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In the heart of south Minneapolis, Pillsbury Early Education Center is uniquely tied to the neighborhood. It’s about a 10-minute walk from 

 and is surrounded by cultural richness. This powerful history is partly why Nora Murphy Johnson comes to the early education center.

“It’s helping me raise aware, compassionate, open minded kiddos,” she said.

Murphy Johnson currently has three kids enrolled at Pillsbury and said she’s happy to have them in a center rooted in the community.

“We had just gone through the George Floyd uprising as a community, and I didn’t want my child to go somewhere where they can’t understand 

When Pillsbury House opened in 1879, it started as a landing spot for new immigrants and refugees and offered child care so women staying at the house could work.

The organization’s staff say they are still committed to maintaining the long relationship with Minneapolis residents.

“Having our youngest community members be part of the whole community setting and interact with all of the other folks who come through is really part of upholding the vibrancy of what our community has to offer,” said Noël Raymond, senior director of arts and culture at Pillsbury House and Theatre.

Raymond said the curriculum for the early education center only adds to that vibrancy. In the preschool class, students not only learn their ABCs and 123s but also dance, acting and visual arts.

“We think creativity is a really critical 21st century skill,” she said. “You can’t imagine new things and make them if you don’t develop your creative imagination and your ability to express yourself creatively. So that’s a super important part of what the littlest young people get here too.”

Pillsbury House and Theatre now holds youth and adult arts classes. It also has a new creative commons for gatherings and artist support.

The preschool classroom at Pillsbury has vibrant decorations and lively students. As they talk about what happens in each month of the year with their teacher, Charlene Vazquez, the students get excited about September, because it’s when many of them will start school.

“Who’s going to kindergarten?” Vazquez asks. “We are!” the children shout back.

For 32 years Vazquez — affectionately known as “Miss Charlene” — has prepared students at Pillsbury for school and she recognizes that kids need to be ready for the world. In her classroom, each child is trained to introduce themselves including what they want to be when they grow up. They also learn American Sign Language and Spanish. It’s part of Pillsbury's and Vazquez’s philosophy that children should learn how to connect with their community in a variety of ways.

“I was riding the city bus when I first came to Minnesota, and I was hearing these nonsense teenagers talk about how they were in jail for about a day or something and they were all tough,” Vazquez said. “And I thought that is not what I want to see, the young people being proud of doing something negative. So I thought, ‘Well, I think I’m going to make a difference.’”

She estimates she’s had hundreds of students come through her classroom and she loves seeing them again when they’re older. Some former students even come back to enroll their own children in her class.

“We were walking one time at the George Floyd site, and I had my kids and then there was this one kid who was participating and holding up posters,” Vazquez said. “And I looked at him, and I said, ‘Romeo?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, it’s me, Miss Charlene’ and we embraced each other. Those things are great feelings. To walk up and see a kid that you know and that they know you as well. So it’s like a large family in this community.”

Vazquez said in those moments she can see that her students are carrying what they learned throughout their lives. Her hope is that the Pillsbury Early Education Center continues to be a space for children to learn to express themselves and be a part of their community.

“This is what I’ve been doing for a long time. So for me, it is about the children. It is about the people and the community and the children that I’ve seen and helped raise. That’s how I feel. Like I helped raise them.”

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For almost 150 years, Pillsbury House in Minneapolis has provided a safe space for children and families to learn and grow. MPR News went to its early education center to see how Pillsbury is adapting to a changing world for youngsters and their adults.

How a Minneapolis preschool nurtures a legacy of education and community building

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