Hello, MEEOA Professionals,
I hope you have had time to watch Senator Collins present her bill today or read her press release or both.  Senator Collins' office worked closely with the Council for Opportunity in Education(COE) to craft this bill which proposes changes for TRIO to prevent future grants from being defunded for formatting issues rather than content and will streamline and align across federal programs the qualifying factors in determining  low-income eligibility.  COE has worked with Collins' office on all of the items mentioned in this bill which have directly affected Maine TRIO programs, and they multiply those efforts by providing the same advocacy for at-risk students with elected officials across the country.  With MEEOA membership directly benefiting from their work- specifically today's announcement and Maine's UB grants that were saved with COE's advocacy work with Maine's delegation and in Washington, the MEEOA board has elected again this year to send an additional $4000 to COE as part of our fair share contribution; this is a total contribution of $5000.  Please recall that fair share contributions make up approximately half of COE's annual budget and, unencumbered, are used to  pursue "advocacy, professional development, research, and information that is all focused on helping disadvantaged students enroll in and complete postsecondary education."   It is important, as Eric Pratt stated in his email, that TRIO professionals reach out to Senator Collins' office to thank her for authoring the bill she presented today, and it is also important that we thank COE for advocating for us in Washington and inviting us to Policy each year so that we can advocate with them for our programs and our students.  
Have a great evening.
Mary Kate



Mary Kate Barbosa

Director, Student Support Services

University of Maine at Presque Isle

181 Main Street

Presque Isle, Maine 04769

Office:  (207)768-9613
 Fax:        (207) 768-9617

 

Input, Intellection, Relator, Achiever, Arranger

Pronouns:  She, her, hers


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