The compass is a handy tool. It helps the user know where they are and how to find their way. Partly, for this reason, in our early years the Cobscook board chose the image of a compass as their symbol, and for years we referred to our board as the Compass Rose. While in more recent years we’ve moved away from that moniker, our board, made up of local and regional volunteers, is a critical group that guides Cobscook in setting a direction in line with our mission, vision, and values. At their urging, we embarked on a process to assess and clarify Cobscook’s direction for the coming years.

Ten years ago, Cobscook launched a bold new initiative- TREE: Transforming Rural Experience in Education. Designed as a practice and research project, the primary aim was to research and develop practices in rural schools that leverage student voice to address trauma and inequity. Over the course of a four-year pilot project, TREE staff, educational researchers, students, teachers, and clinicians brought the project to life in vibrant ways, and researchers documented remarkable improvements in the partner schools involved.

In 2020, as part of our response to unexpected leadership transitions and the arrival of COVID as an everyday fact of life, Cobscook Institute began exploring a redesign of our organizational structure. This exploration led to the decision to try an experiment–to set up a formal arrangement that would reflect the vision of community action and connection that has always driven our work. With the agreement of the full board and staff, we designed around two big ideas: Shared Governance and Distributed Leadership.

The seed that would eventually become Cobscook Institute was planted in 1999 as an exploration among people from three nations–Passamaquoddy, North American, and Canadian. The three waves on our logo represent those three peoples. When we look at the logo, we see those people in conversation and connection, and the spreading of the waves reflects their strength in working together. At that time, one of the important questions we asked was: “What would improve life in this rural region?”

We are almost three years into an experiment with shared governance and distributed leadership. We required a new map for Cobscook, one that sets direction for the coming years based on specific goals responsive to community need. The following goals will guide the evolution of Cobscook Institute’s next chapter.