T he Albany Free School’s residential internship program, which was generously supported by the Edwards Foundation for many years, has recently lost its funding and is now in jeopardy. Over the past decade the program has enabled over 40 people from the United States, India, Japan, Italy, Finland, Nigeria, South Africa, Pakistan, England, Canada, Puerto Rico, Spain, and the Ukraine to gain hands-on experience in a democratic free school. The program is essential for two reasons:
- It supports the school by bolstering the staff and making it possible to give extra attention to students who need it, and also by providing an experienced pool of candidates from which to hire new teachers when necessary.
- It supports the democratic school movement by preparing teachers to work in democratic schools and also to start their own schools, both of which many of the program’s graduates have gone on to do.
There is only one other program like it in the world – at Play Mountain Place in Los Angeles – and so it is extremely important that the program here in Albany lives on. This year former AFS codirector Nancy Ost has come to the rescue by offering a $4000 matching grant. We have raised a little over half the amount locally thus far and now we are launching an online campaign through Fundrazr to complete the match. Please contribute if you can.
Thanks in advance,
Chris Mercogliano
