Giving Rye is a new occasional feature highlighting non-profits and community groups in and around the City of Rye. Today meet Lisa Field of 5 Steps to Five.
Your Name: Lisa Field
Organization: 5 Steps to Five
Your role: Executive Director
MyRye.com: Tell us your organization’s mission.
Field: At 5 Steps to Five, we believe a parent is a child’s first and most important teacher. Our mission is to be a trusted resource for parents seeking to give their child the best possible start to school and to life.
How long have you operated in Rye?
Field: We serve the Spanish-speaking immigrant community in Port Chester. Our program is based at All Souls Community Center across from Lyon Park, thanks to a partnership with Rye Presbyterian Church. 5 Steps to Five was founded by Mary Alice and Kent Warner and Allen Clark, and first opened its doors in 2015.
What programming or work in Rye is the organization best known for?
Field: Did you know that 80% of the brain develops in the first three years of life!? It’s an absolutely critical time, and our program is designed to help parents in their efforts to give their child the best possible start to life. In our parent-child classes, bilingual teachers model simple and fun ways to nurture cognitive, verbal, emotional, and social skills. In addition to our weekly Saturday morning sessions, we also offer early literacy support, virtual parent groups, weekday workshops, and special events with community partners. For many of our immigrant clients, we offer a home away from home.
- Every Saturday morning, our classrooms are abuzz with parents and children attending our sessions. Each 90-minute class includes tips on brain development, reading, singing, dancing, and an arts project.
- Reading is a key component of our program. Every month, our families receive carefully chosen, bilingual, age-appropriate children’s books to build their own little libraries at home – something that many of our clients never had growing up.
- Parents have the opportunity to connect with each other and their teachers via chat groups – another way to allow teachers to reinforce lessons, as well as share information on community events.
- Data have shown that kids graduating from our program enter pre-school more curious, engaged, and better prepared than their peers. Port Chester educators have told us they wished all kids would attend our programs!
Looking forward to 2024, what will be your top initiatives?
Field: In short… We want to do more! We are looking to add even more families to our Saturday sessions, and plan to expand our weekday programming. We are also excited to connect more deeply with old and new community partners.
- Attendance is strong and growing, but we want to reach even more families next year. In 2024, we hope to hire a bilingual program manager who can help us find creative ways to recruit new clients and design additional enrichment opportunities for our families.
- The success of our Tuesday Morning Breakfast Club for new and expecting moms shows there is an appetite for weekday parenting classes. We plan to conduct focus groups with current Saturday parents to ensure we meet their needs.
- Partnerships! We already have several events ‘in the hopper’ with new partner organizations like The Westchester Children’s Museum, the Port Chester Library, and Community Resource Center in Mamaroneck. And of course we will continue to cooperate with our friends at Open Door, Carver, MOMS, 914Cares, The Sharing Shelf, Rye Nature Center, and Port Chester Universal PreK.
Tell us about the population you serve and how they can get involved with your programming and services.
Field: We serve Spanish-speaking families with young children in Port Chester. Our programs are free of charge and take place at All Souls Community Center, 55 Parkway Drive. Interested parents can email info@5stepstofive or call (914) 451-9278 to speak to a bilingual community worker to get started!
Are you a 501(c)(3) non-profit with tax exempt status?
Field: Yes
Looking back across 2023, what were your organization’s top achievements?
Field: In 2023 we were proud to expand our reach in the Port Chester community, most notably by increasing and enhancing our weekday programming, hosting more community-building events, and by creating and strengthening partnerships with other organizations in the area.
- This year we piloted a Tuesday Morning “Breakfast Club” for pregnant women and moms of newborns. This began as a limited series of 4 sessions but was extended indefinitely. In addition to providing valuable parenting lessons from our staff, the Club provides an opportunity for new moms to socialize with one another and build connections for emotional support.
- As we emerged from the isolated days of the pandemic, we heard from our families their desire for more community building events. We hosted a number of special events, one of the most fun and festive was a food and traditional music celebration held outdoors in Lyon Park in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. Parents brought foods from their countries of origin, and shared traditional dances.
- This year we were honored to partner with a record number of organizations in Port Chester and greater Westchester County to provide valuable information to parents, and connections to complimentary resources being offered in the area.
How can local residents support your organization?
Field: Donations of any size are always gratefully accepted! Please visit www.5stepstofive.org/donate for information on how to contribute. We are planning a Spring Luncheon on March 7, 2024 at AYC and hope to see many Rye residents there! In addition, we are always delighted to welcome volunteers, both teens and adults. If you are interested, please contact me at [email protected].
What local Rye residents and area businesses have been the longest, steadiest supporters of your organization?
Field: We have had many generous donors over the years, and we are deeply grateful for their support of our mission. It is impossible to list them all, but I would like to highlight the extraordinary generosity of Emily and the late Eugene Grant, Merilee and Roy Bostock, Susan and Frank Brown, Gio and Ted Dunn, Olivia and Oskar Lewnowski, Gabby and Don McCree, Lynn Straus, Scott F. Warner, the Nickless Foundation, and the Knistrom Foundation. Rye Presbyterian Church and Christ Church have been steadfast supporters and partners along the way. And of course, our founders and our Board of Directors have given of their time, talent, and money in so many different ways.
Tell us about you.
How long have you been in your current role?
Field: Almost 9 years – I started as Executive Director in April 2015. My wonderful colleague, Melissa Belleville, joined as Associate Director in 2021.
Is the role full time or part time? Paid or volunteer?
Field: I am a part-time employee.
How would your friends and family describe you in one word?
Field: Nice!
Thanks, Lisa!
