Spring 2025
It's a big world...
WITH LOTS TO EXPLORE! We help children with special needs learn and play in preschools that celebrate their special gifts.
The Kathy Wilson Foundation Grant Program for Preschools
Winter Grant Winners!
We awarded $18,800 in November 2024 to our WINTER GRANT WINNERS. These preschools support Alexandria's youngest learners with special needs. YAY!
- Abracadabra
- Special Tuition Gift
- Fairlington Preschool
- Saint Clement
- Washington Street UMC
- Westminster
- St. Paul's
- Child & Family Network
- Emmanuel
- Valley Drive Preschool
Our First Scottish Walk Parade!
The Kathy Wilson Foundation
If you welcome Alexandria's special children...
WE WANT TO HELP YOU.
Apply for a grant that supports inclusion and special needs children at your preschool. We consider tuition assistance, therapy, equipment, training and other needs. Grants are awarded in May and November. Our donors believe every child will thrive if given early opportunities to learn and belong.
THIS IS THE KATHY WILSON FOUNDATION
Our Mission
Our Grant Program
Our Mission
The Foundation helps preschool children with special needs and their families access quality programs in the City of Alexandria, Virginia. We support preschools that welcome all families. The KWF achieves these goals by awarding micro-grants to preschools.
Our History
Our Grant Program
Our Mission
Founded in 2005, in memory of Kathy Wilson, an advocate and much loved preschool director who believed in the power of learning -- and especially that children with special needs can learn, play, make friends and feel welcome in classrooms and on playgrounds.
Our Grant Program
Our Grant Program
Our Grant Program
The Foundation awards grants in May and November to preschools that welcome children with special needs. Our micro-grants range from $200 to $5,000 and provide tuition assistance, therapy services, special equipment, teacher training or other needs.
Meet William!
The KWF helped William go to preschool with his twin brother
The Kathy Wilson Foundation helped this exuberant fellow attend a wonderful preschool this year -- and William helped us too. In 2023, the Foundation saw that too many families like Will's are struggling mightily in this tough economy.
Helping Will and his family gave us the inspiration and courage to take a step in a new direction so that our foundation could lend a hand.
The Kathy Wilson Foundation decided to conclude our screening initiative after almost 8 years of effort and return to our original "helping mission" and provide direct financial support that is meaningful to families and children with special needs.
When we learned William and his family needed help with tuition so that he could attend preschool with his twin brother, we knew the time was right to leap into action.
A thank you note from Will's mother says it best and confirms just how important it is to help open doors for our youngest learners with special needs when it looks like they might miss that opportunity. Her note, in part:
"Our son, William, who you are facilitating with an incredible preschool education, is a human who makes everyone he encounters break into a giant grin. He is loving and funny and affectionate.
WIll encountered numerous medical issues from the time he was born . . . He has numerous medical therapies per week and his time (at preschool) is where he gets to just be a kid.
We truly would not be able to afford Will's tuition without your help . . . Being able to give him the opportunity for joy that he has given us is a blessing -- thanks to you."
And thanks to our steadfast donors, the Kathy Wilson Foundation launched our Micro-Grant Program and will work closely with our preschool partners and friends in the community.
Even in a big world, our small foundation can continue to offer a helping hand so that many more preschoolers with atypical development can join in the joy of learning and play and community.
Kathy's Life and Legacy
Kathy Higdon Wilson
Kathy’s sudden passing at the age of 54 from a heart attack broke many hearts in her wide circle of family, friends, colleagues and students who loved their "Miss Kathy."
Her husband Paul immediately established the Kathy Wilson Foundation in 2005 to honor her devotion to preschool children with atypical development who sometimes are left out or pushed aside in classrooms.
Kathy earned her degrees in special education from the University of Missouri. She was the Director of the Abracadabra Child Development Center in Alexandria, Virginia for eleven years until her death.
Kathy believed that all children benefit when they learn and play together. One of her lasting legacies at Abracadabra is an outdoor play space designed around the concept of access and enjoyment by all children, regardless of ability.
Kathy was a natural advocate throughout her life. In the 1970’s, she joined the National Women’s Political Caucus, eventually serving two terms as Chairwoman of the 77,000 member organization.
As a recognized political force, Kathy was gifted with wit, brains and strength. She was honored by Washingtonian Magazine in 1985 as one of “Washington’s Most Influential” people, frequently appeared on Sunday political talk shows, and was influential in the Senate confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
Throughout her life, Kathy never wavered from a “mother-bear” commitment to the causes of children, strong women, and a fierce devotion to her much-loved daughter Casey and son Fletcher.