Founded 53 years ago, King Street Center serves approximately 180 youth annually ages 18 months to 18 years old Monday-Friday, year-round through our 5-STAR Head Start Early Education, K-5, Middle School, High School, Mentor, and Family Support programs. Our Early Education classrooms operate full days, while our K-12 programs operate during the critical hours of afterschool and for full day programming when schools are not in session. We provide a safe space where children and youth can find nourishment, academic enrichment, recreational activities, social-emotional support, safe friendships, positive adult-relationships, and guidance throughout adolescence so they may thrive into adulthood. 

King Street Center serves youth and their families experiencing economic insecurity and systemic marginalization, with an emphasis on people from the global majority and immigrant or refugee communities in Burlington. Many of our students grow up at King Street Center, starting in Early Ed or Afterschool and continuing their journey with us up through high school. 

Many of the families we serve have experienced great hardship and are deeply committed to ensuring their children have more opportunities and success than they and their parents were able to have. From growing up in generational poverty and the trauma that comes with it, to being forced to leave their home country, King Street Center is passionate about being a partner to families and empowering youth to explore their talents and find their voice through learning, play, and opportunity. Especially important to us, is that we do this work through an equity lens and that our work is not only focused on youth, but incorporates their vision and voice into our programming. With our holistic approach of serving the whole child, which means ensuring their families are supported and basic needs are being met at home, our work touches the lives of over 450 community members each year.