Rural Summit for Cradle to Career Success Keynote, Panels, and Presentations

Keynote Presenter: Dreama Gentry, Partners for Rural Impact

An Appalachian by birth and choice, Dreama Gentry is passionate about creating pathways to success for rural youth across America. At the heart of the American Dream is upward mobility, the promise that every child has a fair chance at economic success, regardless of where they live. Yet, in her 30 years of working with rural communities, Gentry has witnessed rural children, youth, and families too often left out of the national conversation. To address this, she founded Partners for Rural Impact, a national intermediary committed to ensuring that every rural child has pathways to upward mobility.

Highlighting the troubling reality that rural children’s chances of out-earning their parents are declining, Gentry brings hope by showcasing the transformation possible through impactful programs and practices like place-based partnerships and community schools. She will share how we can ensure that all children have the hope we provide the children in our own families -- the hope for an opportunity-filled life. Learn more about Dreama Gentry here.

Panel Facilitators:

Corey Mosher - Executive Director - Legislative Commission on Rural Resources.

Heather Zellers - Director of Information and Advocacy - Rural Schools Association of NY

Panelists:

Senator Rachel May, PhD - NY Senate District 48, Chair of the Legislative Commission on Rural Resources

Larry Van De Valk, PhD - Executive Director - LeadNY, Senior Extension Associate Department of Global Development College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Cornell University

Elizabeth Arnold, MBA - Incoming Cramer Family Foundation Professor of Practice in Community Impact Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs Syracuse University

Darien Hendrix - Seneca Falls CSD and Wayne Finger Lakes BOCES - PTECH Class of 2025, Finger Lakes Community College 2025, AAS, Student at the  University of Richmond