Arthur and Carol Graham circa 1980
Both of our parents cared deeply about early childhood and its importance in shaping the trajectory of one’s life. Our mother, Carol Graham, earned a Master’s Degree in Education at Stanford and taught in the Palo Alto School District. Our father, Arthur Graham, a product of immigrant parents who prioritized education, personally understood the importance of early years. “They lay the foundation for everything that follows,” he noted when I was a teenager and ruminating about setting a career path that might land me at Head Start. His comment was based on his own observations – decades before there was any science to support his statement.
Fast forward several decades. Our mother had passed away in 2010, and our father, now in his nineties, was re-writing his trust (for what would be the last time). My siblings and I encouraged him to leave his estate to the causes he deeply cared about and ones where he could make a difference. He’d been a loyal donor to higher education for over half a century, but now he tasked me with identifying what he termed “THE seminal zero-to-six organization” that had made, and would continue to make, path-breaking discoveries in the science of early childhood education. Being an action-oriented, visible-results person, he wanted an organization that would take such scientific knowledge and transform the lives of parents, professionals and children through its practical application.
I made one phone call. It was to a childhood friend of mine who was then a professor at Georgetown University, a world expert in early childhood education, and one of the two editors of the influential and acclaimed National Academy report, “From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development.” She answered on the first ring and took about a nanosecond – after I explained what I was after – to say, “That’s easy. It’s ZERO TO THREE in Washington, DC.”
Our father died in 2022, and my siblings and I have had the immense satisfaction of witnessing how our parents’ unrestricted gift has enabled ZERO TO THREE to expand its mission to ensure that every baby has a strong start in life.
We know our father would be thrilled to see the impact of his bequest and how it has leveraged ZERO TO THREE’s ability to promote public understanding, parental awareness and practice; enhance professional development for practitioners from pediatricians to childcare providers; and advance policies that support early development. Most importantly, through this legacy bequest, we know that our parents’ wish to have a lasting impact will endure forever.
-The Three Children of Arthur and Carol Graham
