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Program Locations
VISIONS teen community service program locations are in under-resourced communities around the world. We plan volunteer projects with local partners and return to the same places every year in order to meet long-term commitments. The bonds forged with local communities translate into summer programs of depth and quality.
Teen volunteers accomplish impressive projects and build cultural bridges that last long after the summer ends. VISIONS students come to know the people whose lives they impact.
While each program location is distinct, all have core elements that are uniquely VISIONS: meaningful service, deep cultural immersion, travel and adventure.
I still call on my experience with VISIONS and am gratified to have that knowledge informing my work. It's not a luxury travel camp - just luxurious learning and growth. VISIONS has its head and heart in the right place and really is different, in all the right ways, from many organizations that offer summer programs.
Max Savishinsky, Program Director
Latin America & Caribbean
Council on International Experiental Exchange
Teen Community Service Locations
English Speaking Volunteer Opportunities
Alaska
JUNE 28 - JULY 26 (4 WEEKS)
The largest state with a landmass one-fifth the contiguous United States has half the world's active volcanoes and more than half the planet's glaciers. Untouched wilderness stretching to the horizon; mountains not viewed so much as experienced; magnificent wild creatures. Because the Alaska sun never truly sets in July, the deep night skies stay like early evening dusk.
Montana
JUNE 28 - JULY 25 (4 WEEKS)
AUGUST 2 - AUGUST 22 (3 WEEKS)
America's fourth largest state is home to less than one million people. Montana is vast prairies and range lands, golden grain fields and wildernesses with the Big Sky overhead. Spectacular sunsets are daily occurrences. Montana also is home to seven Plains Indian reservations, each a semi-sovereign nation with distinctive histories.
Mississippi
JUNE 28 - JULY 25 (4 WEEKS)
Since 2006 and initially in response to Hurricane Katrina, we have accomplished impressive service and sophisticated carpentry in Mississippi. Construction of green-certified outdoor classroom, fishing decks and a even bridge over a Turkey Creek tributary, renovations to homes damaged during Katrina, and more. Weekends and afternoons are jam-packed with activities, including a trip to New Orleans, kayaking, barbecues, and immersing in Southern hospitality.
Ghana
June 28 - July 25 (4 WEEKS)
Ethnic backgrounds, languages (more than 70), topography, and general ways of life are as diverse and colorful as the ceremonial textiles that are so important in Ghanaian culture. Europeans inhabited Ghana before any other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Drawn by gold, and later by the slave trade, foreigners began their colonial claims in 1482, and the country eventually was ruled by Britain.
British Virgin Islands
June 28 – July 25
August 2 - August 22
Islands rising up out of crystal clear blue waters. Mountain peaks touching trade wind clouds. Crescent-shaped white sand beaches stretching endlessly. A proud Afro-Caribbean heritage alive in a culture with all the flavor of the local fruit trees and all the variety of the fish swimming offshore.
Dominica
July 9 - August 5
Known as the "Nature Island" of the Caribbean, Dominica is one of the purest of paradises, relatively untouched by tourist hordes. Nearly two-thirds of English-speaking Dominica is undeveloped. Its 365 rivers and streams are mostly usable by boats no larger than canoes, and waterfalls abound. So abundant is fresh water that Dominica exports it to neighboring islands.
Cambodia
June 28 - July 26 (4 WEEKS)
Cambodia is on the rise globally with booming commerce and foreign investment. It also is a center for international development with over 3,000 officially registered non-governmental agencies within its borders. Nestled between Thailand, Vietnam and Laos, Cambodia suffered more than its fair share of war and trauma during the 20th century.
French Speaking Volunteer Opportunity
Guadeloupe
June 28 - July 25 (4 weeks)
In the French West Indies where French is spoken with a musical island lilt and Creole is a second mother tongue, Guadeloupe is comprised of nine inhabited islands, two very large and seven relatively small. It has seen Spanish, English and French Colonial settlers and the importation of West Africa slaves and indentured servants from Asian India. All brought traditions that have blended over centuries into a cultural complexity experienced in a local cuisine that combines French sauces, curry spices and fresh seafood.
Spanish Speaking Volunteer Opportunities
Dominican Republic
June 28 - July 25
The island nation of the Dominican Republic is one of the most culturally vibrant and historically rich countries in the Americas. The warmth and resilience of Dominicans have charmed and inspired VISIONS participants since 1991. Our history in the communities where we live is one of mutual respect, deep friendships and enduring partnerships such as with the Sabana Perdida Lions Club with whom we collaborate every summer.
Nicaragua
June 28 - July 25 (4 weeks)
August 2 - 22 (3 weeks)
Well past the political turbulence of three decades ago, Nicaragua has become one of the safest of Central American destinations. Arguably, it has the most breathtaking landscapes in all of Central America. Nicaragua is second only to Haiti as one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. It is the least densely populated yet physically the largest in Central America.
Ecuador & Galapagos
JUNE 28 - July 25
Mitad del Mundo is a land of extraordinary contrasts where wood-burning stoves, thatched roof dwellings and cell phones co-exist. Where the planet's rarest species live on an isolate of islands 600 miles off the coast, drawing scientists and tourists from around the globe. Where the fishing and farming activities of growing numbers of Ecuadorians living on the Galapagos threaten the very existence of this extraordinary eco-system.
Peru
JUNE 28 - JULY 26 (4 WEEKS)
AUGUST 1 - AUGUST 21 (3 WEEKS)
Peru claims 84 of the world's 103 ecological zones and 28 different climates, placing it among the five countries with the greatest biological diversity in the world. In the southern central part of the country, Andean peaks rise to their most majestic height in the heart of Peru's interior in which lies our home base of Urubamba (population 8,000).
Middle School Volunteer Opportunities
Island Passage, British Virgin Islands
July 5 - 26
Virgin Gorda is a small, quiet, closely knit island community. Our home base will be St. Mary's School, long familiar to VISIONS. The roomy space is atop a hill on the north coast, and it boasts the best breezes on Virgin Gorda. From our back door we can see down to the ocean below and hear the waves.
Northern Passage, Montana
JUNE 28 - July 18
The Northern Cheyenne Reservation in southeast Montana has been home to VISIONS groups off and on since 1992. We live together in the Head Start school in Lame Deer, the central town on the reservation. We accomplish projects in Lame Deer and also in Birney Village, a tiny enclave of 50 families on the Tongue River.