Founded in 2003 as Explorations in Math, Zeno was created by Akin (nee, Norman) Alston and a group of parents at Wilder Elementary School in Woodinville, Washington. Akin, a mathematician and engineer, had a deep understanding of the power of math and the importance of building a child's confidence in math early through play. He believes math is an equalizer for children in disadvantaged communities.

Prior to our early learning work, Zeno served families across racial and socio-economic groups, with a tiered partnership cost model providing reduced costs to schools primarily serving low-income children and families. Our staff had been primarily white women for most of the organization’s history, leading to a strong focus on economic inequity and general lack of analysis of the impact of systemic racism on the experiences of children and families of color navigating the education system. Shortly before our shift into early learning, the organization began doing more internal work to bring a racial equity lens to not only our constituent focus but the composition of our staff.

Over time the racial makeup of Zeno’s staff and a recognition that systemic racism limits opportunities for success for children of color throughout their academic experience has strengthened our resolve to effect change. This organizational transformation led us to update our mission and programs to focus on the role of race, place, language, and culture on a child’s early math experience, recentering Zeno on Akin’s founding vision of math as an equalizer.

Our Family MathWays program began in 2014 when our board and staff recognized that children participating in our elementary math programs were entering kindergarten with very different levels of math skills and confidence. We developed our Family MathWays program as a small pilot, reaching 250 families in Seattle in 2015-16, and the program grew to reach 500 families in our next program year (2016-17). By 2017-2018 our program had expanded to reach over 1,500 families across King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties. Our organization also determined at this time that the Family MathWays program, with an intentional focus on families of color in low-income communities, would be our core work going forward. With this shift, we were able to continue growing year over year. From September 2018 – August 2019, we reached 2,200 families monthly through 35 preschool classrooms, 5 ParentChild+ (home visiting) programs, and 30 FCC (in-home childcare) centers, with an additional 1,110 families receiving games on a less frequent basis and attending one-time community events.

As a part of our goal to expand across the state we conducted a pilot in Pasco to explore our ability to serve home-based childcare environments, and test our ability to reach families outside of the Puget Sound region.