Youth & Life Skills
PROVIDING youth with high-quality education and social supports, and lifelong learning opportunities for all.
One of Legacy’s key missions is to provide “quality education for all.” Legacy is committed to improving not only our schools but also increasing youth opportunities that provide for lifelong learning. This vision is being realized through the work and diligence of many key institutions, projects and initiatives.
INSTITUTIONS
Burlington Public School District: Burlington Schools educate almost 3,600 students in nine schools from Pre-Kindergarten through Grade Twelve. Building upon our core academic strengths and our values, the Burlington Schools’ vision features deep community connections, enhancements in arts, music and environmental sustainability, and increased hands-on learning.
The BSD is also proud to announce the establishment of two unique learning opportunities for Burlington K-5 students: the Sustainable Academy at Barnes and the Integrated Arts Academy at Wheeler Elementary.
The Sustainability Academy is a magnet school at Barnes whose mission is to “help students learn responsibility for making the world a better place for everyone, in addition to becoming excellent readers, writers, mathematicians, scientists, historians, geographers, and citizens” as explained by Principle Abi Sessions. The schools curriculum promotes hands-on learning, place-based education, service learning, and makes the material relevant and engaging to students. The Academy was recently featured in “Smart By Nature: Schooling for Sustainability” by Berkeley’s Center for Ecoliteracy. Click to check out “Smart By Nature”
The University of Vermont: UVM combines faculty-student relationships most commonly found in a small liberal arts college with the resources of a major research institution. The University also has a highly active student body who are involved in the Burlington community. Here are some of their programs:
DREAM: Directing through Recreation, Education, Adventure, and Mentoring, is a youth-based Village Mentoring organization that builds communities of families and college students to empower children from affordable housing neighborhoods to recognize their options, make informed decisions, and achieve their dreams. The UVM DREAM program works with children from the Riverside community in Burlington.
Big Buddies: Helps to provide community children with a positive, enthusiastic student mentor who can be a consistent influence in their lives. UVM students match up with underprivileged children from Burlington community schools for at least one year and week throughout the week and at monthly group events.
SEEDS: Student Environmental Educators Doing Service works with area elementary schools to provide environmental education to students in the Burlington community in an after-school setting. Subjects include recycling, water pollution, insects, soil, trees and more.
Sprouting Possibilities: Provides numerous opportunities for college students to work with children in the community from sports, to singing, to helping Girl Scout troops meet badge requirements.
Vermont Children’s Magazine: Helps children in grades 2-4 write creative stories and draw illustrations that are published at the end of each semester.
The University provides many opportunities for lifelong learning including the Division of Continuing Education. There are programs for high school students, online courses, certificates and programs, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Community Medical School, UVM Extension, and other courses. For other UVM Resources available to the community, click here.
Champlain College: An educational pioneer since 1878, Champlain is a college where students and faculty don’t just respond to opportunities—they create them. Champlain has introduced new fields of study, like Game Design and Computer & Digital Forensics, and offer majors with a specific focus, like Business Management, Digital Filmmaking and Public Relations. Champlain’s three-dimensional education—another pioneering concept—integrates relevant, professionally focused studies with a rigorous Core curriculum and practical Life Skills program.
PROJECTS & INITIATIVES
Fletcher Allen Health Care, a key Legacy Stakeholder, offers mentoring and job shadowing programs for area high school students interested in health care professions. In partnership with the Champlain Valley Area Health Education Center, over 100 students each year learn about health care professions through job shadowing, mentoring programs, and informational sessions at Fletcher Allen. Additionally, a number of Fletcher Allen professionals participated in AHEC educational activities at area schools.
BCA: Burling City Arts fuses a dynamic relationship between the arts and community to nurture creativity and imagination. They run a wide range of art programs throughout the City such as Art in Public Place, Early Arts, Music on the Move, and much more below…
Mentor Arts: Program for youth from 10-18 years old who want to explore their interest in the arts and need some extra guidance through the process. It is a community-based program that offers access to their studios, classrooms, and supplies, as well as on-going support for the mentor and mentee.
Art from the Heart: Program to facilitate self-expression with recovering children to allow children to grow and heal through their own creative process. Volunteers transform the children’s playroom into a temporary art studio with children at the Vermont Children’s Hospital at Fletcher Allen Health Care
National Summer Transportation Institute: Two-week-long intensive program sponsored by the Vermont Agency of Transportation and the UVM’s Transportation Research Center, seeks to aid in developing a diverse and robust workforce for the transportation industry by exposing 10th, 11th, and 12th grade high school students to transportation careers. Students stay in residence at dormitories at the University of Vermont campus. Scholarships are available.
The YMCA has served the greater Burlington area for 144 years, are the larger provider of child care services in Vermont of 1,3000 enrolled, and operate a wide array of programs for all ages and incomes.
The Greater Burlington YMCA is part of the YMCA of the USA’s Activate America. This initiative provides resources to help us build programs to support people with chronic diseases (including obesity) and health seekers who wish to lead healthy lives but struggle to do so. This initiative will touch every YMCA program to lead our community to stronger, healthier lives.
YMCA early childhood education programs provide infant and toddler care, pre-school, and kindergarten curriculum to 410 children from ages eight weeks to five years. All of our nine centers meet the rigorous accreditation standards set forth by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
The YMCA has been a national leader in camping for over a century. Our co-ed day camp and boys’ residence camp provide opportunities for children to make constructive use of their summers at nationally accredited or state licensed camps that incorporate educational and recreational activities.
Click for more information on their programs
Linking Learning to Life: Partners with local schools, such as BHS, colleges, businesses, and community organizations to help prepare and assist Vermont’s youth to reach their goals. LLL is an intermediary organization that connects these students and schools to employers, colleges, and state and community resources. They provide many career, college and community programs including…
Career Programs: Internships, job shadows, business presenters in the classroom, paid employment with supported classroom time and some specifically for English Language Learners, and employment and life skills training.
College Programs: Dual-enrollment, helping youth explore options and enroll in college, supporting youth in completing their degrees, and preparing English Language Learners for the TOEFL Prep college entrance exam.
Community Programs: Mentoring, service learning and other community based learning projects that are integrated with school curriculum, and youth leadership development.
Association of Africans Living in Vermont: Provides services to all members of the refugee and immigrant community regardless of national or ethnic background. Some of their services include:
Integration Education: Delivers education that will help refugee and immigrant’s transition in Vermont such as how to apply for a Green Card, how to save on home energy costs, as well as other workshops.
Neighborhood Women’s Groups: Gather to sew, knit, and crochet together while discussing various integration subjects
Workforce Development: Combines ESL with welding skills training and fostering micro-agriculture ventures, such as the New Farms for New Americans Program
Fletcher Free Library: Provide all free programs to all ages from book discussion groups, to book discussion series, to various language conversation groups, but some of their youth programs include…
Youth Programs: Such as Creative Tuesdays where all ages work on various arts and crafts projects for free, and the Read to a Dog Program where ages 5 to 10 dead books to dogs from Therapy Dogs of Vermont
Teen Programs: Such as Make A Splash, Write! to give ages 10 & up the opportunity to explore the world of writing poetry and short story fictions for six weeks, and the Teens Read! Program where 6th graders & up participate in a book group for middle and high school students and get started reading, especially during the summer.
INDICATORS
BSD 2010 report & 2003