Before the Foundation: Where This Really Started

There was a season when I was teaching literacy in two places at once.

By day, I stood in a university classroom talking with future educators about research, theory, and practice — about how literacy connects to identity, culture, and real life.

At home, beginning in 2020, I was homeschooling Daniel and Alonna.

The conversations were different.

At the university, we discussed what strong literacy instruction should look like.

At home, I saw what it felt like.

I saw how writing changes when a child believes their voice matters.

I saw how learning deepens when it connects to everyday life.

I saw how literacy grows around a table — not just inside a lesson plan.

Daniel and Alonna began co-authoring books with me. Our cookbooks became more than recipes. They became spaces for storytelling, creativity, entrepreneurship, and connection.

Without realizing it at first, those two classrooms were shaping each other.

What I taught during the day, I refined at night.What I experienced at home, I carried back into every conversation about literacy and practice.

When I transitioned from the university in 2022, I didn’t feel like I was starting something new.

I felt like I was bringing everything together.

Last week, I hosted our first pilot Family Literacy Experience.

It was simple. It was meaningful. And it felt aligned with what has been building for years — literacy that is lived, not just discussed.

At the same time, I began writing grants intentionally connected to churches, libraries, schools, and nonprofit partners.

And I found myself thinking carefully about what I want this work to become.

I don’t want to build something that only happens once.

I don’t want to write grants that simply fund activity for a season.

I don’t want partnerships built only on enthusiasm, without a shared plan for what comes next.

From the beginning, my hope has been sustainability beyond grants — designing literacy experiences, funding strategy, and community partnerships so they strengthen one another over time.

This work is still unfolding.

The pilot has launched.

The grants are in development.

The partnerships are forming.

But the foundation underneath it is steady.

Tectonic Village holds the strategy — the thinking, the planning, the alignment.

What’s Stirring Family Foundation carries the programming into community spaces, distributing resources and facilitating literacy experiences often supported through sponsorships and grant funding.

They are connected because the vision is connected.

Before there was a nonprofit, there was simply this question:

What would it look like to build literacy in a way that lasts?

I’m still answering that question.

And I’m building carefully.

Daneell Moore, Ph.D.

Founder, Tectonic Village, LLC

Co-Founder, What’s Stirring Family Foundation

© 2026 Daneell Moore. All rights reserved.