November 26, 2024

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Dear friends and colleagues,

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VLJP began as a volunteer effort responding to a crisis. When COVID hit, little to no information about how to stay safe was making it to refugees, asylees, and im/migrants who spoke languages other than English. Alison and partners from the community leapt into action to fill this critical gap.

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Since then, funding from a CDC Health Disparities Grant has allowed VLJP to become a robust project with full-time staff and a team of fairly compensated translators. Our videos are viewed far beyond Vermont and are regarded as providing accurate, trustworthy information in a time of disinformation and facts not based in science. Our CDC funding has also allowed us to respond to many crises in real-time – from flooding, to infectious disease, to wildfires. 

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We now find ourselves on the cusp of another crisis. Trump’s planned policies will put our refugee, im/migrant, and asylee community members in danger. Reproductive rights hang in the balance, as do the rights of undocumented workers, asylees, and im/migrants. VLJP’s mission is to ensure that all communities have access to the information they need to protect themselves and their families. Our CDC funding is coming to an end, so we no longer have the flexible funds needed to get accurate multilingual information out to vulnerable communities in times of crisis. 

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So, we are rallying our partners, supporters, and allies – in short, you – to help us find new sources of funding, so that when ICE raids and deportations begin, when parents are separated from their children, and when women’s health clinics are shuttered, we can make sure speakers of languages other than English have the information they need to make informed decisions about how to best protect themselves and their families. 

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In solidarity and with gratitude,

Alison, Olivia, and Dani