Scholarships, Discounts, & Community Projects

There are a few special scholarships and discounts that we offer, and their information is below. We have chosen these groups because these are groups that are exploited in the United States and we recognize that as white people, we have directly benefited from policies exploiting them.

We know there are lots of other groups being exploited in the US and around the world. We're a tiny operation and we want to do our part to start to make up for the damage that has been done in this country, and this is what we are starting with:

Full Scholarships for Single Black & Indigenous Moms

As herbalists, we feel it is important to work actively towards equity in health and wellness for  Communities of Color. And as a single mom, and later a "remarried mom", katja knows what it's like to try to raise a child without support.

Since our courses went online, we've been able to extend full scholarships for the Family Herbalist and Community Herbalist programs to Single Black & Indigenous Moms, which allows them to learn practical, cost-effective and accessible ways to take care of their kids' and their own health at whatever pace and at whatever time fits into their schedule. We also recognize Black and Indigenous moms as community leaders, and we want to help them provide for their communities.

If you are a Single Black or Indigenous Mom, or if you know a Mom who could benefit from this program, please encourage them to get in touch with us! This is available to all Single Black & Indigenous Moms and it does not expire.

There is no application process - we say yes to every Single Black & Indigenous Mom! Simply email us with some kind of identifying information (a photo of your license with the numbers blocked out, for example, or if you are Indigenous, a photo of your federally recognized Tribal ID card - see the Indigenous section below about federally recognized Tribal ID cards), and we'll send you the code!

Native American & Indigenous Peoples' Reparations Discount

We believe in reparations for the damages done to Native Americans by European colonizers. We acknowledge that we are living on stolen land, that Native Americans are still here and not "past", and that they are still being stolen from and harmed by our government policies.

Our goal is to be able to provide all of our courses and programs to all Native Peoples free of charge in the spirit of reparations. Our business is small and we can't sustain a 100% discount yet, but currently we offer 50% off all of our courses and programs to all Native American and Alaskan Native tribal members*, regardless of need.

This does not expire and there is no limit. There is no application process: this is a partial payment on a debt you are owed! Simply email us with a photo of your federally recognized Tribal ID* with the numbers blocked out, or similar identifying information, and we'll send you the code!

*We know that Tribal ID is a complicated metric. We know that many Native Americans' connection to their heritage was stolen through forced adoptions, boarding schools, and other methods.

We also acknowledge that many white people have family stories that claim some kind of Native great-great-grandparent. We recognize that many of those family stories are a continuation of the harm done to Native American communities. This is why we don't simply accept everyone who has a "family history". Because of this, we sought guidance from the Native community about the appropriate way to manage this reparations discount.

Currently, a federally recognized Tribal ID is the guidance that we have been given by the Native community, and we will respect that. (Note: this is not the "Certificate of Degree of Indian/Alaskan Blood" issued by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.)

We understand that some tribes do not yet have federal recognition, and that this is problematic. We are committed the following the guidance that we have been given by Native organizations, and we recognize that the administrative mess around Native people in this country was caused specifically to make life harder for Native people. We also recognize that the term "Native American" is inaccurate, because these People stewarded this Land before the name America was put on it.

Herbalism for Incarcerated People

Herbalism is for everyone. By providing herbal training to incarcerated students, we can not only provide access to a tool for better health and for health advocacy, but also a pathway to a sustainable future after incarceration. It's very difficult for people with a history of incarceration to find employers willing to hire them, but we teach people to start their own businesses - if a person who is incarcerated can start learning and planning for their own sustainable employment once their time is served, the likelihood of recidivism is drastically reduced.

Since 2018, we have provided incarcerated students with free access to our Family Herbalist program, and continuing access to the Community Herbalist program. In order to do this, we had to have transcriptions of every single video, because incarcerated students were not allowed to receive any form of media. We had a whole team of people volunteering to transcribe videos so that incarcerated students could read the transcripts. There were strict rules about how materials could be sent to inmates - how many pages at a time, what kind of envelope, etc - and in 2020, prisons started rejecting printed materials outright.

In February of 2021, we began a pilot program with the Franklin County prison system to create a secure, offline version of our video programs that can be made available to incarcerated students.

Since then, we've been able to provide course videos to incarcerated students through the educational directors at each facility.

If you know an incarcerated person who would enjoy studying herbalism, please encourage them to talk to their facility's educational director about this program. The educational director can contact us at info@commonwealthherbs.com and we will get them access to the videos in an offline format that works for that facility.

This program is free and it does not expire.

Palestinians & Israelis for a just peace

We support a group of Palestinian and Israeli people dedicated to working for a just peace, and who are in service to Palestinians who are traumatized and displaced. People in this group are providing services to refugees and those living in areas of "high intensity", which is to say, where there is regular bombing or other violent disruptions.

Support for all people serving refugees

If you are doing this work, or if you are in service to refugees in other regions, and if herbal skills would be helpful in your work, please contact us so that we can support you! This scholarship is not limited only to Palestine - we also support groups working in Kyiv and Kharkiv, Ukraine, in Poland working with Ukrainian refugees, and various groups in the US serving refugee populations from all over the world. If your time is dedicated in service to refugees in any part of the world, just send us an email and let us know what program/group you are working with.

Coal River Valley, West Virginia

In 2016, we teamed up with the amazing folks at Mountain SOL to provide herbalism training and community free clinics in Coal River Valley, West Virginia, a region bearing the heavy burden of mountaintop removal mining. Because of the environmental impact of this kind of mining, cancer and other health issues affect this area at much higher rates than other areas, but because of the economic impact of this kind of mining, there aren't good jobs to afford quality food and health care, and accessing health care often requires more than an hour's drive.

We provide free online herbal training for the local team of herbalists & midwives, and until Covid, regularly traveled to help host free clinics with them, to help them grow their clinical skills in person and build ties with the community as well. We continue to support this community through the Mountain SOL partnership.