It’s time for Page Two: News that might not make the front page for Tuesday April 14, 2026.
Childcare is hard to find in Mat-Su. The program at the Mat-Su Jewish Center is focused on that and something more: the quality of the program for children.
Chaya Greenberg and the Mat-Su Jewish Center started the Mat-Su Jewish Preschool, Gan Yeladim in 2019. “Gan” is the Hebrew word for garden. This is a common name for Jewish preschools. Gardens are where things grow.
Greenberg worked in early childhood education for 17 years. She was disappointed by what she found when she had her first child. Childcare looked to her like “fast food rather than thoughtful learning.” She decided to build something different.
She opened Gan Yeladim in the basement of the Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish Center near Palmer. It is state-licensed. It has space for 12 children, including four spaces in the new infant learning room.
Learning follows the child at Gan Yeladim. The Reggio approach inspires the program. Children learn through exploration and have “a hundred languages.”
Greenberg’s goal is more than creating a program. She wants to shift how the Mat-Su does early education. She says, “Early childhood care and learning are the baseline for community wellness.”
Greenberg believes children are naturally wired for kindness. Every behavior is communication, and every moment is a chance to learn. Staff respond with empathy, helping children learn to do the same.
This work is not “fast food.” It takes time.
Gan Yeladim has a ratio of one adult for every four children, compared to about one to ten in many centers. Children are grouped by development, not just age. Teachers—called Morah—stay with the same group for up to three years. This consistency builds trust.
Greenberg says she is the luckiest employer in the world. Her staff models treating everyone with kindness.
Greenberg has four full-time teachers and one part-time teacher. The average turnover rate is 8%. That’s far below the 45% turnover in the Mat-Su according to a state childcare report.
Staffing is one part of the challenge in the Mat-Su. There are only 45 licensed childcare providers in the Valley according to the Alaska Child Care Program Office. Eight are group centers. Gan Yeladim is one of them. It’s already full for next year.
Greenberg keeps the program accessible. Families don’t have to be part of the Jewish Center to attend. In fact, more than half aren’t. About 15 percent of her students receive state childcare assistance, and scholarships are available.
Greenberg describes childcare as a catch-22 for many families. Parents want quality preschool. But when they can’t find or afford quality care, they are forced to accept lesser quality or stop working and limit their income.
That’s one reason she created the preschool as a nonprofit: to offer high-quality care without that tradeoff.
Greenberg stresses that in Judaism “children are our most important investment.”
That investment starts the moment families arrive. The pathway into the preschool passes a children’s garden where students grow vegetables and flowers. The playground doubles as a classroom. At Gan Yeladim children spend much of their day outdoors, rain or shine. They learn through play and exploration.
Greenberg has a vision. The Jewish Center is designing a new 15,000-square-foot community space called the ARK Center. ARK is short for Acts of Routine Kindness. They hope to open it in five years.
The ARK Center will include classrooms, an indoor playground, a giving kitchen, and a café.
Greenberg says the lack of quality childcare is more than a family problem. It’s a systems problem. Families value early childhood education. Can the Mat-Su align its resources with that value?
She says it starts with participation because “in order to be part of a community, you have to be a giver and participate.”
That work is underway at Gan Yeladim, the Mat-Su Jewish Preschool.
Those interested in more information can contact Chaya Greenberg at chaya@matsujewishcenter.org.
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This Page Two article was reported by Emily Forstner and produced by yours truly, Lee Henrikson. If you have an idea for a Page 2 topic, please email us at page2@radiofreepalmer.org.
That’s it for today and the news on Page Two on Tuesday April 14, 2026.
Photo credit: Emily Forstner
