The Village Free School was founded in 2004 by a group of parents and community members who envisioned a new option in Portland's education landscape. Inspired by the Free School movement of the 1970s, in which children are given real power and honored as individuals, the founders worked countless hours to create a place in which students are free to be themselves. Over the past decade, our program has evolved and our community has grown. In all that we do, we center ourselves around our foundational principles of Care, Freedom, and Democracy. Our students are happy and confident. They are comfortable interacting with peers and adults. They are discovering who they are on a daily basis and who they want to be in the world.