The Island Institute is excited to be partnering with the nonprofit Rural Aspirations Project to bring together three small, isolated, rural Maine high schools and take an in-depth look at the unique role and purpose of rural education and its connection to rural community, vitality, and sustainability. The schools involved are: Islesboro Central School and Vinalhaven School in Penobscot Bay and East Grand School located in Northern Maine near the Canadian border. Learn more about the "Portrait of a Graduate" project and other grantees in this announcement from the Barr Foundation.

The Town of South Thomaston is pleased to announce that they were recently awarded a $10,000 ShoreUp Maine grant from the Island Institute. The grant will assist in the engineering of the Town’s Spruce Head Island Causeway road project. The project is intended to improve the road in ways that mitigate potential wash out during heavy weather events, effectively shutting down the island and our working waterfront.

More than 90 people filled boats on Wednesday to go to Islesford to celebrate the installation of new solar panels at the Cranberry Isles Fishermen’s Co-op. The new panels on top of the fishermen co-op’s buildings provide 100-percent of the power. Between grants from the Island Institute and the USDA, Nighman says 60% of the cost was covered.