SHEMA KOLAINU-HEAR OUR VOICES

Shema Kolainu is a nonsectarian, multicultural special education nonprofit serving children with autism spectrum disorder from birth through age 11. Programs are built around Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), with a mission centered on helping each child reach full potential for independence and community inclusion. It operates as a combined-level, coed school, accredited as a 501(c)(3) and recognized by the New York State Education Department.

Enrollment data shows 92.6% White, 3.7% Asian, and 3.7% Black students, with a low diversity index of 0.29 — though in a school of just 27 children serving a specific disability population, those numbers reflect the families actively seeking this program rather than a typical demographic pattern. The school's stated mission is explicitly multicultural, and families travel in from across the boroughs for the ABA programming.

The school sits on New Utrecht Avenue near the Sunset Park–Borough Park border, where the median household income is around $57,455 and roughly a quarter of households live below the poverty line. About 21% of neighborhood adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the area is characterized by busy commercial blocks and dense residential side streets. This is a working-class, immigrant-rich stretch of Brooklyn that the school itself describes as multicultural.

Getting here by subway is straightforward — Fort Hamilton Pkwy (D) is about a 2-minute walk, with 9 Av (D) about 7 minutes and 50 St (D) about 8 minutes away on the same line.