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Vincent Gray Academy, East St. Louis, Illinois

May 11, 2020

Vincent Gray Academy


Black and Indian Mission Office
Project NewsFlash – Vincent Gray Academy
Diocese of Belleville
April 2020

For forty years Vincent Gray Academy has operated as a high school for students who have been unsuccessful in the public school system and are unable to re-enter because of age or other factors. VGA is unique in several ways. We are totally funded by grants and donations. We serve young men and women between the ages of seventeen and twenty-four who have been deemed uneducable. We devote our efforts to Christian formation and evangelization as well as academic education.

Among our formation efforts is the promotion and modeling the virtues of humility, justice, charity, honesty, self-discipline, tolerance, and faith and trust in God. Students participate in Bible reflection, petitionary prayer, and charitable outreach. All are encouraged to maintain a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. In short, VGA’s education takes place in an environment of Christian values.

In its forty years VGA has graduated 500 high school men and women with a diploma certified by the Illinois State Board of Education. This diploma is an introduction to post-secondary education, military service, and the job market. It reduces their risk of generational poverty, lifetime unemployment, and incarceration.