About MSI
Our Story
Kids want to make meaning of their lives. If we treat them like they are not capable, we won’t get very far. We have to leverage what they do have and believe that if we give them opportunity, that they will rise to the occasion.
Dr. George Richmond
Founder, MicroSociety Inc.
Rough Beginnings
MicroSociety® was first conceived by the late George H. Richmond, a painter, poet, author, and educator. Raised in poverty without a father in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, he overcame his disadvantages to graduate from Yale and eventually earn a Masters and Doctorate at Harvard. His first job at a New York City elementary school in 1967 was a rookie teacher’s nightmare. Students skipped class, scorned homework and slept through lectures. Their apathy and cynicism was surpassed only by their appetite for classroom warfare. From his frustration was born a new vision for teaching.
Establishing Roots
Richmond and his wife, Carolynn King, a Harvard trained educator with a law degree from Villanova, launched the Consortium of MicroSociety Schools, an association of like-minded educators interested in society-building as a strategy to ignite students’ desire to learn. In 1991, the two established MicroSociety Inc. (MSI), a nonprofit consulting service. They wrote the first MicroSociety Handbook and, along with a few trusted educators, wrote a library of curriculum and a three-year training sequence for teachers. By 1999, MSI became a full-service professional organization working with schools in some of the nation’s most at-risk communities and was approved by the U.S. Department of Education.
A New Society Spreads
For more than 40 years, as educational trends have come and gone, MicroSociety has endured. It has been implemented in over 500 elementary, middle, and after schools and impacted over 650,000 students in 40 states and six countries, spreading almost entirely through the grassroots enthusiasm of teachers, administrators, and parents. MicroSociety‘s longevity is a testament to its transformative power, with communities championing the model for fostering real-world skills, student agency, and purpose in learning.
The MicroSociety Model Today
Today, our work is focused on using technology to enhance and expand MicroSociety. We’re developing cutting-edge digital tools for students, including MicroSociety 2.0 and 4th Terra, to deepen engagement and bring our model into the digital age. At the same time, we’re leveraging technology to make our professional services more accessible and affordable for educators everywhere. Innovation has always been at our core. By integrating new technology with our proven model, we’re ensuring MicroSociety continues to evolve—and empower students and educators to thrive in an ever-changing world.
