Holding council provides an opportunity to practice speaking and listening from the heart

Rites of passage help young people take their first steps towards fulfilling their need for initiation

"I learned to stay in relationship, even when it seems hard to work it out. I learned it is easier to work it out with the people you are with then to always go and get new friends."

— Boys Coming of Age graduate

"I woke up in the morning with a smile on my face because I learned that I could really survive in the world taking care of myself. I am usually around people and now I know that being just with myself is not as hard as I thought it would be."

— Girls Coming of Age graduate

Our Roots

Our Mission

Stepping Stones' mission is to offer guidance and support to Bay Area youth through rites of passage programs that help them forge new connections to themselves, to their communities and to the environment.

Our Story

Stepping Stones Project began in 1999 when a small handful of independent grassroots rites of passage group leaders connected through their work with teens at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Inspired by the growing interest and demand from youth and their families, project founders developed a rites of passage curriculum and launched the Stepping Stones Project as a nonprofit in the winter of 2002. The result was our 2-year Coming of Age program, created to help young people take their first steps toward filing the universal need for initiation. Since that time, our staff has grown to over 15 leaders who facilitate Coming of Age groups across the Bay Area. The success of the middle school Coming of Age program has provided the foundation for Stepping Stones to explore new programming and collaborations with other agencies to better serve youth of various ages and backgrounds in the Bay Area.