What is DEF?

What is the Delmarva Education Foundation?

DEF helps people find money to continue their education. DEF was chartered in Maryland in 1999 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and started providing services in 2000. We are supported by donations from individuals and organizations, grants, and in-kind contributions.

DEF is located in Salisbury, Maryland on the lower Delmarva Peninsula, focusing services in three counties on Maryland's Eastern Shore: Wicomico County, Worcester County, and Somerset County.

Salisbury is the economic trading center for the seven counties of the lower Delmarva Peninsula: Dorchester, Somerset, Wicomico and Worcester counties in Maryland; Accomack and Northampton counties in Virginia; and Sussex County, Delaware. The State Departments of Education serve their own school systems, be it by county or district. DEF unites all these systems by crossing state lines and serving these predominately rural counties as one educational region because those of us in this region have more in common with each other than with those in our respective state capitals or urban centers.

The educational entities in these seven counties include fourteen public school systems (each with a local board of education and superintendent), numerous private schools, seven higher-degree-granting universities, four community colleges, homeschool associations and many other trade, tutoring and continuing education organizations.

What is our Mission?

Our mission is to improve college access and success for residents on the lower Delmarva Peninsula.