READ ON Arizona is a state-wide movement whose mission is to create an effective continuum of services to improve language and literacy outcomes for Arizona’s children from birth through age eight over the next ten years, including helping to create an early literacy system that delivers the right program at the right time for every child.  Over…Continued

August 8, 2013 Local non-profit gets in on the “Secret” A Stepping Stone Foundation featured on Aug. 11 episode of ABC’s Secret Millionaire PHOENIX, ARIZ. – When A Stepping Stone Foundation Executive Director Cynthia Gattorna received a mysterious e-mail from a ‘documentary producer’ interested in her Phoenix grassroots non-profit, she admits that she almost instinctively hit…Continued

We very much hope you all were able to catch Sunday’s Secret Millionaire episode (8/11/13).  Mr. Jay, of course, made good on his word and donated $50,000 to A Stepping Stone Foundation a few short weeks after taping the episode was complete.  Many of the extra wonderful things that Mr. Jay did for/with us included an SUV…Continued

Please check out why early childhood development is important to YOU! Click on Early Childhood is every one’s business.

I had a lovely visit this summer from one of our former families.   The father is in the process of getting his immigration status revised and was very grateful to receive a letter from A Stepping Stone supporting the fact that both his children had been in our program as preschoolers with Mrs. Fran at the Westwood…Continued

It’s 110° outside in Phoenix today.  One of the things I do during the hot summer in Phoenix is online research–A Stepping Stone programs are at a quiet time and I can do this indoors!  When I entered “child-centered family literacy” in my search engine, one of the first hits today was a Canadian site, which you can find…Continued

Check this paper out delivered by East Coast Economist, James J. Heckman from the Department of Economics at The University of Chicago.  Although we know the current hype centers around President Obama’s  focus – it does not lessen the importance of the message. Read Now

Of course early childhood development is in the new…whether you wish to fund publicly or privately or all of the above, high quality programs are a great investment for any community.  See: Why Early Childhood?

Dear Readers, Please check out this new website and the video on its home page (scroll down a bit to find it).  Yet another clarion call for action to provide high quality resources for our youngest–which A Stepping Stone has been doing for the past 22 years!  Please watch, and let me know what you…Continued

I recently received a link to a new TED talk by PhD Economist, Dr. Timothy Bartik.  Thanks to former  Board President Judge Maurice Portley for sending the link to me. I had not yet seen this particular and powerful  argument for funding programs like ours.  Please click on the following link to watch this 16 minute…Continued