Mission
Vita Education Services provides impactful educational programs that:
- enable adult learners to gain skills and meet personal goals;
- encourage self-determination and self-sufficiency;
- reduce economic and social disparity.
Vision
Vita Education Services envisions a diverse community that values and cultivates the power of life-long learning to empower adult learners and strengthen their families and communities.
History
Founded in 1971 by Judge Edmund V. Ludwig of the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas and like-minded community members, Vita Education Services’ original mission was to fight recidivism by training volunteers to teach decision-making skills to Bucks County probationers and parolees. The scope of the organization’s work with this population expanded in 1978 to include the teaching of basic language and math skills to those in the County’s correctional system.
In the 1980’s, Vita recognized that there was an unmet need for adult basic education services for many Bucks County residents, and the organization expanded to deliver language, math, science, and social studies educational programming to all adult learners.
At the same time, the original Probation and Parole Program was retooled to meet changing needs and expanded at the request of the Drug and Alcohol Commission and the Department of Probation. This program, now called Decisions, has evolved into modern cognitive behavioral skills instruction, and is offered to men and women in the County’s correctional facilities as well as youth in the Bucks County Youth Center. In addition, Vita provides a Jobs Readiness program to incarcerated individuals in the County’s Correctional Facilities to assist with employment and reduce recidivism.
In 1999, Vita established an English Language Learning Program for Bucks County adult learners, and in 2001 the organization began a Family Literacy Program which focuses on providing English language skills to parents with young children. Today, Vita Education Services is the lead literacy agency in Bucks County and the largest provider of educational services in the Bucks County Correctional facilities.