Chava Center

Congregation BJBE's Early Childhood Program

Our Chava Center provides a safe, nurturing, and stimulating environment, thoughtfully designed to facilitate the social, emotional, physical, intellectual, and Judaic growth and development of our youngest learners. With a professional staff of lifelong learners who structure play-based learning opportunities based on research and best practices in early childhood education, we believe in a partnership with individual families, creating personalized experiences to best meet the unique needs of every child. At each age level, we offer options for attendance. Children can extend their experience by enrolling in early bird or lunch bunch programs. Additional on-site enrichment and extended day opportunities continue to deepen children’s explorations. Summer camp programs and tot-adult classes round out our programming options.

Inclusion at the Chava Center

BJBE Early Childhood Program at the Chava Center values each child, working with families, therapists, and local school districts to meet the needs of individual learners. The experiences in a Jewish preschool are a wonderful time to begin to share the Jewish rituals and create memorable experiences for young children. With a Support Specialist on staff to provide real time guidance to our professional educators, our program is committed to making Jewish early childhood education accessible to all families. Inclusive classes offer benefits to all children learning together. Children with disabilities experience positive peer modeling from their typically developing peers. Equally important, typically developing children gain an understanding and acceptance of differences among people.

One example of this inclusion is our collaboration with Keshet, an agency that works to integrate individuals with disabilities into their communities. One of the core beliefs of Keshet is to ensure that individuals with disabilities enjoy life along-side typically developing peers, in settings that enable their efforts and reward the community for their acceptance. This exciting partnership enabled a young girl with Down syndrome to attend preschool, with the support of staff from Keshet, in the Jewish environment her parents chose for her.

JUF Right Start

JUF Right Start, the first program of its kind, was created to increase awareness and access to Jewish early childhood programs for Chicago-area families. JUF Right Start provides a financial voucher for families enrolling their children during the academic year in a Jewish infant, toddler or preschool program for the first time.