Early Childhood Program

The Jewish Federation recently engaged in a two-year study of the greater Seattle area’s needs in regards to early childhood Jewish education. Led by volunteers and educators--and involving hundreds of members and teachers in the community—we developed a long-range plan to improve early childhood Jewish education in our community. This strategic study was one of the first in the nation for a Jewish community.

Our Mission and Vision

The mission of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle’s Early Childhood Program (formerly, Early Childhood Initiative) is to develop recommendations and strategies to significantly increase and have a positive impact on Jewish engagement of families with children from birth to age five in the greater Seattle Jewish community.

Five years from now, if we are successful with the Early Childhood Initiative, the following will have taken place:

• There will be an increase in the number of families in the greater Seattle Jewish community who are engaged with Jewish early childhood programs and parent education programs.
• There will be a better mechanism for both the identification and cultivation of young families.
• There will be an increase in the number of “entry points” for families with children aged birth to five to engage in Jewish programming.
• There will be ongoing teacher training increasing the number of stellar Jewish early childhood educators teaching in Seattle.
• There will be both increased and improved Judaic programming for families with children aged birth to five.

Read our full report "ECI Final Report" of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle.

To learn about next steps or ways to support this effort, please contact Amy Wasser-Simpson at 206 774-2212 or AmyWS [at] JewishInSeattle [dot] org.