Offering early childhood education for more than a century

With summer vacation nearing its end, Brooklyn’s working parents are encouraged to enroll their children in low-cost early education programs to instill foundational social emotional learning skills.

Brooklyn Kindergarten Society, a leading non-profit offering early childhood education in traditionally underserved communities, operates seven Children’s Centers in NYCHA housing locations.

Dubbed as the original “born in Brooklyn” organization, BKS has presided over the youngest residents of Bedford Stuyvesant, Brownsville, and Crown Heights for over 130 years. Through its STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) curriculum that prioritizes social-emotional development, the organization utilizes tools such as “Sensory gyms” to accommodate children with learning disabilities and development delays.

Among students served by BKS, 84% are 4 years or under, with nearly half identifying as Black/African American and 36% identifying as LatinX. Most centers offer universal 3-k and pre-kindergarten services to parents meeting financial eligibility requirements, with some offering subsidized child care from the Department of Education. All area 2-5 year olds are welcome, with the organization anticipating migrant children among its incoming cohorts.

New York Nonprofit Media caught up with the Brooklyn Kindergarten Society’s newest executive director Ashley Williams – who took on the role this past June after serving as deputy director of family and community engagement.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Pulling from your background as both a leader and educator, what is the most rewarding aspect of contributing to the education sector?

I believe that making sure that everyone in the ecosystem feels seen, valued and heard, while being able to provide a space not only for our students, but for the staff that serves them and their families. It's really about getting to know them on a personal level, and helping them whether it be academically and emotionally for our students, or supporting our staff and their families. [It’s about] understanding the value of working together as a village to support the children and one another, because that's what's important. One of our strategic priorities is cultivating a culture of learning and inquiry. We want our staff to be the best in their craft, to ultimately help them develop that, while keeping our children and families at the top of our minds.

How essential is early childhood education in setting the tone for the rest of a child's life?

Early Childhood is super, super important. Oftentimes it is a child's first interaction, first social interaction with multiple children and multiple adults. What we want to do here at BKS is definitely provide an equal first step where our children come in and they receive a high-quality education from the very beginning. We also want to help our parents navigate the school system and understand their role as a parent. They are the child's first teacher and advocate: from helping them develop language skills and the competence to navigate K through 12. So really just being a great part of a child and families first experience with school, you have a big emphasis on learning and helping our children navigate some of the social emotional fuel that they need to grow up to be healthy, thriving kids.

Do you also serve children with disabilities as well?

Yes we serve children with disabilities. We have children with autism and learning impairments. And because they are so young, some of our kids come to us undiagnosed. Part of our work in early childhood education is to notice [early signs] in our classrooms, and then support families with the formal process of putting them in special education.

What sets Brooklyn Kindergarten Society’s program model apart, from other early childhood nonprofits?

Our programming is geared towards developing STEAM: science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics, so we have a STEAM summer camp. We also provide enrichment activities to our children. We currently offer a music and movement program, where we currently have violin, tennis, yoga, and previously, dance. We also have a sensory gym, which we just launched in May of 2023, where we provide students with therapeutic interventions. Currently, we have occupational therapy, but we are looking to expand that to having a speech pathologist as well. And then we also have a big focus on supporting not only our children, but their families too. And we also have an entire team dedicated to Family Services – knowing that it takes a village to raise a child, and then giving families the necessary community resources that they need to thrive.

In what ways is the STEAM- based curriculum especially effective for young learners? How is the sensory gym an extension of these goals?

More than anything, it is exposing our children early on to art, mathematics, and science. And all of that is through inquiry-based learning. Giving them that first step at such a young age, through hands on learning experiments in the classroom. The sensory gym really helps with the social, emotional, cognitive and behavioral skills – the fine motor skills to help kids with self- regulation. And so currently that is offered at our Weeksville Gardens Children’s Center Monday through Friday for children who attend that center, and then we open it up on the weekends for children that attend our other centers.

One of the things I found interesting about sensory gyms is that they also help children build independence. Can you could give me some insight on that?

More than anything it is having the occupational therapist work directly with students to build that independence. Because we have an occupational therapist and an occupational therapist assistant, they're able to work one on one and in group settings to help build that autonomy through different activities provided during the week and on weekends. So helping kids self-regulate, and then advocate for themselves and also de-escalate.

As executive director of Brooklyn kindergarten society, what kind of problems are you solving throughout the day? What kind of projects are you working on now?

As of right now, one of the main problems that I'm working to solve is staffing. This is a big issue not only our organization, but across the city. Across the country, we've lost teachers, and so I don't think that BKS is any different from the rest, but generally, it does a little bit more difficult following the pandemic. What I am in the midst of planning within my first 30 days is a listening tour, where I am really understanding the needs of my staff. By sitting down with them individually to learn more about what they’re most proud of, some current challenges and then whether or not they really feel valued in the work here. That will then give me information to determine how to strategize and help the organization move forward. Going back to my point earlier about having people feel seen, heard and valued, it's really important to talk directly to the people doing the work.

Speaking of funding, do you intend to pull from your experience in fundraising and consulting, to kind of fill these gaps?

I really want to be a data driven organization. So step one is collecting all the information to see where our staff is regarding salaries in comparison to the DOE and then also looking at a few of our peers as well. So when we get a clearer idea of where we stand in comparison to them, to figure out the gap. Because ideally, I would want to be able to pay X amount more than the DOE or X amount more than our peer schools. But I first have to start with understanding where we are, to then be able to solve the problem.

Are migrant children eligible to be enrolled in your services? 

I would like to think so. We are open year-round, we have enrollment year-round, and so if the family qualifies, we would love to have them. Our doors are always open for them. For pre-K and 3k, a child just needs to be age eligible. And then for the other programs, they just need to adhere to income qualifications, which are city and state guidelines.

What kind of wraparound services do you offer to parents?

We provide workshops for families, we've also had a resume builder workshop and we provided CPR training. Then there are days where we work one-on-one with families to best support their needs. Whether that be looking for a new job, or support getting health insurance or finding a doctor, so it really is personal to each family. More than anything, we want to be able to provide support to our families and offer them whatever they need.