Our Four Pillars

Gifts to this fund will help us equip parents to maximize brain development within their children before they reach our schools, thereby giving them the best hope for success in life.

Research demonstrates that up to 85% of the brain is developed during the first three years of life. Unfortunately, research also shows that children growing up in poverty lack enough simple interactions to maximize that development and set them up for success in school.

Parents in these communities often haven’t been exposed to the research or taught to connect with their babies in the most meaningful ways. The solution here is simple. It just takes a little investment to give children the foundation they need to make learning easier.

The Making Hope Happen Foundation supports the Infant-Toddler Success program to ensure parents know and are equipped to help their children learn so they will be better able to succeed when they enter school. Initial investments from the San Bernardino City Unified School District helped to launch the program which is now offered in partnership with The Community Foundation of San Bernardino & Riverside Counties and California State University San Bernardino’s Institute for Child Development.

The program focuses on parenting approaches to advance a child’s cognitive and social skill development. Each class provides child care, a light meal, and a gift of a book to take home to read aloud to children. Subsequently, to help assure school readiness, parents are called back three times a year until the child enters kindergarten.