Sow Well Tots Raises a Well-Rounded Community
Sow Well Tots is based in Franklin County.
Economic security is one of the Women’s Fund strategic pillars for advancing gender and racial equity in our region. To us, that means engaging with organizations and individuals to decrease the pay gap or reduce barriers to economic growth for all marginalized groups and reduce poverty in Western Massachusetts.
We are proud of the committee members who participated in this year’s trust-based philanthropy process to award funds for the crucial healing and recovery work throughout the four counties of Western Massachusetts.
How is your organization making a difference for women and girls in Western Massachusetts?
Sow Well Tot’s work as a school supports the economic security of women and families through need-based scholarships, disrupting oppressive forces that threaten equal opportunity.
Since our founding in 2010, the Sow Well Tots Inclusion Scholarship Fund has been available to those in need (families of color, single-parent and low-income households), the children who are often overlooked and not provided with high-quality care. The Sow Well Tots Inclusion Scholarship Fund is the only way that 50% of our children are able to participate in our program. Over 50% of our children identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color, and we’re striving to keep it this way, even though we are facing new challenges due to COVID-19.
The pandemic has forced many early childhood programs to close, increasing the strain on households. Despite the adaptations these conditions have required, we remain open and steadfast in our mission. We plan to be here to provide essential services to our community for years to come. In fact, we have harnessed the lessons of the pandemic to strategize our future expansion– broadening our mission for transformative education to include delivering training and mentoring for Educators of Color, developing the campus for enhanced outdoor learning and play, and expanding our donor base to help fortify our scholarship fund and our impact.
How is your organization working toward meeting the goals of our parity in positions of power and leadership pillar?
Sow Well Tots Early Childhood program is a Black Woman-led organization based on the research and practice of its founder, Bessie Jones. Bessie is a scholar and practitioner specializing in Nature-based education, infant and early childhood development, post-partum care for birthing people, African Spirituality, and Afro-folk Diasporic artistic traditions.
At Sow Well Tots, we are on a mission to make nature-based early childhood education accessible to children from all backgrounds while providing an environment where the cultural wholeness of children is seen and embraced. SWT is a model school, poised to continue to grow into a learning center that will fill a critical void in training and mentoring educators of Color in the predominantly White nature-based and education fields. In addition to growing an on-site workshop and training program, Bessie also speaks and presents regularly at events and conferences for educators.
What solutions does your organization advance for gender and racial equity?
The most essential, and innate quality Sow Well Tots brings to the world is a sovereign educational space that refuses to align with or arrange itself according to the priorities of White Supremacy. It is a unique school, led by a Black Woman Educator who is dedicated to protecting, nurturing, and advocating for the needs of children and families. We are cultivating solutions for the systemic societal and planetary challenges we face, and we are leading by example.
Our program is dedicated to “sowing the seeds for well beings” through holistic education, Black land stewardship, farm-to-table foods, and a curriculum that centers an Afro-folk perspective honoring the contributions, traditions, and ancestral teachings from the African Diaspora. Black-led learning environments are extremely rare, and essential for children who would not see themselves reflected in most school spaces in our region, or ever learn from an Educator of Color. Sow Well Tots centers BIPOC voices and racial equity and is dedicated to social justice on all levels of our teaching and organizational work.
It is our hope that the Nature-based movement will grow to become more accessible and available for more Families of Color and that more Educators of Color will see an invitation and a pathway to be a part of this holistic and inclusive educational model.
Can you share any stories of success?
We are honored and blessed to witness the success of our program every day through the joy and growth of children in our school. “Sowing the seeds of well beings” is more than a slogan. Year after year, we have seen children in our school community flourish as they experience deep connections to nature.
From birth to age 8 children at Sow Well Tots grow to form strong senses of curiosity, imagination, and selfhood, rooted in the reverence and respect given for their self-initiated development through the stages of early childhood. We have supported families through all the twists and turns of life, providing consistent, high-quality care and scholarship aid to ensure that, even during the height of the pandemic, no one was denied care due to a lack of funds. This dedication to providing the highest quality experience is rooted in love for the work and for the people we serve. We count every day we are here and able to fulfill our mission as a success!
Do you have volunteer opportunities that you want to share with the friends of the Fund?
Sow Well Tots is working on two big capital projects that involve overall site design and the development of our hard infrastructure. We are seeking to partner with a landscape designer who is familiar with Regenerative Design and a design/build firm or interested in helping us move closer to constructing a new workshop/classroom space on our campus.
Including donations, what can our audience do now to help your organization’s mission?
Donations will always be put to use right away to fortify our scholarship fund, which is always in demand. Additional funds will help us take concrete steps toward our whole-site redesign plan and additional classroom space.
Aside from donations, we always welcome referrals to families, especially Families of Color who may not know that we exist and can provide tuition assistance. We attempt to make the enrollment process very simple to navigate, so spread the word! Lastly, please follow our journey on social media as we continue to grow our mission.
