Dear Tandem Community,

As part of my first months as executive director, I have been visiting our programming across the Bay Area. There’s nothing quite like seeing our work up close—it gives me perspective, deepens my pride, and reminds me why I love this job so much. 

In March, I visited a play-and-learn group at the Pittsburg Library. I watched Mr. Ty, a member of our talented team, lead a session for over 26 children and their caregivers. On the surface, it was a room full of joy. It was also a clear reflection of what children need before they step into kindergarten: rich language, strong relationships, confidence, and opportunities to learn through play.

These families were not just having fun together, they were engaging in the kinds of experiences that lay the foundation for a strong start in school.

That’s Tandem’s work, and it’s happening every day. Many people first know Tandem through our books, and we know how powerful books are. A high-quality book in a child’s hands can spark language, imagination, and connection. But our work has always been bigger than book distribution alone. We partner with families, educators, and communities to help create the conditions children need to succeed from the very beginning. That means supporting adults with tools and practices that build early learning every day. It means helping adults turn ordinary moments into learning moments.

So far this year, we’ve reached 21,000 children and families through approximately 1,400  program engagements.

This means we have:

• Distributed 30,000 high-quality children’s books
• Partnered with over 800 StoryCycles classrooms across the Bay Area
• Expanded our Read & Play home-based program to engage 1,330 children

These numbers matter because they reflect something larger than reach. They reflect trust. One of my responsibilities now is to honor that legacy while helping lead the organization into its next chapter with deep care and accountability.

The work continues…

Last year, Tandem’s leadership team engaged in strategic planning, mapping out a clear three-year vision for where Tandem is headed and what it will take to get there. Since then, we have taken a hard look, county by county, across San Francisco, Alameda, and Contra Costa, asking where we should deepen our work, where there is room to grow, and where we need to strengthen our foundation in order to expand responsibly.

One part of this roadmap that I am especially excited about is building Tandem’s evaluation capacity. Across our programs, we already collect rich data—family surveys, educator feedback, implementation scorecards, and more. Those tools help us understand reach, experience, and implementation. Our next step is to build stronger evidence of how Tandem’s model contributes to the outcomes we care most about, including kindergarten readiness, and to use that learning to strengthen our work and expand its impact

Behind the data is a bigger goal for children: we want them to arrive on their first day of kindergarten with a strong foundation and a real sense that school is a place where they belong and can thrive. That is the future Tandem is helping build, and we couldn’t do it without you.

I would love to hear what this sparks for you—your questions, your ideas, and what you hope to see from Tandem in this next chapter. 

Con cariño,
Dulce Torres-Petty
Executive Director