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Melmac

Empowering students to envision their future

THE CHALLENGE

Maine’s economic and workforce outlook is, to say the least, challenging. The state has an education gap: too few post-secondary graduates are expected to be available to meet projected labor needs. The state has a population gap: a shrinking workforce. And the state has a skills gap: not enough graduates with the right hard and soft skills to fill available or potential jobs.

Maine is in the bottom 20% of U.S. states for students continuing their education after high school. And once in college, students in Maine have lower completion rates six years after college entry than the national average.

There is a strong correlation between poverty and lower educational attainment. School-lunch eligible children are considerably less likely to earn a 2- or 4-year degree than non-eligible children. In addition to financial constraints, economically disadvantaged students often face other barriers to their education. This in turn means a school district’s academic and career outcomes are heavily correlated with its residents’ socioeconomic status.

It is in this context that MELMAC operates, focusing on Maine schools and districts whose academic results are below the state median, and who have a significant percentage of economically disadvantaged students.

THE CLIENT

Since its founding in 2001, MELMAC Education Foundation has been committed to advancing the academic and career aspirations of Maine’s youth, promoting the goal of improved educational outcomes through several key programs. The foundation has issued over $20 million to Maine high schools, colleges, and students. The program’s combined objective was to support students in identifying a plan for postsecondary education, to help them execute the plan, and to support them in their early postsecondary experience.

In 2015, the Foundation determined that its efforts had not had the desired impact on quantitative outcomes. It embarked upon a strategic planning process, first obtaining extensive stakeholder feedback, then leveraging the insights to guide the formation of a new strategic plan. In order to support the MELMAC’s current, proposed, and aspirational programs, the strategic plan identified a need to upgrade the Foundation’s website, back-office, and data management capabilities.

THE APPROACH

MELMAC sought help creating a roadmap and project plan for an upgraded, holistic online experience that meets the needs of its diverse user base. The insights developed focused on two closely related objectives. First, to better support MELMAC’s current users, administrators, and stakeholders. And second, to provide a vision for how technology can be harnessed to transform and amplify MELMAC’s impact on Maine’s educational and career outcomes.