New York, New York - The integrated services center for families, Vimenti, was selected as one of the finalists for the 2024 Yass Prize at a ceremony broadcast live from the Forbes headquarters on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Vimenti is the only nonprofit organization that has advanced to the semifinalist position.
“We feel very excited and hopeful to have been selected as finalists for this distinction”, shared Lola Yglesias Quiñones, director of the Full-Service Community Schools program at Vimenti. “I congratulate and appreciate our team at Vimenti who work diligently to identify opportunities that allow us to enrich, expand, and grow the tools with which we use to eradicate generational and child poverty in Puerto Rico”.
In addition to its semifinalist recognition for the 2024 Yass Prize, Vimenti received a grant of $200,000 to expand its academic offerings based on the Two-Generational Model. Other 24 semi-finalists were also announced by The Yass Prize for Sustainability, Transformational, Outstanding, and Permissionless Education during a live event broadcast from Forbes on Fifth in New York. Each finalist presented proposals aimed at providing education in their respective markets. In a thorough review process, the proposals were evaluated by 850 judges. The selected were those that best align with the basic principles of the Prize: Sustainability, Transformational, Outstanding, and Permissionless.
Now in its sixth year of operation, Vimenti has reported impactful results in its mission to eradicate child poverty in Puerto Rico through an academic offering based on the Two-Generation Model. During this time, Vimenti has served 1,345 people and 75,477 food portions, managing to reduce poverty among families by 5 percent compared to the baseline level. Additionally, 48 percent of participating families achieved the stable level in their assessment with their case managers, and students at Vimenti School reached the 70 percent proficiency goal in their overall academic performance.
Vimenti successfully commenced its new 2024-2025 academic year in person, with an increased enrollment totaling 314 students from kindergarten through seventh grade and over 250 registered families.