New Village Inc

New Village (formerly known as Farm Hands Preschool), an early childhood care community in Northampton, Massachusetts, strives to be a bastion of social justice and a model for other schools that seek a similar path. We believe that big change starts with small communities such as ours. We can make what seems IMPOSSIBLE within the current early education system, POSSIBLE outside of that system. We can make our own system! In which: TEACHERS are fairly compensated for their essential work; PARENTS AND CAREGIVERS can afford high quality childcare; CHILDREN are respected and valued as whole people; and FAMILIES belong to a caring community of mutual aid.

For the last eleven years, New Village has operated as a small, neighborhood school with two classrooms - one for preschoolers and one for toddlers. In the upcoming Fall of 2023, we’ve committed to opening a third classroom for infants, adding the infant care experience of several passionate educators to help support our community from birth through age 6. But we need a new school building to do that! Through community support and state and federal grants, our current classrooms are able to both pay teachers a thriving wage and subsidize the cost of care for low-income families. Our students learn about justice, community, identity, responsibility, and care through a curriculum of true play, relationship building, and land stewardship. As our mission statement says: “We grow 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. We teach love.”

Infant care is so rare and expensive that two-parent families in need of care for children under the age of one often pay up to 27% of their household income in Massachusetts, when the ideal amount according to the Department of Health and Human Services is no more than 10%, with a recent push by advocates for no more than 7%. This cost becomes even more of a burden on low-income, BIPOC, or non-traditional families (single parents, grandparents, queer families, etc.) who face systemic barriers to financial stability at every turn. Meanwhile, the average wages for an infant teacher in Massachusetts lead to an annual salary of $28,534 or $14/hour. Putting families and teachers in the position of having to worry about their finances due to the uneven financial reality of the field does not support infants or set the stage for high quality infant care. 

The impact of the financial issues surrounding infant care means that it is simply not profitable for teachers or schools to prioritize having infant classrooms. Those that do exist can then charge a premium for care, often meaning that this care is only available to those with financial privilege rather than those who are in desperate need of it. According to 2020 research conducted by the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, while there are more than 200,000 infants and toddlers in need of care in the state, there is only licensed program capacity for 53,000 of them, leaving at least 150,000 children without high quality care. 

New Village likes solving messy problems - and the problem of early childhood care and infant care fits the bill! We are busy creating sharable, scalable models that will meet the needs of the people who need it most: TEACHERS, WORKING FAMILIES, CHILDREN, and BABIES. Please donate whatever you can so we can grow our special, little school to meet the needs of our growing waitlist! Once we perfect the model, we will be set to offer it up to other interested communities. Please join our movement! We CAN do this TOGETHER!