Building Community, One Child at a Time: How AJU Masor School Alumna Katie Kang Created the Kehillah Early Learning Center

The entrance to Kehillah Early Learning Center looks out over the San Pedro harbor. Inside the preschool, which shares a campus with Temple Beth El, a historic Reform congregation in the South Bay, a courtyard garden grows herbs, strawberries and milkweed.

The preschool consists of two classrooms, one larger than the other. A large circular rug displays the alphabet, each letter paired with an animal whose name begins with it. A small sandpit rests on a countertop. Toddler-sized benches, tables and chairs dot the space.

Katie Kang sits in one of those tiny chairs, seeming perfectly at home.

It’s fitting. After all, this is the school she envisioned—and ultimately built.

Kang, CEO and director of Kehillah Early Learning Center, founded the independent Jewish preschool in San Pedro after realizing that the kind of early childhood program she wanted simply didn’t exist nearby. She was searching for a school that reflected both her educational philosophy—one shaped through American Jewish University’s Masor School for Jewish Education and Leadership—and the increasingly diverse realities of today’s Jewish families.

So, she decided to create it herself.

In January 2026, Kang officially opened Kehillah Early Learning Center. Just months after welcoming its first students, the school has already become home to 17 children, six staff members and a growing number of families seeking a Jewish early childhood experience that meets them where they are.

For Kang, the path to founding Kehillah began years earlier at AJU’s Masor School. A member of both the inaugural master’s and doctoral cohorts in Early Childhood Education Leadership, she credits the programs with giving her both the confidence and practical tools to become an educational entrepreneur.

“I attribute that to my master’s at the AJU Masor School,” Kang said of her decision to start the preschool. She also credits the unwavering support of her husband, Matt, and their two children, Sophia and Mason, for helping make the dream a reality.

Before opening Kehillah, Kang built a career in Jewish early childhood education, including serving at Tuvia School at Temple Menorah and later with Momentum’s Early Head Start program. Each experience reinforced her belief that Jewish early childhood education could better reflect the increasingly diverse families entering its doors.

Many of Kehillah’s families are multicultural, including a significant number of Asian-Jewish households. Because the school is independent, families are not required to belong to a synagogue, and many don’t. Rather than describing those families as “unaffiliated,” Kang prefers the term “unanchored,” a concept she developed while working with AJU professor Dr. Ron Wolfson on her doctoral dissertation.

“They’re looking for a place to belong,” she said. “Our job is to help build Jewish identity while creating meaningful community.”

Wolfson’s mentorship helped shape Kang’s thinking about Jewish community-building and leadership. Those lessons continue to influence how she leads Kehillah today, where she embraces what she calls “audacious hospitality”—creating an environment where every family feels welcomed, regardless of background or prior Jewish involvement.

That philosophy inspired the school’s name. Kehillah, the Hebrew word for “community,” serves as both its identity and mission.

“We’re all about community,” Kang said.

The school’s approach blends Jewish values with the internationally respected Reggio Emilia educational philosophy, which emphasizes child-led exploration, creativity and collaborative learning. Children, ranging from 18 months to 5 years old, spend their days asking questions, investigating their surroundings and learning through hands-on experiences.

The neighborhood itself has become an extension of the classroom. Located adjacent to San Pedro’s historic Weymouth Corners, the center takes regular walking excursions to nearby businesses, including a flower shop, bakery and post office. Sometimes, the children are surprised with a cookie from the bakery, though Kang reminds them never to expect one.

“It’s a living classroom,” she said, describing how everyday interactions in the neighborhood reinforce the school’s emphasis on community.

That commitment extends beyond the children. Kehillah partners with Temple Beth El, an arrangement Kang describes not as a tenant-landlord relationship but as a shared mission. The synagogue’s religious school regularly uses the preschool classrooms, while Kehillah has access to synagogue facilities—including its kitchen for challah baking and other activities.

“We look at it as a partnership,” she said.

Even the school’s creation reflected those communal values. Determined to build a financially sustainable program without sacrificing quality, Kang and her family furnished much of the center through neighborhood “Buy Nothing” groups and local secondhand stores.

Kehillah also operates under an unconventional business model. The preschool is organized as a for-profit company, while a companion nonprofit accepts donations and reinvests those funds into the school’s mission. Kang hopes the approach will provide both long-term sustainability and greater opportunities to expand access over time.

As Kehillah continues to grow, Kang hopes it can serve as a model for what Jewish early childhood education can become: immersive, deeply welcoming, and responsive to the evolving needs of Jewish families.