E. E. Ford Grant: Students with Refugee Status

Vermont Commons School received a matching grant from the Edward E. Ford Foundation during the summer of 2017. The grant provides for that part of tuition that all families on financial assistance are required to contribute for the four years of high school for three refugee students living in the Burlington area.  The grant funds also cover supplies for academics, athletics, transportation and access to Encounter Week trips, such as a visit to our sister schools in Peru or China, service work in Belize or St. John U.S.V.I., or back-country trips in the Maine wilderness.

In keeping with our mission ‘Scholarship. Community. Global Responsibility.’ we are partnering with the USCRI (United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants) Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program, King St. Center, and the Boys and Girls Club of Burlington, local organizations with their finger on the pulse of the Refugee community to identify students and families who are interested in rigorous progressive education. In addition, part of this grant will go toward developing partnerships with local colleges and universities to create an avenue for these students to continue–and successfully complete–their post-secondary education. Often, a Refugee family will have to wait a generation in seeking college until their financial circumstances allow.  As 100% of Vermont Commons School graduates have gone on to college since our inception in 1997, it is our goal that with these partnerships and our college preparation, that missed opportunity won’t be necessary.

Vermont Commons School is presently looking for students with Refugee status interested in attending high school at Vermont Commons. Candidates should contact Kat Nelson, Director of Admissions, at 802-865-8084 or knelson@vermontcommons.org for information on the application process.