Updated on Oct. 16
EarlyJ is making good on its name and mission by taking steps to ensure that Jewish education begins early for Bay Area families. The nonprofit, which is dedicated to supporting Jewish preschools and early childhood education, completed a major grant cycle over the summer, awarding $474,000 to nine local preschools to launch Jewish parenting centers.
The grant recipients are Addison-Penzak JCC Preschool and Shir Hadash Early Childhood Center in Los Gatos; South Peninsula Hebrew Day School in Sunnyvale; Leslie Family Preschool in Palo Alto; Helen Diller Family Preschool in San Francisco; Gan Mah Tov Preschool and Temple Sinai David Pregerson Preschool in Oakland; and Osher Marin JCC Preschool sites in both Mill Valley and San Rafael.
These centers are a new project designed to serve as places where expectant parents, those with children ages 2 and under, and other caregivers can connect, learn and find support within their Jewish communities.
Sharona Israeli-Roth, founding president and executive director of EarlyJ, said the idea was inspired by successful family center models that EarlyJ studied in Israel and Southern California.
“The research is clear. Welcoming families into Jewish education early on is a key step to creating an engaged Jewish community,” Israeli-Roth told J. in late September. “We believe these centers will become vibrant hubs of Jewish life and parenting.”
According to Israeli-Roth, one of the main goals of the centers is to fill in the gaps for families that can’t find early childhood education programs that meet their needs. The hours may not fit the schedules of working parents, the costs may be too high, some parents may prefer programs offered in Hebrew or Russian, and some are still waiting until their children are old enough for preschool, she said.
“The centers are being created to help solve those problems and make early education more accessible,” she said.
Each center will be tailored to the unique needs of its preschool’s community, offering a range of programs such as parenting classes, workshops focused on child development, “mommy-and-me” classes and child-focused Jewish education. The programs will not only support families in the early years of parenting, but also serve as natural introductions to the preschools, which administrators hope will increase enrollment.
“We thought that it would be a great opportunity to build up the community that already exists here and also to bring in new families that can join our special Jewish school,” said Yana Tiv, assistant director at South Peninsula Hebrew Day School and program manager for its Little Learners Family Center, which received one of the grants from EarlyJ.
Tiv hopes that families who come to the Little Learners Family Center will feel connected and supported in a “warm and loving” Jewish environment where they can make friends with other parents, learn from experts or simply enjoy a cup of coffee while their child plays. The center is specifically geared toward serving the large Israeli community in the area, and Tiv especially hopes to connect Israeli families through programs that are entirely in Hebrew.
“The feeling that you think you’re in Israel is what we’re trying to bring,” she said.
The Jewish parenting centers at Addison-Penzak JCC Preschool, Helen Diller Family Preschool, Leslie Family Preschool, Osher Marin JCC Preschool sites and South Peninsula Hebrew Day School are already up and running. Gan Mah Tov Preschool, Shir Hadash Early Childhood Center and Temple Sinai David Pregerson Preschool will begin programming this month.
Some of the programs will be free. Others will charge a fee, depending on the type and location of the program.
“By meeting families where they are, early and with open arms,” Israeli-Roth said, “we can nurture both the next generation and the community that surrounds them.”