Stepping Up Together is a woman-owned, Arizona-based business that provides comprehensive financial literacy services to American Indian communities. Together, our owner who is a proud member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe in Arizona, and the Stepping Up Together team have found financial security, understand the challenges that you may face on your quest, and can help you reach your financial goals through their extensive educational programs.

At Stepping Up Together we provide comprehensive financial literacy services to American Indian communities utilizing culturally appropriate curricula combined with tools the team has developed to help promote and sustain positive behavior changes that will increase money management skills.

Several years ago Velda began a journey, an ‘educational journey’, to improve her knowledge about money and how it works. Velda was born and raised on the San Carlos Apache Reservation in south central Arizona. This was a place where money was never talked about when she was growing up. All she knew was what she saw and heard. So, Velda repeated this as she became an adult, not knowing that there was a different way or that she had a choice on what kind of relationship she could have with her money.

After years of having a dysfunctional relationship with money she decided to change her approach to managing her personal finances and begin the ‘educational journey’.

Little did she know that it would help her develop a new paradigm to replace the old one that once controlled her life. To do this she began retraining her mind, thoughts, language, and actions with the knowledge base she had built and started realizing the results she was looking for. Today, Velda can proudly say that she is free of bad debt, has a solid FICO score, is a proud home owner, knows how to invest to expand her financial portfolio, and plan properly for her retirement. In other words, she is no longer in that cycle of poverty and no longer a victim of predatory lending.

Today, Velda’s goal is to help others who are still in this vicious cycle by sharing her and her team’s experiences. As a result, she started Stepping Up Together to help increase the financial literacy level of Native American communities.

It all started with an ‘educational journey’ that helped Velda realize that she did have a choice about the kind of relationship she wanted with her money. Now, you have that same choice too. “If I can do it you can too – come on!” remarks Velda Williams, Owner of Stepping Up Together. “Let’s step up together!”