[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 128 (Thursday, August 3, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1621]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



[[Page E 1621]]


                    TRIBUTE TO DR. ALICE WALKER-DUFF

                                 ______


                          HON. JULIAN C. DIXON

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, August 3, 1995
  Mr. DIXON. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have this opportunity to 
salute the outstanding contributions made by Dr. Alice Walker-Duff to 
the children of Los Angeles. As executive director of Crystal Stairs, 
Alice presides over one of the largest nonprofit and most enduring 
child care resource and referral providers in California. She has 
earned a well deserved reputation as an indefatigable advocate for 
comprehensive, quality early child development services as an essential 
ingredient to helping children mature into successful, productive 
adults.
  Alice's career with Crystal Stairs began nearly two decades ago. It 
was not, however, the career she had envisioned but one that she came 
to out of a desire to help her good friend and Crystal Stairs' founder, 
Karen Hill-Scott. In the early 1970's, in a venture that would serve as 
the precursor to Crystal Stairs, Alice and Karen had teamed together to 
found the Childcare Resource and Referral Service. The program was the 
sole African-American alternative program in California. It offered 
working parents, most often single mothers, with quality child care 
development services, affording many the opportunity to return to 
school or to the employment roles.
  In the mid 1970's, while supervising a classroom project in one of 
her urban planning classes at UCLA, where she taught, Karen discovered 
there was a paucity of information available at the city and county 
level regarding available day care providers located in the urban areas 
of Los Angeles. Armed with this information, she applied for and 
received funding from the State of California to establish an agency 
that would address this shortage. Thus was born Crystal Stairs, a 
nonprofit agency incorporated in 1980 that supervises and certifies 
affordable, safe, and reliable child care development providers in the 
African-American community of southern California.
  Alice agreed to help Karen by managing the day-to-day operation and 
management of Crystal Stairs. Karen was still a professor at UCLA and 
she needed an individual who was smart, politically savvy, and above 
all, knowledgeable about early childhood development. Although the 
initial agreement had Alice remaining at Crystal Stairs for just 8 
short months, 2 years ago, when Karen stepped down as executive 
director to serve as a consultant in children's television programming, 
Alice settled in as the agencies executive director.
  During her nearly 20 years of dedicated service and commitment to 
Crystal Stairs and the children of Los Angeles, Alice has been 
instrumental in expanding the agency's outreach to include a 
comprehensive array of services, including child-care research, a food 
program in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties; parenting 
classes, and employment training programs.
  Last year, Crystal Stairs added one more jewel to its crown with the 
opening of SAGE, a child-care center in the Nickerson Gardens public 
housing development. The center offers a range of afterschool classes, 
including instruction in computer skills and math and art classes. SAGE 
is providing a tangible resource to the children of Nickerson Gardens 
by helping to enhance their development and offering a beacon of hope 
for a future that is too often viewed as hopeless.
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud and honored to salute the outstanding 
accomplishments of Dr. Alice Walker-Duff to the Los Angeles community. 
Her career has been marked by a level of excellence that is worthy of 
the accolades she receives this day. She has labored nobly and 
steadfastly in her quest to ensure that children receive the 
appropriate day care and essential nurturing to which all children are 
entitled. Please join me in commending her for her contributions to the 
children of Los Angeles, and in extending to her, her husband attorney 
Joe Duff, and their two daughters Gingi and Laura, our appreciation and 
best wishes for continued success in the future.


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