National grantmakers bet this rural education program can scale

The Ballmer Group, Blue Meridian Partners, and others are helping Partners for Rural Impact take a model from Harlem and adapt it for Appalachian Kentucky and beyond. Blue Meridian Partners gave PRI $2 million in 2023 for its work in Kentucky. Now a second two-year grant of $5 million is helping the nonprofit assist other rural communities to develop partnerships among schools, local governments, health-care systems, and other sectors to improve the lives of students. Rural areas tend to have fewer and less accessible institutional resources than suburban or urban places, says Jeff Edmondson, executive director of community impact at the Ballmer Group.