MathTalk ★

MathTalk is a Cambridge organization that creates ways for young children and their families, particularly in economically distressed communities, to discover and enjoy math anywhere. It is built on research showing that when parents and young children explore and talk about math together, kids come to see themselves as capable math learners. Because so many adults carry math anxiety, MathTalk gives families easy ways to fit playful math into everyday routines and notice math in the world around them.

The team includes parents, teachers, researchers, children’s media producers, designers, artists, game developers and entrepreneurs who turn stories, public art and augmented reality into math activities. Community installations bring AR experiences to indoor and outdoor spaces, gamifying early math concepts and sparking conversations beyond the screen. Founder and CEO Omowale Moses is the son of civil rights leader Bob Moses, founder of the Algebra Project, and has taught math since his teens.

What to Know

• The Young People’s Project, a math literacy nonprofit, grew out of Omowale Moses’s Algebra Project work in Jackson, Mississippi.
• MathTalk has worked with youth librarians and The Curious George Store.
• It helps communities transform local spaces to support a culture of early math learning.
• MathTalk is listed by the Sustainable Business Network of Massachusetts.