Lesley Graham, Senior Director of Community Impact at Save the Children, was joined by Ashley Wagers from Jackson County Public Library, Tamsyn Oakes from Save the Children, and Dorothy Weintraub from Scholastic to discuss summer initiatives.

For our March Conversation For Action, Dreama Gentry, Executive Director at Partners For Education at Berea College, was joined by Aaron DuPuis, Community Relations Coordinator, and Stephanie Lesperance, Director of GEAR UP Alliance at Campus Compact for Hampshire. They discussed the upcoming virtual Rural Summit.

For our February Conversation, we were joined by Danielle Vetter, senior program officer, and Kirstin Yeado, program officer, from Ascendium. Danielle and Kirstin are part of Ascendium’s Rural Education and Workforce Training focus area that seeks to expand education and workforce training opportunities for rural learners.

Jennifer Garner, Mark Shriver, and Shane Garver from Save the Children joined us to share why they support rural libraries' work and announce the creation of the Rural Library Network, a cradle-to-career initiative offering online training in core principles of place-based work.

Sky and Geoff Marietta are rural educators and entrepreneurs whose experiences shaped their new book, Rural Education in America. We discuss their comprehensive framework for understanding the diversity and complexity of rural communities in the United States and for helping rural educators implement and evaluate successful place-based programs.

This conversation focuses on college access and how schools have changed how they reach and inspire high school students to pursue higher education. Dreama Gentry, executive director of Partners for Education, explores the topic with Steve Fouse, Director of Student Success, and Paige Cyrus, Student Success Advisor, from Ozarks Technical Community College.

With Covid-19 cases continuing to rise in many rural communities, school districts are working hard to create plans that will meet the academic, social and emotional needs of students. Dream explores this topic with Dr. Andrea Kane, superintendent of Queen Anne's County Schools in Maryland, and Robert Balfanz, director of the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University.

We explore the impact the Covid-19 pandemic will likely have on the enrollment and retention of rural students at postsecondary institutions. Host Dreama Gentry is joined by Dr. Andrew Moe, director of admissions at Swarthmore College, Luke Hodson, associate vice president for admissions at Berea College. and  Jeff Carlson, senior director of strategy and rural engagement at the College Board.