The Community-First Secret Behind Recess, the Platform Parents Were Waiting For

Molly More and Amy Kiska of Recess

For decades, parents have been stuck cobbling together after-school care with spreadsheets, sticky notes, and late-night Google searches. 

Sound familiar? Did you also feel that chill run up your spine?

The result of so much arduous, piecemeal efforts? It causes stress for families and missed opportunities for the local small businesses (camps, studios, coaches) that bring neighborhoods to life.

If recess was your favorite part of the day, wait until you learn about this version by the same name. 

Co-founded by Molly Morse and Amy Kiska, Recess doesn’t “just” help parents find and book after-school programs. 

Recess is designed to rebuild community connections — those between parents who need trusted options, between kids who thrive in safe and enriching spaces, and between local providers who want to serve more families. 

Recess isn’t just fixing logistics. It’s helping families feel anchored to their community again.

The Community Gap That Sparked an Idea

Like many working parents, Morse and Kiska hit the same wall.  Where can one find trustworthy after-school programs without spending hours digging? 

Existing solutions were fragmented directories, outdated websites, and paper sign-ups. Beneath the scheduling headache, they spotted something deeper. Families were missing out on the chance to engage with the best of their own neighborhoods.

Small businesses like camps couldn’t reach the kids who would love them. Parents couldn’t discover programs right around the corner. Kids missed the chance to bond with peers outside of school. Recess was built as a local marketplace to fill that gap — all while strengthening the bonds of community. 

Sure, parents love the convenience of booking a Tuesday karate class with a few clicks. Convenience is just the start. What keeps them coming back is trust and connection. Families want to know:

• Is this program safe?

• Do other families recommend it?

• Will my child feel a sense of belonging there?

By centralizing trusted, vetted programs in one place, Recess turns what used to be guesswork into a community-backed discovery process. Instead of feeling isolated in their search, parents become part of a local ecosystem that celebrates and shares the best opportunities for kids.

How Recess Builds Community

1) Strengthening Parent Networks

Parents have always swapped tips — at school drop-off, on the sidelines, in group texts, and in local Facebook parent groups. 

Recess formalizes that network by curating and organizing what families are already seeking: real recommendations, safe programs, and local variety. The platform becomes an extension of the word-of-mouth trust parents rely on.

2) Empowering Local Providers
Neighborhood gyms, art studios, and camps often operate on razor-thin margins. Recess gives them a stronger presence in the community, helping them fill classes and reach families who otherwise might not know they exist. Providers don’t just get bookings; they get sustainable growth powered by local demand.

3) Creating Opportunities for Kids to Connect
When families can easily find programs, kids benefit from exposure to new peers, new mentors, and new skills. Whether it’s soccer, robotics, or theater, Recess helps kids find their “thing” — and find friends outside of school.

4) Building Local Loops
The more families use Recess, the more providers thrive. The more providers thrive, the richer the community offerings become. That virtuous cycle strengthens the bonds between families and the small businesses that shape neighborhood culture.

The Founders’ Human-Centered Approach

Morse and Kiska’s own lives as working mothers deeply inform every aspect of their business. Kiska even helped push the company forward during her third trimester, later closing funding just after giving birth. That lived experience means every product decision centers the real needs of parents: less stress, more trust, deeper community.

And because both founders have backgrounds in building marketplaces, they understand how to balance the supply side (providers) and demand side (parents) in a way that creates genuine win-wins, not just transactions.

Community-First in Practice: The Austin Launch

Rather than trying to scale everywhere at once, Recess is launching city by city, starting in Austin. Why? Because community isn’t generic — it’s local. By going deep in one market, they can truly connect families with the programs that make Austin unique, from local soccer leagues to neighborhood art studios.

This market-by-market strategy proves that Recess isn’t aiming to be a faceless aggregator. It’s aiming to be a trusted neighborhood companion—with expansion carefully designed to preserve that local texture.

More Than a Marketplace: A Community Engine

Some startups talk about disruption. Recess talks about connection. Their goal is not to bulldoze existing systems but to weave them together in a way that works better for everyone:

• Parents save time and reduce stress.

• Kids find joy and belonging (and the accompanying magic of a childhood with both of those things) 

• Local providers get stronger, more sustainable businesses.

At its core, Recess is about creating a community engine that strengthens the social and economic fabric of every neighborhood it touches.

The Future of After-School Belongs to Communities

With $1.75M in pre-seed funding and early traction, Recess has the resources to grow, but growth won’t mean losing sight of their north star. The company is clear: they’re building for families, not just users. They’re building for providers, not just supply. And they’re building for community, not just convenience.

In a world where parents often feel isolated and overwhelmed, Recess offers something bigger than an app. 

It offers a way back to the village. It rebuilds the connective tissue between trusted people, places, and programs that help raise our kids and strengthen our neighborhoods.

We <3 Recess 

When Molly Morse and Amy Kiska set out to make after-school planning easier, they didn’t just build a booking tool. They built a way for families to reconnect with their communities.

By helping parents discover trusted local programs, empowering providers to grow, and giving kids safe, joyful spaces to explore, Recess is proving that technology can do more than streamline logistics. It can bring people closer together, IRL. 

At Carter House Copy, we love working with parent founders and community builders like Molly and Amy at Recess—because their vision is exactly what inspires us. 

Supporting leaders like them means we get to be part of something bigger: helping parents thrive, strengthening communities, and shaping a future where family life feels a little less overwhelming and a lot more joyful!