'Collective Kind', a Progressive Pre-School, Is Coming To Gowanus

Great news for those with little ones! Collective Kind, the first NYC-based network of Montessori Microschools "providing high quality early education for working families of all backgrounds", is coming to Gowanus.

The progressive pre-school offers a socially engaged early childhood education. It is based on the wonderful mission of creating a space where children are taught empathy for all, care of the earth, and love of learning.  Founded by Anna Caroline Tehan,  Anna Ellis Nesser and Clara Planel, Collective Kind supports "children to love themselves, their community and the planet."

This women-owned school also offers multicultural classrooms, slicing scale tuition to enable access to families of all backgrounds, flexible subsidy plans for employers of all sizes, access to co-working for adults, and above average salaries and intersectional feminist benefits for its teaching and school staff.

In short, everything we, as a community, should be supporting.

Collective Kind already has a location in Fort Greene and will soon open micro- preschools in Prospect Lefferts, Boerum Hill... and Gowanus, near Third Avenue.

Anna Ellis Nesser, the school's Director of Learning and Sustainability, wrote to us to express her excitement about the Gowanus location:

"As we, Collective Kind, are growing we are so excited to be coming to work with the Gowanus/Carroll Garden community. Adding this as part of our growth plan was a quick and easy decision - not only is Clara (one of our co-founders) a Carroll Garden resident raising her daughter in the community, this is also where Anna (another of our co-founders) grew up! Something that has not changed over the years here since Anna was a kid and Clara became a parent is the need for progressive early care that families can afford.

As our network of local families has continued to grow with families joining our adult-child classes we have been hearing that Collective Kind is just what the community wants! Anti-bias and nature-based education that supports children to love themselves, their community and the planet is what we are here to share and we look forward to having you join us soon."

Collective Kind just launched a crowdfunding campaign HERE for its teacher-led, female-founded school network. All information about the program can be found at thecollectivekind.com