At the JCC of Sonoma County, we have long believed that families with young children need a meaningful gateway into Jewish life. As parents make their first decisions about how to raise and educate their children beyond the home, the Jewish community has a unique opportunity to embrace and engage them.

This is why a few years ago our JCC recognized both an opportunity and a responsibility. There was no Jewish preschool in the area, and families were already seeking high-quality childcare. We are eternally grateful that with the support of EarlyJ, an initiative that invests in strengthening Jewish early childhood education, we moved quickly to open a new school in just four months. Our thinking was simple but powerful: if families are already investing in childcare, why not create a space where Jewish life, values, and community are naturally woven into that experience?

Our history as a “JCC without walls,” bringing programs into the broader community, made us especially attuned to meeting families where they are. Opening a preschool felt like a natural evolution of that mission.

We launched the school for the 2023–2024 year at a moment of both uncertainty and urgency, amid the expansion of free universal transitional kindergarten (TK) in public schools, and just before October 7. To some, it may have seemed like a risky time to begin. But we chose to focus intentionally on two- and three-year-olds, meeting families at the very start of their childcare journey and building a bridge between home and school.

That decision has proven meaningful. While many four-year-olds transition to public TK, some families are choosing to stay because of the unique continuity, values, and sense of belonging that a Jewish preschool provides. One child even returns after TK each afternoon, a small but powerful testament to the connection families feel.

But this work is not only about children. It is about whole families and how a Jewish preschool often is the starting point for their powerful, formative engagement in Jewish life.

Preschool is often where adult relationships take root. When families connect with one another in intentional ways, community begins to form. In our setting, where a great majority of families have at least one Jewish parent, those connections often become Jewish friendships. And from those friendships, something deeper emerges: families begin to explore Jewish life together, influencing and supporting one another in ways no program could do alone.

For many families, especially those new to Sonoma County, the preschool has become a true landing place. It is where they find not only childcare, but community, identity, and a sense of belonging. In fact, JCC preschools are known for their high quality, welcoming programs.

We see this most clearly in individual stories. One family came to us simply needing care for their two-year-old. The father is Jewish; the mother is not. From the moment she walked in, the mother felt welcomed and embraced. Over time, their son began bringing home songs, traditions, and curiosity about Jewish life. When it was his turn to take home the Shabbat box, the family brought it to the grandmother’s house, sparking a shared Shabbat experience that hadn’t existed before. Despite having access to free TK nearby, they have chosen to stay because what they’ve found here goes far beyond childcare.

From the beginning, we were committed to offering a high-quality Jewish environment. We designed our program to meet the real needs of working families: small class sizes, low teacher-to-child ratios, full-day options, and flexible, year-round schedules. At the same time, we invested deeply in our educators, offering competitive wages, benefits, and ongoing professional development. This, too, reflects our Jewish values. When teachers feel respected, supported, and connected, they create classrooms filled with warmth, stability, and joy. This year, we experienced zero staff turnover—something we are deeply proud of.

Equally important has been our commitment to connection beyond the classroom. We partner with organizations like PJ Library to co-sponsor holiday and cultural programs  (EarlyJ supports PJ Library connectors in the Bay Area). We welcome clergy and educators to share Shabbat with our students. Most recently, we have welcomed elders from our senior community into the classroom for “Bubbie Story Time,” creating intergenerational moments that enrich everyone involved.

The response from the community has been overwhelming. Since opening, we have already expanded our licensed capacity to meet demand. Additional grants from EarlyJ have helped make this possible, supporting a new indoor learning space, improving our outdoor facility, subsidizing a Master’s Degree in Jewish ECE for our Early Childhood Programs Director, and creating educator study roundtables. Importantly, a grant is also supporting strategic planning for the addition of two to four new sites that will accommodate 24-84 new students in what has been called a “Jewish ECE dessert area.” In short, today we are full and ready to grow beyond our current single location

To that end, we are thinking carefully about what comes next. Data show that families are generally unwilling to travel more than 15–20 minutes for childcare. In a county as large and geographically dispersed as Sonoma—where Jewish families are spread across Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Cotati, Sebastopol and beyond—this presents both a challenge and an opportunity.

Rather than centralizing, we are exploring a more distributed model: a network of smaller, community-based preschool sites that meet families where they live. While this approach may not be the most cost-effective, it reflects something important: our commitment to accessibility, inclusion, and connection.

We intentionally strive to help these families stay engaged beyond the preschool years and make more Jewish connections. For some families, synagogues are a natural next step. But this isn’t the case for everyone. We plan to reopen Camp Chai for school age children next year to meet the needs of more families. And we hope to consider other, year-round programming and partnerships as well that create more engagement opportunities. Recent data shows a surge in Jewish engagement  since October 7 and that people are looking to make renewed connections with Jewish life.

Ultimately, this work is about more than early childhood education. It is about helping families build lasting Jewish traditions, instill values that guide daily life, and feel part of something larger than themselves. It is about meeting families where they are, geographically and spiritually, and walking with them as they find their place in Jewish community.

In densely populated areas, central models may work well and there are a multitude of avenues for Jewish engagement. But in communities like ours, we must ask a different question: don’t all families deserve access to a high-quality Jewish early childhood experience?

We believe the answer is yes and we are building toward that future, one family at a time.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)