Ellen Brosbe is retiring after almost four decades of service to the Bay Area Jewish community.

In 1979 she started the Beth Ami Community Nursery School in Santa Rosa with a group of community members. For the past 19 years she has served in the early childhood education department at Jewish LearningWorks (formerly the Bureau of Jewish Education).

During her many years as director of the early childhood education department, she worked behind the scenes in virtually every Jewish preschool in the Bay Area. Before that, she worked for the Jewish Family Education project for seven years. Her pioneering work has had a huge impact on children, families and educators.