Our History
Like many great organizations, Crystal Stairs began with a simple premise: change is possible. As a professor at UCLA, Dr. Karen Hill-Scott wanted to create an organization that would provide service to the community, service that would have a measurable impact. In 1978, as Research Director for the Joint Center for Community Studies, she received a three-year federal research grant to study the effects of different types of child care on family functioning. Dr. Hill-Scott then brought her trusted friend Alice Walker Duff on board, and the seeds of Crystal Stairs were sown.
Crystal Stairs started in 1980 with two programs, Child Care Resource & Referral and the Child Care Food Program. Over the years, legislation, funding, opportunity and creative management fostered new programs.
Holly J. Mitchell, Vice President for Public Affairs, became our Chief Executive Officer in July 2003. Ms. Mitchell's public policy expertise and commitment to the well-being of children and families ensure a strong and continuing dedication to the Crystal Stairs' vision.
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Karen Hill-Scott, Ed.D.
Co-Founder and Founding Executive Director
 Dr. Karen Hill-Scott, a member of the Crystal Stairs Board of Directors, is a nationally recognized expert in child care and development. Her career has blended university teaching, research and policy analysis, and extensive service to the community.
At Crystal Stairs, Dr. Hill-Scott is best known for her work in creating the agency and seeding the values, corporate culture and service models that continue to this day. When she left the post of Executive Director in 1993, she began a consulting career that has managed projects in worksite child care, public policy analysis, and children’s television programming. Her clients range from TRW’s Space and Defense sector to Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel, both premier children’s television networks.
In addition to her consulting work in children’s television, Hill-Scott still maintains an active teaching and lecture schedule. She has civic and public service commitments, currently serving on the boards of the Foundation for Child Development and the Commission to Re-Invent Accreditation for Early Childhood Programs as well as Crystal Stairs. Hill-Scott is currently Chair of the California Master Plan for School Readiness and was Co-Chair of the State of California Universal Preschool Task Force.
Alice Walker Duff, Ph.D.
Co-Founder and Past President
 Dr. Alice Walker Duff is Co-Founder of Crystal Stairs. For over three decades, Dr. Duff has applied her skills in the fields of education, civil rights, arts, child care and public policy. Dr. Duff served as commissioner on the groundbreaking, nine-member Los Angeles County Children and Family First – Proposition 10 Commission, as past president of the California Child Care Resource and Referral Network, and as a board member of the Center for the Child Care Work Force.
Dr. Duff has received several prestigious honors including the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Martin Luther King Legacy Association “Rosa Parks Award,” for her service to children and families; the HAL “Unsung Hero Award;” and the Los Angeles County Commission for Women’s 16th Annual Women of the Year Award – 2nd District. She was also named the 1995 Hunger Fighter of the Year by the California Hunger Action Coalition. In 2002, she received an honorary Doctorate from her alma mater, Occidental College.
As a student activist, an active parent in the Los Angeles Unified School District, and a founding member of the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission, Dr. Duff demonstrated her beliefs about community service. She has had a leadership role in establishing many continuing organizations, including the Occidental College Black Alumni, the UCLA Black Graduate Students Association, the Family Circle of the Lula Washington Contemporary Dance Foundation, and the United California Child Care Campaign. She has served many established national organizations such as the National Black Child Development Institute, the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and the NAACP through their local affiliates.
Dr. Duff received her B.A. in Sociology from Occidental College, her M.A. in Sociology of Education from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and her Ph.D. in Urban Planning: Social Development Policy, School of Architecture and Urban Planning from UCLA.
Holly J. Mitchell
Chief Executive Officer
 Holly J. Mitchell is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Crystal Stairs. Her team has championed a public affairs agenda that has significantly increased Crystal Stairs’ profile among government agencies, local media, and other community-based organizations while also increasing the visibility of child care as a critical public policy issue.
Ms. Mitchell’s public policy expertise has enabled Crystal Stairs to increase its voice in child care policy making throughout the state. In addition to being invited by various members of the California Legislature to provide expert testimony before policy and budget committees, she has received statewide honors and recognition from the National Women’s Political Caucus – Westside Chapter, the Los Angeles County Black Employees Association, and Black Women for Political Action (BWOPA), among others. Since 2003, Holly has served with other nationally recognized leaders on the selection panel for Good Housekeeping Magazine’s Annual Women in Government Award.
In addition to her duties at Crystal Stairs, Ms. Mitchell is active in other child care and human services-related organizations. These include her statewide leadership roles as Chair of the California Child Care Resource and Referral Network’s Public Policy Committee and Chair of the California State Commission on the Status of Women. Appointed to the City of Los Angeles Commission for Children, Youth and Their families by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Ms. Mitchell serves as Vice-Chair. She has also served on numerous other boards and committees including, the Governor’s Women’s Health Advisory Council and the University of California’s Breast Cancer Research Council.
Ms. Mitchell’s public advocacy career began in the office of then-State Senator Diane Watson, where she advised members of the legislature on issues related to quality child care as a policy analyst for the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. Before joining Crystal Stairs, Ms. Mitchell was a Legislative Advocate for the Western Center on Law and Poverty where she coordinated with other advocates on health policy issues affecting low-income communities. Prior to this, she was the Executive Director of the California Black Women’s Health Project where she interfaced with community-based agencies, policy makers, government agencies, grant makers, and health care professionals on current trends and data on the status of women’s health.
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