We are a private school and enrichment program for youth ages 5-18, founded by the non-profit, Autonomy First, an organization committed to promoting autonomy and self governance in our community.

At Meraki, young people learn through following their interests and passions, free play, interacting and managing conflict in community, navigating relationships, self-chosen activities and deep dives, consensus decision-making, and more.

We believe in self-directed, community rooted, consent-based education. All of our activities and offerings are opt-in, except for a few key community practices which are required, such as General Assembly (our decision-making meeting), and our clean-up time to take care of our space.

School is a place to learn, live, prepare for the rest of your life, and support you in your life RIGHT now! Our current culture is deeply informed by how we structure and organize our communities and educational opportunities for youth — essentially laying the groundwork for our future culture. If we want to see a change in the world it will start with transforming the experiences of youth.

As a school we acknowledge how little we know about the future world and how to prepare youth for it.

We believe the best educational path at this moment is for each person to be given the time to explore, understand who they are, and learn and practice skills to live in community.

Our vision is a school that supports the lived experiences of freedom, responsibility for your choices, and practicing the skills of direct democracy with people of all ages.

We believe that these are the real skills that youth and our community need to build a liberated future for everyone.  

Our model is inspired by lived experience with Indigenous values, unschooling, and the Sudbury, Agile Learning Center, Liberated Learners Center, and Self-Directed Education school/center models.