What We Care About

Our Values & Commitments

Seven Decades of

Family Ownership

In an era where educational summer programs increasingly are owned by venture capital firms, we are proud to be in our third generation of family leadership, now as a female-led organization. Over the course of seven decades, we feel the importance of our core mission—to change students’ lives—has grown significantly. When our parents (and Olivia and Becca’s grandparents) led that first group of 18 high school students by ship to Europe, in a world still reeling from the aftershock of World War II, they sought to usher them out of their comfort zones and teach them to embrace what is new and different. They strived to develop thoughtful and well-rounded young leaders through experiential, intellectual, emotional, and cultural engagement, while keeping them safe.

Commitment to Sustainability

Carbon Offsets for Air Travel

Putney invests in a carbon offset program to cover greenhouse gas emissions from all student and leader group flights. We work directly with Vermont-based NativeEnergy to identify and invest in community-scale and sustainable projects that would not otherwise be realized.

This year’s offset contributions will help fund a project to manufacture sustainable construction bricks in Madhya Pradesh, India. These blocks, called “autoclaved aerated concrete” (AAC), are more energy efficient than traditional concrete used in construction projects, and the manufacture of AAC generates 50% less greenhouse emissions than concrete.

Our Commitment to

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

We acknowledge that our organization and the practice of travel, more broadly, has historically benefited and continues to benefit from privilege as it relates to power, race, class, citizenship, sexual orientation, and mobility. We are committed to making genuine efforts to foster an environment that embraces the richness of human experience both within our organization and on our global travels. Our journey toward diversity, equity, and inclusion is active, ongoing, and evolving. We recognize that there are barriers we haven’t yet overcome, and we’re dedicated to addressing them by committing to the following actions:

» Designing new opportunities and enhancing existing programming to better incorporate diverse perspectives, particularly through the relationships we cultivate with local people, businesses, and underrepresented identities wherever possible.
» Increasing our recruitment efforts at geographically, racially, and socioeconomically diverse schools.
» Increasing scholarship funding and expanding collaborations with youth development organizations to increase access to our programs.
» Better supporting staff and students of all identities through training and resource development for leaders and full-time employees.

Our Values & Commitments

Family Ownership

Carbon Offsets for Air Travel

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

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