Kristi Yamaguchi had her first “hands-on experience” with a nonprofit not long after winning the 1992 Olympic women’s figure skating championship.
Yamaguchi was already inspired to give back: Her parents, who were very involved with the community in her hometown of Fremont, “encouraged me to do something because I’d been so fortunate to pursue my dream,” she remembers. But working with Make-A-Wish Foundation through Stars on Ice, the professional tour in which she co-starred for more than a decade, she could see, up close, “the impact of the work of the organization."
Decades later, Always Dream, the nonprofit Yamaguchi founded in 1996, is celebrating 30 years of its own impact.
(Courtesy of Always Dream)
In the early days, Always Dream was a more general children’s charity, granting funding to local organizations, summer camps, and youth groups—even building an accessible playground, the Always Dream Play Park, in Fremont. “I’ve always had an amazing team of people around me, starting with my cofounder Dino Saki,” says Yamaguchi. “It was really him and I for many years, those first 10 years or so.”
When Yamaguchi wrote the New York Times bestselling children’s book Dream Big, Little Pig! in 2011, though, her vision for the organization's future suddenly came into focus.
“That was about the time we really decided to grow the organization and really go all in,” she says. “When you’re thinking of supporting and inspiring kids’ dreams, it starts with education, and early literacy and reading is the foundation for their education.”
It wasn’t just reading-age children Yamaguchi wanted to reach when Always Dream launched the Always Reading program that same year; it was their entire ecosystem of family members and caregivers—a unique approach that research suggested was the key to a lifetime of good reading habits.
(Courtesy of Always Dream)
Literacy rates in the United States are far lower than they should be for a developed nation. According to the National Literacy Institute, 21 percent of American adults are functionally illiterate; 54 percent of those who can read never progressed past a sixth-grade level. In communities of concentrated poverty, the numbers are even more abysmal. While approximately 40 percent of fourth-grade students nationwide cannot read at a basic level, the illiteracy rate soars to 70 percent in low-income communities, where there is, on average, one book for every 300 kids.
The key pillars of the Always Reading program address the statistics directly. Families participating in the program receive a digital tablet (and data connection) with access to a children’s library containing 40,000 titles, along with gifts of hardcopy books throughout the year. In regular check-in and education sessions, Book Coaches work with caregivers to integrate reading into their daily routine. When a family completes the program, the tablet and books stay in the home, empowering them to continue engaging with them.
In the 2026-2027 school year, the Always Reading program is working with 18 different schools across Northern California. Hawaii, which Yamaguchi describes as a “second home to me and my family,” has 26 school partners across four islands. Altogether, they’ll reach more than 7,000 students from 177 Pre-K, TK, and kindergarten classrooms.
“Our goal is to reach 10,000 individuals annually, and we’re projected to do that in the next couple of years,” says Yamaguchi, but just “the fact that we have done 30 years of constant giving and impact… is a big milestone.”
Krist Yamaguchi speaks at an annual Always Dream gala(Courtesy of Always Dream)
On October 24th, Always Dream will celebrate the achievement with a 30th-anniversary gala at San Francisco’s Palace Hotel honoring the children, families, educators, and supporters with whom they’ve worked over the decades. Two weeks later, on November 6th, Yamaguchi will cut the ribbon to officially open the Kristi Yamaguchi Holiday Ice Rink at City Center Bishop Ranch in San Ramon, a portion of the proceeds of which will go to benefit Always Dream.
“I feel books unlock the imagination in children, and that’s where dreams are born,” Yamaguchi has said, and, by all accounts, that’s exactly the impact Always Reading’s approach has had on the families that participate: After completing the program, 90 percent of caregivers have more confidence in helping their child to read, and 80 percent look at books and read out loud with them more frequently than they did before.
// The 2026 Always Dream Annual San Francisco Gala 30th Anniversary Celebration is October 24; get more tickets and information about the event and learn more about Always Dream at alwaysdream.org
