Each day after school, dozens of local students head to the Stepping Stones center along Highway 133 in Carbondale.
The nonprofit offers free, bilingual programs such as tutoring, mentorship, outdoor activities, mental health counseling and crisis support to about 400 young people ages 10 to 24 years-old from Aspen to Parachute.
The youth-development organization, founded in 2014, has also become a second home for many, including a growing number of students from immigrant families, and the organization has responded by offering more Spanish-language services.
On a Wednesday afternoon in late February, Stepping Stones was bustling with activity — younger students participated in guided arts and crafts, others helped cook a meal in the kitchen, and a group of teens played pool in the basement.
In a courtyard connecting the center’s two buildings, Roaring Fork High School senior Eric Figueroa pointed to the basketball court.
“Ese lugar ha sido uno de mis favoritos lugares, ya que aquí fue mi primera vez jugando básquetbol,” Figueroa said. “En mi pueblo o en mi ciudad no se veía este tipo de canchas y así me enamoré de este deporte.”
(“This place has been one of my favorite places because this was my first time playing basketball,” Figueroa said. “In my town, or in my city, you didn't see these kinds of courts and so I fell in love with this sport.")
Figueroa, who was born in Aspen, grew up in Mexico after his parents decided to move back to their home country when he was young.
But his mother got sick about a year ago, and he and his younger brother returned to the Roaring Fork Valley to finish high school and help pay for her medical treatment back in Mexico.
Figueroa said coming back didn’t feel like home without the rest of his family, but then his classmates told him about Stepping Stones.
“A la semana de haber llegado a la escuela, mis amigos me contaron de un programa maravilloso, donde podías hacer lo que quisieras,” Figueroa said. “Y comí, había comida, había oportunidad de tener amigos, te daban muchas cosas, te daban oportunidad de entrar en la comunidad.”
(“A week after I arrived at the school, my friends told me about a wonderful program, where you could do whatever you wanted,” Figueroa said. “And I ate, there was food, there was a chance to have friends, they gave you a lot of things, they gave you a chance to get into the community.”)
On his first day at the center, he met Young Adult Program Coordinator Cinthia Lopez Moralez — who reminded him of his own mother.
“Al principio con Cinthia yo tuve un choque un poco de carácter, ya que Cinthia es una persona de carácter muy fuerte, pero es algo que me recordaba mucho mi casa ya que mi mamá es el mismo carácter,” Figueroa said.
(“At the beginning with Cinthia, I had a bit of a character clash because Cinthia is a person with a very strong character, but it is something that reminded me a lot of my home since my mom is the same character,” Figueroa said.)
Though he was intimidated by her strong personality at first, Figueroa came to appreciate that, like his own mother, Moralez wasn’t afraid to scold him or offer him tough love and advice.
“Cuando entre aquí, yo empecé a tener una depresión muy fea por miedo a la enfermedad de mi mama, por miedo a qué podría pasar, por miedo a enfrentarme a cosas nuevas en este mundo, pero Cinthia habló conmigo y me dijo que todo iba a estar bien,” Figueroa said. “Ella me podía comprender y ella me escuchaba y para mí eso fue lo más importante y me dijo que ella estaría aquí para mí.”
(“When I came here, I started to have a very bad depression out of fear of my mother's illness, fear of what could happen, fear of facing new things in this world, but Cinthia talked to me and told me that everything would be okay,” Figueroa said. “She understood me and she listened to me and for me that was the most important thing, and she told me that she would be here for me.”)
One afternoon when Figueroa was feeling particularly down, Moralez offered to take him to Sopris Park in Carbondale so they could talk.
“I asked, ‘You want to go on a walk?’ And he's like, ‘I want to yell, I want to cry, but I can't,’” Moralez said. “He can’t cry because in our education, our culture, a man isn’t allowed to talk about his weakness, but I said, ‘It's okay. You can cry.’”
Moralez came to the U.S. from Mexico about 20 years ago to escape an abusive marriage, and her own experience arriving in a new place and having to learn English helps her relate to students like Figueroa.
“When I come here, I come in a really deep depression because I was divorced and had to escape my ex-husband who was a police officer and abused that,” Moralez said. “So I just come here with my kids and nothing else like just what they wear, my purse, and a baby bottle.”
Reflecting the lived experiences of immigrants, refugees
Stepping Stones Assistant Director Jonathan Greener believes it’s important to hire staff members like Moralez, who previously worked at YouthZone and as an assistant to an immigration lawyer, and who has lived experience that students can relate to.
“The more our participants see people that look like them and have stories like them, the stronger their outcomes, so we’re trying to value that by creating a community that's reflective of who we're serving,” Greener said. “And that's not just what someone looks like or what their language is, it's also having a team who has been through what a lot of our young people have been through or even just having overlapping interests.”
Of the nearly 400 students that participated in Stepping Stones in 2024, 78% identified as Latinx, and last year, the nonprofit served about 150 new youth, most of whom were recent immigrants from Mexico and Central and South America.
Since the start of this school year, 96% of new students in the organization’s young adult program (ages 15-24) are recent immigrants or refugees.
“We have observed a significant increase in youth experiencing housing instability, as well as an increase in the proportion of Spanish-speaking newcomers, immigrants and refugees seeking assistance within our bilingual centers,” Greener shared in an email to Aspen Public Radio and Aspen Journalism.
In response, Stepping Stones now offers all of its young adult programs in Spanish, including services like housing and meal assistance, and a recent Know Your Rights training for youth. The nonprofit will also be opening a new center in Glenwood Springs this fall, expanding their services to reach a greater diversity of students.
“What we noticed in our region is that there were some barriers of language and culture that were having an impact on the ability for young people to access a lot of things, like whether it's continuing education or direct services or even just connecting,” Greener said. “So while we’ve always had a primarily bilingual team, we’re responding to demographics shifting over time and we want to eliminate as many barriers as possible for newcomers, even those who have only been here a week or two, to come see what Stepping Stones is.”
According to the Aspen Community Foundation (ACF), which facilitates funding and collaborative opportunities for nonprofits from Aspen to Parachute, a growing number of nonprofits that serve youth in the region have made efforts in recent years to expand their bilingual and bicultural services.
“In the past several years, there have been intentional efforts among nonprofits, particularly those that serve youth, to be more culturally responsive,” said Valerie Carlin, Chief Impact Officer at ACF. “This means recruiting more bilingual and bicultural staff, ensuring materials and programming are in English and Spanish, and building trusting relationships with the immigrant community.”
A support structure and a safe place
Looking back on when she first arrived in the U.S., Moralez wishes she could’ve taken her own kids to a bilingual and bicultural center like Stepping Stones.
“Honestly, as a single mother working all the time, sometimes I don't even know if they are doing their homework, because when I get back home, they're sleeping,” Moralez said. “So I think being a safe place where kids know there are people who care about them is the most important thing, along with the support we try to provide them like counseling, mentoring, and helping with school.”
For his part, Figueroa is grateful for the community and second home he’s found at Stepping Stones.
“No importaba el color de piel, no importaba de donde viniera, no importaba quien seas, ellos te aceptaban tal como eres, y yo siento que eso es lo más importante de una familia,” Figueroa said.
(“It didn't matter what color your skin was, it didn't matter where you came from, it didn't matter who you are, they accepted you just the way you are, and I feel like that's the most important thing about a family,” Figueroa said.)
Figueroa feels this welcoming atmosphere is especially important during a time when immigrants and other marginalized communities are being targeted under the Trump administration.
“Hay personas con miedo, hay personas que no saben qué hacer, hasta yo tengo miedo y yo soy ciudadano americano, pero tengo familia que no están en la misma situación que yo,” Figueroa said. “Más, sin embargo, Stepping Stones te da herramientas, te da ayuda, te da soporte, te da información de lo que puedes hacer y no y eso es, la mayor ayuda que podríamos recibir, el informarnos y el saber.”
(“There are people with fear, there are people who don’t know what to do, even I am afraid and I am an American citizen, but I have family who are not in the same situation as me,” Figueroa said. “But nevertheless, Stepping Stones gives you tools, gives you help, gives you support, gives you information of what you can do and what you can't do and that's the biggest help we could receive, to inform ourselves and to know."
Figueroa is graduating from high school later this month, and this summer, he’ll be leading a week-long service trip in Colorado for Stepping Stones students.
While he’s thinking about joining the military after that, he also hopes to work at Stepping Stones one day, so he can offer some of the same support and mentorship he received to other kids.
