The Virtues Collective

Name: The Virtues Collective
Address: Atlanta, GA, US
Telephone: +14048226986

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The Virtues Collective

The Virtues Collective serves as a catalyst to develop and nurture peace, purposefulness, and produc

02/28/2026

Lenore Gertrude Briggs emigrated to New York City from Grenada in 1965. Her interest in the Montessori method was originally sparked as a young teacher in the Caribbean.

The mother of six children, in 1973 Briggs opened a home day care center, which grew to a preschool and then a kindergarten. Originally called Mom’s Center for Early Childhood Development, Briggs renamed the center Lefferts Gardens Montessori School after she graduated from New York University with Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Montessori Education in 1986. LGM grew quickly, serving children from all around the New York City area.

Briggs retired in 2007, at which time her son, Anthony Briggs took over as Executive Director. The same strong ideals that Dr. Maria Montessori employed to develop the Montessori Method are mirrored in the work of African American Montessori educators Edwards, Moten, Anderson, Gadpaille, Williams, Briggs, and countless other educators & families who are committed to quality Montessori education for all.
❤️🖤💚

02/20/2026

Roslyn Williams’ interest in the Montessori Method began as a parent. Dissatisfied with the education options available for her own preschool-aged children in early 1960’s Harlem, she took matters into her own hands.

Williams, along with other families, set up The Urban Child Program as a few informal, experimental Montessori classrooms. In 1967, facing the imminent closure of her daughter’s Montessori preschool, she and a group of neighborhood families founded the Central Harlem Association of Montessori Parents (CHAMP).

In this role, Williams wrote grants, headed up fundraising efforts, secured space for Montessori classrooms, and solicited the support of other Montessori educators.

She pushed for national educational reform in the areas of racial equality as well as the integration of students with special needs. Williams also worked to make sure that parents and other members of the community had the means available to become certified Montessori teachers.

02/15/2026

A former nun with degrees in biology, home economics, and theology, Mae Arlene Gadpaille used a $20,000 Ford Foundation grant in 1964 to open the Montessori Family Center in Boston’s predominantly Black Roxbury neighborhood. Boston Globe Sunday Magazine described the school as “a scrubbed oasis” in a neighborhood of vacant lots and empty buildings. In addition to providing affordable childcare for working-class Black families and a much-needed alternative to the traditional school system, Gadpaille’s vision went beyond the school walls. She was a vocal advocate for quality early learning in underserved communities and believed that a school should be a haven where all children thrive regardless of their backgrounds. ❤️🖤💚

02/11/2026

About 7% of Montessori teachers in the U.S. are Black and 8% are male. A notable example is Dr. James Anderson, a physician and instructor at Tuskegee Institute who attended one of the first Montessori teacher training courses in the US in 1947. He founded the first Montessori school for Black children in Washington, D.C. in 1950.

02/07/2026

A civil rights activist and educator, Dr. Marie Moten brought Montessori education to underserved Black communities in the South. She founded the Carver Montessori School in North Carolina—one of the first public Montessori schools in the U.S.

02/05/2026

Early on, African American educators saw Dr. Montessori’s philosophy as an alternative to segregated public schools, offering a focus on self-directed learning and valuing each child’s potential.

One of the earliest Black Montessorians in the U.S., Dr. Helen F. Edwards helped introduce Montessori education to Black communities in the 1930s & ‘40s and trained teachers when access to progressive education was extremely limited.

03/28/2025

Much gratitude to for organizing such a stimulating conversation about the role racialization plays in racism. Dr. Sheena Mason & Dr. Gail C. Christopher have developed tools that should be explored: “The Raceless Antiracist” & “Rx Racial Healing.”

03/11/2025

I am grateful for the invitation from to participate in this significant program with & Dr. Gail C. Christopher. If you are in the Washington, D.C. area, please consider registering to participate in one of the seminal discourses of our time. I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in this significant program. If you are in the Washington, D.C. area, please consider registering to participate in one of the seminal discourses of our time.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfazfUPuWO3uDYf826dCCm9fu7a5ZmYDdnEdZVvh_-jmnGLiQ/viewform

09/10/2024

Have you considered that there are people who have never seen a disagreement settled with grace and courtesy, have never seen people agree to disagree on some subjects and still work together on others, and have no experience with spending time with someone who looks and thinks differently than they do? Some of them are our students and our neighbors and our own dear children. We don’t have to go out like that. One act of of resistance is simply to sit down for dinner with some neighbors without screening them for absolute compatibility. They’re human beings and maybe that’s enough.

https://www.cg-usa.org/initiatives/love-anyway-feasts

07/15/2024

Greetings Friends: Some of the groups that I have been working with on the reduction of conflict in the public sphere are helping individuals, communities, and organizations to host thousands of Love Anyway Feasts across the U.S. November 8-17.

Several years ago Common Ground Executive Director Nealin Parker started learning in action about the power of having informal dinners of different sizes with people whose views about how the world will get better differ from hers. After sytematizing the process and extending it to close associates, friends, and family, Common Ground is now inviting Americans of all backgrounds to join them. Sound like something you and your community might like to try? There will be a short information meeting tomorrow (July 16) at noon ET & you can register, using this link: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAudOGvrDgsGdK1Wfl5S_nNZP5y3_kVlbdh #/registration

If you cannot make this meeting time and would still like to learn more, just send me a direct message and I will get you looped in!

08/20/2023

We will be in Jersey City Saturday, August 26 to facilitate a film screening and discussion about quality education for all in honor of the anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs & Freedom. The program is hosted by , is free of charge, and includes complementary childcare for those who register by 8/24. If you reside in the NYC/Northern NJ area, we hope to greet you there!

07/29/2023

We saw an amazing play this evening! With guidance from distinguished playwright Pearl Cleage, 20 young people gave voice to 50+ years of Atlanta history, our contemporary challenges, and the pride we share in our diverse city. If you live in Atlanta, you can see “Praying with Our Feet” Saturday, July 29-2:30p.

Address

Atlanta, GA

Telephone

+14048226986

Website

http://www.virtuescollective.com/

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