STEPP Foundation

The Success Through Education Planning and Perseverance (S.T.E.P.P.) Foundation was founded by Bernard Charles Watson, Jr. to be used as a mechanism to help underprivileged minority students overcome obstacles to becoming educated, skilled and productive leaders and citizens. The Barbra Watson-Riley Striving Students Scholarship program is an instrument to achieve this goal. Through a partnership with the Watson family and Brand Bank, the scholarship program will provide sixth grade students with a college savings account, and money to put in it, which will grow with them through middle and high school. Students can earn additional money for their college savings account by qualifying for incentives based on academic performance, attendance, behavior and by becoming financial literate. Foundation welcomes additional public, private, corporate and individual partners as it pursues its mission.