June Change for Change: Nonotuck Community School & New Village

Nonotuck Community School was founded in 1977 and provides high-quality preschool education and child care. They care for children 15 months to 6 years of age in an environment that promotes self-esteem, creative thinking, and individuality through a respectful partnership between children parents, and faculty. Their students stay in one classroom for the year, enhancing their early childhood experience through close and consistent relationships with their friends and teachers. They are a licensed early education and childcare center and have achieved a Quality Rating and Improvement Scale (QRIS) rating which indicates they have surpassed basic licensing practices.

 
New Village (formerly known as Farm Hands Preschool) is an early childhood care community that strives to be a bastion of social justice and a model for other schools that seek a similar path. Their mission is to grow a community that centers the satisfaction and joy of all its members, with priority given to those who are historically, currently, and systemically marginalized and oppressed by the society in which we live. Their students learn about justice, community, identity, responsibility, and care through a curriculum of true play, relationship building, and land stewardship. They currently operate as a small neighborhood school with two classrooms—one for preschoolers and one for toddlers. A third classroom for infants is scheduled to open this fall.