Over $30 million raised for Maine’s community colleges

May 11, 2016

The Foundation for Maine’s Community Colleges — News Release

CONTACT: Jane Phillips
207-321-6153

SOUTH PORTLAND, ME — Business and philanthropic leaders from across Maine gathered at Southern Maine Community College on Tuesday, May 10, to celebrate having raised over $30 million through The Foundation for Maine’s Community Colleges since its inception in 2009.

A major new gift to the foundation of $1.6 million from Lisa Gorman, the foundation’s Vice-Chair, was announced at the event. The gift will expand the Leon A. Gorman Endowed Scholarship to all seven colleges, fund a department chair in English for Speakers of Other Languages, and strengthen programs and services focused on helping more MCCS students stay in school and complete a college degree. Leon Gorman was the long-time President and Chair of L.L.Bean. He and his wife, Lisa, led the creation of The Foundation for Maine’s Community Colleges out of a belief that, as he once said, “an investment in Maine’s community colleges is the single most important investment we can make in the economic and social well-being of Maine citizens.”

With this new gift, The Foundation has raised a total of $32.3 million over the past seven years. The funds have enabled the colleges to increase scholarship assistance, launch new academic programs, and strengthen student support services, at a time when state funding as a portion of the colleges’ budgets has declined.

“Maine’s community colleges are critical to our ability to build a more prosperous future—for thousands of students and for our state as a whole,” said former Maine Governor John R. McKernan, the Chair of The Foundation’s Board, at the event.

“Students across Maine and at every one of our colleges have benefitted from your good work,” MCCS President Derek Langhauser told the group. “We are enormously grateful to all those who have contributed to The Foundation’s remarkable success and to Lisa Gorman’s incredible generosity and leadership.”

The Foundation for Maine’s Community Colleges works to ensure that the state’s seven community colleges have the resources they need to provide a high quality, affordable, and accessible college education for Maine people. Additional information about The Foundation is available at https://www.maineccfoundation.org.