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FAQs

Being a dietary vegan over 18 who satisfactorily completes the application, reads or listens to the 6 required books (list sent upon acceptance), and watches select documentaries (you choose your films: no graphic footage required).

There are terrific classes out there and MSVA celebrates all our colleagues in their important work. Among MSVA's shining features are:

(1) We cover every aspect of Vegan living, equipping you with well-rounded expertise

(2) Your instructors are top luminaries in the Vegan and plant-based arena, and you will have one-on-one access to founder and director Victoria Moran throughout your course.

(3) As an MSVA student and graduate, you become a valuable part of a respected and influential community of Vegan experts and educators. You are a real person to us; we know your interests and we support your vision.

(4) We inspire you to actively use your VLCE to change this world for the better

(5) You're free to disseminate these ideas in your own way

(6) If you wish to stay connected through the Main Street Vegan private Academy Facebook group, private mailings, graduate projects and other events, we're here for you for the duration

(7) Although we offer an in-depth master class for graduates every two years, no continuing education is required to keep your VLCE certification in good standing

Our MD and RD instructors adhere to the principles of a Whole Food Plant-Based Diet and they teach those principles in the VLCE certification course. However, we recognize that the Vegan movement also includes people whose road to health has been via raw food, ayurveda, macrobiotics, or some slant on WFPB such as Dr. Joel Fuhrman's Nutritarianism or Dr. John McDougall's "starch solution."
 
We also know that many Vegans, young people in particular, are not necessarily looking for ways to improve their health, but are interested in Vegan culinary exploration and in products that emulate meat and dairy dishes. While we train coaches who can work with people looking at Veganism as part of a health-promting lifestyle, we celebrate the contribution to a kinder world made by creative chefs and the various commercial products available today. Among our own graduates are those whose business ventures are in Vegan cheeses, yogurt, ice cream, and bakery products, and yet all had WFPB education at the Academy.

Yes, you can select the payment plan on the registration form.

When you graduate from the MSVA program, a 7-day Zoom intensive, you will be certified as a Vegan Lifestyle Coach & Educator, VLCE. Every few years we offer a Masters level course for those alumni who wish to obtain further instruction, thus MVLCE -- Master Vegan Lifestyle Coach & Educator. The Masters programs a in-depth and exciting, but never required. Your VLCE certification is evergreen as long as you remain Vegan.

*1. Main Street Vegan, by Victoria Moran -- the basis for our program; a lively, accepting overview of every aspect of Vegan eating and living. This is our fundamental text and expresses the eclectic approach that we have here at Main Street Vegan Academy
 
*2. The China Study, by T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D and Thomas M. Campbell, MD - the scientific basis for a whole-foods, plant-based diet (There are two editions of this book, one revised and expanded. Feel free to read - or listen on Audible - to either.)
 
*3. Vegan for Life, by Jack Norris, RD, and Virginia Messina, MPH, RD - one of the best works on Vegan nutrition: clear, honest, science-based
 
*4. Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows, by Melanie Joy, PhD - the gist of what makes it okay in our society to have some animals as friends, others as food, and how we can combat this
 
*5. Eat for the Planet, Nil Zacharias and Gene Stone - a pocket-sized easy read on the very complex topic of climate change and global pollution and the animal agriculture connection
 

6. Vegan Ventures: Start and Grow an Ethical Business, by Katrina Fox - an introduction to business with Vegans in mind, covering concept, formation, mindset, money, branding, marketing, and making it in business while staying true to your values

 
Those titles preceded by an asterisk are also available as audiobooks from Audible.com. If you apply well in advance, it's nice to have read all the books prior to the start of class. If there's not time for that, you can have until the course has ended. If you still haven't finished all the books, you can graduate with your class, and we'll just hold off on mailing your certificate until you have finished the required reading.

It will not. We train Vegans to help others thrive with Veganism. Our program does not qualify any graduate who is not already a licensed healthcare professional to work with sick people or to diagnose or treat any illness.

We avoid anything graphic or troubling to the fullest extent possible. While those images can move non-Vegans in this direction, you're already Vegan and shouldn't have to look at anything awful. In the class about fashion, there are some disturbing images, but the instructor, Vogue-featured Vegan designer Joshua Katcher, has taught for us from the beginning and always warns people if something graphic is coming so anyone who wishes can shut off their video momentarily.

All lectures are recorded and made available to students within a couple of days of that weekend's programming. You can make up any missed classes with recordings. In addition, once you graduate, you have the right to ask to audit any class that you missed in person during the next live Zoom course.

You're right: it is not. We were originally an in-person program in NYC -- in the apartment, in fact, of founder and director Victoria Moran. The Covid-19 pandemic put an end to in-person programming and we were worried that we'd lose something of the spirit of the Academy. In fact, the opposite has happened.
 
Via Zoom, we're still "live" and people who could not travel to New York, take a week out of their lives, and take on the extra expense of air fare and hotels can now take the course from the comfort of their homes. In addition, we've been able to add more hours to the program, meaning more classes covering more topics and making our certified coaches even more qualified for what they plan to do next. In addition, we can now invite presenters from around the U.S. and the world, making the MSVA course more stunning than ever. (And if you do come to NYC after you graduate, Victoria and some local alumni would love to meet you for an amazing Vegan lunch.)

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