Continue the Marion Kingsbury Legacy

In 1938 Marion Kingsbury and Eleanor Klein founded what became The Kingsbury Center to provide tutoring and diagnostic services to children and adults with learning challenges. Although they began their work at a time when learning disabilities were generally unknown and almost always overlooked, their partnership blossomed into a nationally recognized nonprofit that launched two schools, a master tutoring training program, and an outpatient clinic. Marion Kingsbury’s legacy is that thousands of children and adults have achieved the gift of reading and education who would otherwise have been left behind.

In recent years Kingsbury’s day school has encountered severe financial challenges and declining enrollment, and in March the Board of Trustees voted to bring center-wide operations to a close at the end of the school year. We are deeply saddened by the loss of this incredible institution that has helped so many. Kingsbury’s absence will leave a crater in the community of families who continue to struggle with learning challenges in the midst of a daunting educational landscape.

The Marion Kingsbury legacy must continue, and I am excited to announce that there is a part of this organization that will go on as an independent non-profit. The Kingsbury Wellness & Learning Group launched in January of 2018 as a division of The Kingsbury Center to provide diagnostic, therapeutic, and tutoring services to families in the community. We had a strong first year as a department, bringing in over $200,000 of additional revenue to the Center with only $20,000 of initial expenses. This was achieved while maintaining our responsibilities in the day school, and I expect that we will double our growth this coming year as we devote our efforts full-time to the mission. Given that Kingsbury began as a tutoring and diagnostic center, I believe it is fitting that the Wellness & Learning Group will continue those core services into the future.

My team and I are working tirelessly to prepare for a July 1st launch of The Kingsbury Wellness & Learning Group as an independent non-profit. We continue to develop crucial business partners, update our business plan, and collaborate with the Kingsbury Board of Trustees to ensure a smooth transition for our clientele. The community has responded enthusiastically to our plans, and I am confident we will soon be carving a new path as an organization serving families with learning and social-emotional challenges.

Although we have made considerable progress, we still need help getting off the ground. We need to raise $50,000 to reach our point of sustainability, and we need at least $25,000 to meet our startup expenses. We are fortunate that Kingsbury has developed a strong community of friends and benefactors that have supported our mission through the years, and we are making private overtures to some of them to prepare for our launch.

YOU CAN HELP! We have created this GoFundMe campaign for you, our friends and family. We are barrelling toward our launch date, and every gift counts. No amount is too large or too small, and it goes to an organization serving families with learning and behavior challenges. We are also accepting checks through our attorney, Brad Johnson, if that is your preferred method. Please make your check out to “Johnson Law Group Trust Account,” include in the memo that the check is for the “WLG Fund,” and mail to:

JOHNSON LAW GROUP
1321 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20003

If you are considering a gift and would like to review our business plan, you can email me at [email redacted], and I’d be happy to share it and tell you about how we will continue to serve the Kingsbury community. The Wellness & Learning Group is the very spirit of what Kingsbury has always been, and this is our chance to keep it alive. I hope you will join us.

Sincerely,

Elliott L. Conklin, Psy.D.
Executive Director