Louisville, Ky--Twice a week you'll find kids of all ages at Mizizi Homeschool Co-op in downtown Louisville.

Stepping inside feels like its own little village, tiny hands finger paint as older students learn about great American figures like Benjamin Banneker or Madame C.J. Walker.

The co-op which started last summer was created with the intention of offering support for African American homeschooling parents and their children.

"The experience alone of being an African American in our community and aspiring toward greatness not settling for what is told to us that can be an isolating experience in itself but then the importance of connecting to others who really want to aspire to another level," Kristen Williams said. 

Kristen Williams is the executive director of Play Cousins Collective which partnered with Bridge Kids International to form Young Adult Mothers of African American heritage.

From there weekly meetings led to the birth of the Mizizi Homeschool Co-op.

Mizizi means roots in Swahili and speaks directly to the mission at hand.

"It's important for us to teach our children that they have complete control over their lives and the only way we see that to be possible is to center them and center their experience in the world so when they turn on the television they don't see characters that look like them most of the time and if they do there may be images that are damaging to their psyche," Williams said. 

Teachers at Mizizi Homeschool Co-op want students to know anything is possible.

Far beyond being a performer or athlete or for that matter any stereotype that might see played out in mainstream society.

It's a message that is inspiring to the students.

"We have people of the week so it's just like black entrepreneurs or like black people who achieved something and that really touched my heart because it makes me feel like I can achieve something if i just put my heart into it," Binah Wells said. 

And while the co-op is currently only African American it welcomes any family that homeschools and has an interest in African American history.

"We drew in from our community that’s what we got African American students and it's not a color only space it's more of making sure our students know who they are, where they come from, and where they can go," Azure Willaims said. 

The space used for co-op is donated by the Black Community Development Corporation