RUMFORD — Region 9 Adult Education is opening a location on Congress Street for the first time in more than 25 years, according to Region 9 Adult Education Director Dave Murphy.

The Hope Association received a grant in 2024 through the Maine Connectivity Authority to make updates to the Mitzi Sequoia building at 82 Congress St., making the building “more user friendly” and allowing Region 9 to be more easily accessible, according to Hope Association Executive Director Jessica Hines.

Hines said the technology updates to the building will “allow some technology access for our community as well.”

A ribbon-cutting ceremony and public open house organized by the River Valley Chamber of Commerce was held July 22. Murphy said the adult education program used to operate at the old Central Maine Power building in the 1990s.

The Region 9 School of Applied Technology is based at 377 River Road in Mexico.

“We’ve had a very successful last three years,” Murphy said. “We’ve graduated 33 students for their high school credential, which is a big number for a small program. When we did a plot study of our students who still had courses to take, about 80%t of them were within walking distance of Congress Street.”

Murphy said the new satellite location will help those students complete their studies.

“So, we really think this is going to be really helpful for us to attract new students and provide support and ability for the people that are maybe challenged to get out to Mexico to come here and get the support they might need.”

Murphy said the center will be up and running by early fall, and they hope to expand its programming.

“We’re a small program, but this is a good opportunity for us to expand. We expect to be up and running in here very shortly,” Murphy said. “We’ll have telehealth support, technology support. We’re already working on partnerships with a number of agencies, which we will be announcing, which will bring additional services to the area that don’t currently exist.”

Murphy said the program is hoping to fill in some of the gap that may have been left when the University of Maine at Augusta moved its campus out of town.

“We’re excited about providing the technology support as well as the telehealth opportunities,” Murphy said.

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