Building Hope awards Vimenti School $20K
The San Juan school was recognized for its educational excellence and impact in reducing poverty.
Vimenti School, which serves 274 students from kindergarten to sixth grade in San Juan, and located in a public housing community affected by five generations of systemic poverty, has received a $20,000 grant from Building Hope.
Building Hope, a nonprofit specializing in charter school facilities, financing and services, recently recognized leaders from 12 outstanding charter schools and two charter volunteer leaders in the U.S.
At its third annual IMPACT Summit late last week, Building Hope distributed a total of $170,000 in grants.
Vimenti School is designed as a “demonstration project” with a mission to disrupt cycles of poverty and foster community transformation. The school provides a high-quality, bilingual education using a “rigorous, distinguished learning model” that prioritizes student and family needs and interests within its educational strategy.
“When a child enrolls in Vimenti, the family unit is enrolled and works with a dedicated case manager to set goals and action plans around the barriers to economic mobility,” said Vimenti School’s director of operations and human resources, Bárbara Rivera.
Vimenti holds 2024-2025 school year lottery
Vimenti School recently conducted its public lottery for new student admissions using the virtual platform SchoolMint. The automated system selected students based on available spaces for each grade and established the waiting list order.
Wilfredo Damiani-Echevarría, Vimenti School’s director of social services, explained: “The registration process is carried out automatically, in compliance with the provisions of Act 8-2018 Art. 13.02 (d) and (e) and regulation 9032, applicable to Public Schools Alliances of the Puerto Rico Education Department and the federal Department of Education.
“The law requires schools to use an automated lottery system, establishing a random selection process when the school has more applicants than available spaces. For the 2024-2025 school year, Vimenti School received a total of 150 applications for its total eight grades.”
Vimenti’s enrollment coordinator, Paul Muñoz-Gómez detailed that the school “received 63 kindergarten applications for 39 available spaces, 19 first-grade applications for one available space, and 13 sixth-grade applications for three available spaces. We also received 12 applications for second grade, 19 applications for third grade, nine applications for fourth grade and nine applications for fifth grade, but currently we do not have any openings available.”
He said those applicants were placed on the waiting list, and that, in August, Vimenti will introduce seventh grade, for which it received six applications for two available spots.
