Letter from the Directors If you’re reading this, you’re probably like us—trying to find a way to help make our world a little bit better. Rustic Pathways is an impact-driven company that has worked since 1983 to improve lives and communities around the world. Each year, the impact that we have on students and with our community partners is greater than the year before. Our annual Impact Report allows us to share how we do that. Thank you for taking the time to review it! In these pages you’ll discover how we assess our impact with students and our community partners. Student Impact For the second consecutive year, students demonstrated growth in our Student Learning Outcomes, the skills, habits, and mindsets that our programs are designed to foster. Students grew on average in 9 of our 10 learning outcomes, reporting the most growth in intercultural competence. We’re able to measure that essential skills growth after introducing our Student Impact Evaluation in 2016. It’s the only tool of its kind in the student travel industry that assesses what and how much students are learning as a result of participating in our programs. Community Impact Our Community Impact Evaluation illustrates how our students, staff, and community partners work together to ensure the success of service projects in five focus areas: Community Health and Social Services, Economic Development, Education, Environment and Animal Welfare, and Infrastructure. For example, students and our community partners worked together to build 16 new houses and repair 156 more. Those projects resulted in a total of 6,043 people receiving housing assistance. Time students spent contributing to those housing initiatives were just a fraction of the more than 186,000 community service hours they completed in 2017. We’re proud of the work our students do in communities around the world and excited they’re developing key skills as a result. Continuing to evaluate how we impact students and local communities will help us create better and more transformative programs while developing sustainable and meaningful service projects. Thank you for taking the time to read the 2017 Impact Report!
Andrea Bouch Rustic Pathways Foundation Executive Director
Erin C. Murphy Rustic Pathways Student Impact Director
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