Village Institute Launches Little Village School

The Village Institute feels just a little brighter since launching The Little Village - our diverse-by-design early learning and after school program taught and led by refugee women. Our first preschool students started early April, and are LOVING their new classroom, teachers, and community. 

In preparation for the launch, we held two pilot sessions as part of our participation in Moonshot edVentures, a fellowship program for Colorado-based education innovators. One was a culture and identity workshop for refugee Early Childhood Educators, in partnership with the Pamoja Early Childhood Education Workforce Program. The second was a Family Day event welcoming families interested in enrolling in our preschool and summer programs. We got great feedback from both pilots that will help us continue iterating our program to meet the needs of refugee students and teachers.

The Village Institute is also excited to be launching our Essential Careers Pathway Program this summer, through a generous Colorado Health Foundation Grant. As part of this new training program, refugee and immigrant women and teens will gain skills in mental health first aid, peer mental health facilitation, and healthcare navigation. Through partnerships with local education and employment partners, this program paves the way for refugees and immigrants to fill needed linguistic and cultural gaps in health and mental health fields, while also helping them build critical job skills in facilitation, navigation and case management.