versus 82–87%), rural residents have the lowest college enrollment rates (just 58%). Data is scarce, but sound theories exist as to why there is a discrepancy between high school graduation and college enrollment for rural learners, including geographic accessibility, cultural differences (including a generational lack of higher education), difficulties with scaling solutions and a fundamental misalignment of higher education outcomes with rural communities’ workforce needs. 

Yet when college graduates live in or return to rural areas, they can play critical roles in community development, civil society and the knowledge economy. There is a real need to build the capacity of rural-serving institutions, reach more rural students and center appropriate career pathways in these communities.

ECMC Foundation has recognized a need to respond to rural issues since our inception, with 19 grants totaling $8.3 million that intentionally focused on rural learners. This initiative responds more proactively to opportunities to make an impact in the field and to the unique ways that rural learners and institutions differ from their urban and suburban counterparts. From Alaska to Maine to North Dakota, these projects will focus on developing knowledge about the unique assets among rural communities that could catalyze increases in completion, elevate career pathways and enable institutional collaboration.

Examples of our 2023 Rural Impact Initiative grants include:

• Postsecondary/College Success Initiative ($620,000): The Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education is formalizing its Rural Learning Network as a Community of Practice alongside state strategy development through its EdQuest Coalition. Its goal is to help ensure 65% of Georgia’s adults have earned a postsecondary degree by 2033 while deepening engagement with state and community leaders.

• Caring Campus: Rural Expansion and Network Creation ($748,000): The Institute for Evidence-Based Change received funding to expand and adapt its Caring Campus model at up to 18 new rural community colleges. The project is establishing a membership network and resource database to further promote student connectedness and success. The program aims to impact a minimum of 28,000 students by engaging about 2,000 faculty and staff to share lessons learned about working with rural colleges.

• CivicLab’s Building Rural Community Systems: Education to Employment Partnerships ($1,000,000): CivicLab received funding to identify 10 rural communities to develop, implement and institutionalize strategies to strengthen education and employment partnerships. The goal is to develop stronger talent systems for tomorrow’s economy through increased student credential completion, post-credential employment and employer engagement rates.