Our Story
The Vermont Language Justice Project was launched in March 2020, as a volunteer effort, to ensure that Vermont’s refugees, migrants, asylees, and immigrants had access to information in their native languages about the COVID-19 virus and how to protect themselves, their families, and their communities.
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The first video message was recorded in Somali, uploaded to a new YouTube channel and distributed to Somali and Somali Bantu contacts through social media and WhatsApp. By mid-April the script had been translated into 15 languages spoken locally and a task force was formed with over 40 community partners working with refugees, migrants, asylees. and immigrants in Chittenden County, Vermont.
​In November 2021, thanks to a CDC Health Disparities Grant, administrated by the Vermont Department of Health, the project received two years of funding and was able to hire Alison Segar as Project Director. CCTV Center for Media and Democracy, based in Burlington VT, became the home of VLJP, a great match for all.
At the beginning of August 2022, thanks to a further grant through the Vermont Department of Health we were able to employ a project manager to support the work as the project began to expand.
Over the next few years we have made over 200 unique videos in anything from 3-21 languages.
As of 2025 The Vermont Language Justice Project continues to work closely with more than 100 community partners, and has now added Haitian Kreyol and Portuguese to the list of languages spoken.
In the early summer of 20025 VLJP filed papers to become a 501c3 and on October 1st 2025 VLJP left its home at CCTV and entered into a fiscal sponsorship arrangement with The United Ways of Vermont on the next step to becoming our own entity. We are so grateful to the support CCTV gave us on our way to this moment. We are now working across the country on projects in a new relationship with the Center for Excellence through the Minnesota Department of Health and we have created an app iFY (information For You) where you can access all our videos in 18 languages. Our videos are viewed in over 50 countries acrross the world from Iran to Costa Rica and as news travels about our work our subscribers to our channel increase.
We are excited for what is to come.
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