Program Description
The mission of the Delmarva Education Foundation(DEF) is "to improve educational opportunities for residents of the lower Delmarva Peninsula using a regional approach to facilitate accessibility, quality, and effectiveness of education for all ages." The staff of DEF-CCAP, DEF's College/Career Access Program are devoted to helping students learn about, aspire to, prepare for, apply to, finance, and complete college or other post-secondary educational training. We serve students of all ages via our website and at our office in the Wicomico Public Library. DEF-CCAP advisors are also available to serve students directly at some of our local high schools. We collaborate with area high school guidance counselors to network with other organizations and businesses in the region that sponsor scholarships, to provide a searchable database of local scholarship opportunities and financial aid information on our website, free to all residents of the 7 counties we serve. We are a non-profit organization supported by grants, donations, and the contributions of volunteers.

Organization History
The Delmarva Education Foundation (DEF) chartered in Maryland in December 1999 as a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization, and started providing services in 2000. We are located in Salisbury, Maryland, the economic trading center for the lower Delmarva Peninsula which includes 7 counties: Sussex County in Delaware; Dorchester, Somerset, Wicomico, and Worcester counties in Maryland; Accomack and Northampton counties in Virginia.
DEF serves this region as one. The state departments of education serve their own school systems, be it by county or district. DEF unites all these systems by crossing the state lines and serving these predominately rural counties as one educational region because those living in this region have more in common with each other than with those living in our respective state capitals or urban centers.
Some people value DEF for the practical services we provide, such as our scholarship database. Others are excited by the potential of a "think tank" or research and development arm for the region's fragmented education system, which spans three states. Both views of DEF are correct.
The educational entities in the DEF region include 14 public school systems, numerous private schools, 7 higher-degree granting universities, 4 community colleges, homeschool associations and many other trade, tutoring, and continuing education organizations.

Partners and Supporters
Wicomico Public Library
Lower Shore Workforce Alliance
Jack Kent Cooke Foundation
Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore
Rural Development Center
Rural Maryland Council
Wicomico County Board of Education
Somerset County Board of Education
Salisbury University
University of Maryland Eastern Shore
Wor-Wic Community College
Eastern Shore Community College