Our School
Morning Glory Montessori
is the first-ever, all-boys, faith-based, Afrocentric Montessori school.
Our Mission
Our mission is to be a safe, nurturing environment and empowering refuge that affirms, inspires, and supports Black boys to become who God designed them to be.
Opening in spring 2024, Morning Glory Montessori (MGM) will serve boys 3-6 years old, with plans to expand our programming to ultimately serve toddlers through 3rd grade, including girls.
Our Vision
MGM will be the first school of its kind – locally and nationally – to blend together Afrocentric culture and history, faith through the Christian ethos of liberation theology, and Montessori pedagogy. Our vision is built on the knowledge that Black boys are beautiful and brilliant, but most current educational opportunities don't allow them to fully realize their potential.
Black boys in Minnesota are dying on the streets or slow deaths in classrooms starting as early as preschool. MGM will meet a compelling need by providing families from through the Twin Cities and diverse socioeconomic backgrounds with equitable access to a high-fidelity, faith-focused, culturally-rooted, Montessori educational option. MGM’s trailblazing and problem-solving mission and vision will be a source of light, hope, and healing.
“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5).
It’s morning time for Black boys in Minnesota!
Our Core Values & Curriculum
MGM's core values and curriculum are captured in the acronym F.A.M., which stands for Faith, Afrocentric and Montessori. F.A.M. is also an endearing colloquial abbreviation for "family." With the child and family at the center within a loving, supportive F.A.M. environment, little boys will be empowered at an early age with the foundation necessary to develop into well-educated, self-respecting, joy-filled Black men who serve their families, community, and the world.
Frederick Douglass said, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” The struggle many Black men face began in preschool. Through an originally-developed curricular confluence of faith, culture, and Montessori, MGM will holistically serve the developmental needs of Black boys.
Our Story
Morning Glory Montessori has been five years in the making. During that time, we have established a strong organizational foundation integrating non-profit best practices and garnered community support from various funders and collaborative partners including MN DEED to complete necessary facility renovations. We have learned a lot, done a lot and are now poised and positioned “for such a time as this.”
One of MGM’s primary community partners is
IMPACT LIVING Ministry (ILM), a non-denominational church that is invested in MGM’s start-up and sustainability. MGM is housed within ILM in the Seward neighborhood of South Minneapolis. As collaborative partners, ILM and MGM are, together, creating an intergenerational community hub of faith, culture and education.
Our Context
Over 100 years ago, Dr. Maria Montessori developed an approach to helping children learn, develop, and grow, which proved incredibly successful with low-income children in the slums of Italy. Today there is a misperception that Montessori is only for affluent, white children – the ones who have primarily benefitted from it. MGM seeks to debunk that view, disrupt that inequitable history, and help reauthor a new story for Montessori, locally and globally, by designing a loving, nurturing environment with the developmental needs of little Black boys in mind.
Minnesota is a leader in the global Montessori equity and access movement. We are home to several other culturally-rooted Montessori schools and the
Montessori Partners Serving All Children (MPSAC) collaborative, an
Educators sans Frontiers (EsF) global initiative of Association Montessori Internationale (AMI). MGM is the first African-American-led school in the MPSAC collaborative. By providing local families with access to a high-fidelity Afrocentric, faith-based, Montessori education, MGM brings a unique leadership voice that has been missing to the national and global Montessori movement for equity and justice.