College for ME-Androscoggin moves to East Avenue

April 16--LEWISTON -- College for ME-Androscoggin, which began in 2005 to help adults get a higher education, has moved from Westminster Street to 150 East Ave., a short distance from Lewiston High School and Lewiston Adult Education.

The new offices are in the lower level of the Champoux Insurance building next to the YWCA. The location has ample free parking and an elevator to the lower floor. There is no outside sign yet on East Avenue.

College for ME-Androscoggin started as part of the University of Southern Maine'sLewiston-Auburn College. It is now an independent nonprofit.

"We're in a new era with all of the colleges," Executive Director Jan Phillips said Tuesday. "This way, we're standing alone."

The new location will be beneficial for many who use Lewiston Adult Education, Director Eva Giles said Tuesday. "It will allow easier access, increase visibility and offer greater opportunity to think about, and learn about, college and training."

Even though College for ME has always been about promoting post-high school education, not being located at Lewiston-Auburn College "makes it a little clearer," Giles said.

Phillips described College for ME-Androscoggin as a college navigator. The organization helps individuals get into programs and stay in them. Help includes counseling on the kind of careers that might be good fits, what kind of training and education is available, and scholarships and grants that could help pay for it.

College for ME also coordinates early college programs in six local high schools, a program started and run by Joan Macri, the former college aspiration director at Lewiston High School.

Early College helps high school students take college courses to gain the experience, credit and confidence to succeed in college. Since Macri started working with high schools, "we've seen the impact of that," Phillips said. More students are taking college courses. Four high schools that have early college coaches -- teachers who recruit students to take college courses -- have seen the numbers go up by 60 percent.

But the biggest mission of College for ME-Androscoggin is helping adults.

"So many have some college but not yet a degree," Phillips said. "That's where the dream is the most powerful."

Often a big moment in the lives of their children, such as taking a child to kindergarten or watching one graduate from high school, is when many adults come through the door saying, "It's my turn," Phillips said.

Since its inception, the goal of College for ME-Androscoggin was to double the number of Androscoggin County residents who have college degrees by 2015.

"I know we're not there," Phillips said. But the percentage of adults with degrees in the country has risen from 24 percent in 2000 to 29 percent today, Phillips said.

Initially, the bump was from people getting associate degrees at the community college. In the past couple of years, more are getting bachelor's and master's degrees, she said.

The original goal was an ambitious one, she said. "We still hold it. We're gaining some ground. But you need aspiration goals bigger than your reach. We ask that of students all the time. Our goal is bigger than our reach."

As a nonprofit, College for ME-Androscoggin is financed by fundraisers and grants.

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