Plum Hill Preschool, operated by the non-profit Island Waldorf Community, remains committed to the mission of supporting the unfolding capacity of all Island children and offering affordable, quality early childhood education in a nurturing and respectful environment. As part of our school’s campaign to find a permanent home and expand our programming to reach more Island children, we applied for and were funded by MVYouth in August of 2020. Thanks to the generous support of MVYouth, we were able to complete the purchase of a property in West Tisbury, allowing us to achieve our long-term dream of securing a year-round space after operating out of seasonal rentals for many years. We were also able to make all of the necessary upgrades and improvements in order to open in September without missing a beat! MVYouth funds were also used to help our school adapt to the ever-changing landscape created by offering childcare during a pandemic: we were able to purchase all of the extra cleaning supplies, extra toys and PPE to keep our school, students and teachers safe and comfortable as we reopened in the fall. Now that we are settled into our new home and adjusted routines we are eager to move into the next phase of our project: expanding our offerings to include a toddler program, opening September 2021. We are currently conducting a nation-wide search for educators and are already fully enrolled with a growing waitlist. Additionally we plan to offer our very first Waldorf-inspired summer program, a long-time dream finally made possible now that we’ve found a permanent, year-round home. We are incredibly grateful to MVYouth for showing a commitment to early education by supporting our program and allowing us to provide more Island families with a unique and accessible childcare experience.