Photo by Ana Good.
PreSchool Partners
Molly Silverstein (left) and Allene Neighbors (right) play with students on the playground of the newly finished PreSchool Partners building. Neighbors announced her retirement as the organization’s director of development in December 2015. Silverstein will fill that role beginning this month.
Less than a year after moving into its new permanent home, and fresh off the heels of celebrating its 20th anniversary, PreSchool Partners has a new leader close to its helm. Mountain Brook resident Molly Silverstein will this month formally begin her new role as the organization’s director of development.
A 2010 summa cum laude graduate of the University of Alabama with a bachelor’s in communication studies, Silverstein will fill the shoes of PreSchool Partners’ first and only director of development, Allene Neighbors. In a December interview with Village Living, Neighbors announced her “early retirement,” as she describes it, to be with her children.
“I can’t have that time back,” said Neighbors in explaining her want to see her children, currently 4 and 2 years old, grow up.
Neighbors, who had been with PreSchool Partners for more than four years, said the decision to leave began to weigh on her heart heavily in August 2015. It was then, said Neighbors, that after more than 20 years of equipping families of at-risk preschool children with the necessary skills to achieve school readiness in rented and borrowed space, PreSchool Partners moved into its permanent home on Montevallo Road. Once the move was complete, said Neighbors, a transition out of the job seemed natural; it seemed like the perfect opportunity for fresh starts.
“I didn’t want to leave anything hanging,” she said, “so I began looking for my replacement and planned to train them before I left.”
Shortly after the search began, Silverstein’s resume came across her desk, said Neighbors. Instantly, Neighbors said she was attracted to, among other things, Silverstein’s “deep understanding” of the organization. As a lifelong resident of Mountain Brook and as a member of St. Luke’s where PreSchool Partners would eventually grow out of, Silverstein and her family had long been involved in supporting the organization.
“I’m looking forward to really getting to know the kids and teachers,” said Silverstein.
Most recently, Silverstein worked as the manager of operations of ArtPlay and Institute for Arts & Medicine at the UAB Alys Stephens Center. Right after graduating from UA, Silverstein joined Teach for America where she taught 11th grade U.S. history at a charter alternative high school in Texas for two years. After growing through the ranks at Teach for America, where she managed the Southeast regional office, Silverstein moved back to Birmingham and began working for the Alys Stephens Center as a programming assistant in 2014. By 2015, Silverstein said she longed for the right opportunity to move back into an education-focused environment.
“I love to be in the classroom,” she said.
At PreSchool Partners, which Neighbors described as a “relatively small” organization staff-wise, Silverstein will be expected to wear a lot of hats. She, like Neighbors before her, will work with the Advisory, Executive and Junior boards to build and strengthen donor relations through fundraisers and media relations. Silverstein will have to be creative, said Neighbors, build relationships in the community, remain extremely organized and master the art of multitasking.
Silverstein said that thanks to the brand-new building, as well as the foundation Neighbors has set, it won’t be too difficult to convince others of the important role PreSchool partners plays in the community.
“Allene has set the bar really high,” said Silverstein. “I’ll be taking what she’s done and basically just streamlining a couple of things. Together, we’ve found few things that need to be changed and others that really only need to be enhanced.”
Since her training began, Silverstein said she learned from Neighbors each day and was thankful for the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of her new role. Among her own plans for the organization, Silverstein is looking forward to developing a new fundraiser scheduled to begin in October. Though the plans remain mostly under wraps for now, Silverstein and Neighbors agreed that it will be one the entire community will look forward to.
As far as her own outlook for the new year, Neighbors said she’s sure she will at times miss the structure of a work environment.
“I’ve never stayed home with my kids,” said Neighbors. “I’ve always been a working mom and haven’t given my kids, my husband, my undivided attention. Being a full-time mom could be my greatest calling. We’ll just have to see.”
If there’s one thing Neighbors is certain of, its Silverstein’s potential.
“PreSchool Partners is in good hands with Molly,” said Neighbors.
