Ganas: Immigration & Bennington
A student-led community partnership that weaves advocacy, activism, academics, and community partnership to make a safer, less isolated environment for Vermont’s 3,000 undocumented migrant workers
Listen to first person accounts of life in Vermont from the perspective of migrant workers; what motivates students to come into GANAS; and learn how one faculty member has helped support the work inside and outside of the classroom.
Approximately 3,000 undocumented immigrants support Vermont’s dairy industry. Most work in constant fear of deportation and racial profiling.
Recognizing this fear and isolation, several Bennington College students formed Ganas in 2014. Since then the program has grown to include approximately 40 students. Informed and supported by faculty member Jonathan Pitcher and the College’s Elizabeth Coleman Center for the Advancement of Public Action—GANAS brings together students, migrant workers, and organizations focused on promoting healthcare, human rights, and education for the undocumented workforce that supports Vermont’s dairy industry.
In partnership with the Vermont Migrant Education Program, the Bennington Free Clinic, and Legal Resistance Alliance, today GANAS provides informative programming.
Their evolving work has been documented in video and audio storytelling formats, digital features that are produced, edited and broadcast by students active in the GANAS community.
