As we close out a remarkable year, let’s look back on the extraordinary progress the GIFT CONNECT team has made in amplifying the birth to three development through our tools, programs, and advocacy.
Our Parenting Suite App
With resources like a song generator, voice assistant, parenting journal, and more at your fingertips, the app engages and strengthens the bond between parent and child—a crucial part of early childhood development.
With resources like a song generator, voice assistant, parenting journal, and more at your fingertips, the app engages and strengthens the bond between parent and child—a crucial part of early childhood development.
Our newly updated AI voice assistant, Sammie, makes it easy for parents and caregivers to ask the questions they need answered.
From tips on implementing the six Loving Habits, to outlining a meal plan for your two-year-old, to finding local resources, Sammie allows you to simply ask a question aloud and receive a response in seconds!
At GIFT CONNECT, we strive to meet parents where they are. And with the power of technology, we can reach parents across the globe, giving them access to parenting resources that could build a brighter future for their children.
Available on our website at gift-connect.org/technology-tools or download on your phone!
The Legacy of Literacy Circle: Transforming Families Through Empowerment
GIFT CONNECT’s Legacy of Literacy Circles launched in November 2025 at Wilmington’s Central YMCA, serving parents and caregivers with children ages 0-3. Meeting Saturdays for 12 weeks, families learn to integrate the Six Loving Habits into daily routines, transforming everyday moments into powerful learning opportunities.
Through trauma-informed support and evidence-based practices, the program shifts home behavior patterns to enhance family literacy, bonding, and self-awareness. Parents become their children’s first teachers and strongest advocates, building vocabulary, boosting brain development, and preparing children for kindergarten success—all while breaking generational cycles and creating lasting legacies of literacy and love.
The outcome: Empowered parents. Prepared children. Transformed families. Limitless potential for all communities.
Making an Impact in Kenya
In rural Kitui County, Kenya, GIFT CONNECT is on a mission to educate and empower mothers and caregivers on the importance of early childhood development. In the past three years, we have hosted over 150 events with over 70,000 caregivers attending; created 20 Lullaby groups with almost 600 families, and reached over 4 million people in Kenya through PSAs and media outreach. Our 2025 EOY event set a record with over 4,000 attendees!
Using our Every Community Model, we bring in parents and caregivers who are seeking education on raising young children, work with them to write their own lullabies, and set them up for self-sustaining support groups and table banks.
As part of our 2025 Monitoring and Evaluation Report, our program was proven to be effective, impactful, and sustainable. Caregivers showed significant improvements in caregiver knowledge and practices. Beyond their households, families reported a strengthened sense of community. Furthermore, 99% of caregivers report that they will continue their practices after going through the program and believe the program to be beneficial.
Our Kakeani parenting support group purchased 30 female goats from their table bank that will generate income to pay for their children’s school fees. This is a major part of our model that helps program participants become self-sustaining.
North American Tour
June was a very exciting time for the GIFT CONNECT team as we welcomed our Global Ambassador, Stellar Mengele, for a visit all the way from Kenya!
We embarked on a cross-country tour to learn, connect, and advocate for the importance of birth to three development.
Some highlights from the tour:
- In NYC, we attended the 2025 Carnegie Hall Lullaby Project International Convening.
- In Delaware, we hosted the Early Years of Learning Literacy Symposium & Community Gathering
- In Cincinnati, we visited the YMCA Greater Cincinnati, where we demonstrated our music and technology tools to families.
- In Mississippi, we visited key leaders in the early childhood education space and talked of a future GIFT CONNECT program (coming soon!).
- In California, Stellar met with donors and was inducted into the Birth to Three Early Years Hall of Fame.
Sam Beard, Stellar Mengele. Liz Gibbs, and Thomas Cabaniss at the Carnegie Hall Lullaby Project International Convening in New York City.
Lt. Governor Kyle Evans Gay met with Cindy Minton Walker and Dave Dennis of the GIFT CONNECT Advisory Committee.
Global Ambassador Stellar Mengele sings to children at the YMCA Greater Cincinnati.
Stay Connected with GIFT CONNECT in 2026!
Keep in touch! See what we’re working on and what’s upcoming for our programs.
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Visit our website to get in-depth looks at our mission, programs, and resources.
Download the GIFT CONNECT Parenting Suite App for AI-powered parenting tools, or find them on our website!
Become a Changemaker
Mothers and caregivers in the US and abroad need your support to get important information on their child’s development in the earliest years of their lives.
Interventions and programs focused on early childhood are more likely to be impactful and have the potential to provide a tremendous return on investment compared to those attempting to “rewire the brain” by addressing academic, vocational, and other problems later in life.
Your donation will help us reach more caregivers by expanding and enriching our programs further both in the US and globally.
