Our vision of success for every child means that children should have the opportunity to grow up with security, safety, stability, and respect from the first days of their lives. Creating success for every child is about constructing a nurturing and limitless future that we hope to leave the next generation. We want our children to grow into people, with the opportunities to choose how they thrive, with the right to their own lives.

The right to life means the right to safety. It includes the right of mothers to bring children into the world on their own terms, the right of children to learn without the threat of traumatic violence in their schools, and the rights of communities, especially communities of color, to conduct their lives without the looming peril of being ravaged by mass shootings.

When we prioritize life, it means that we love and honor it. We celebrate and protect it, in its present and existing form. We are talking about female-bodied lives, immigrant lives, black lives, and young lives.

First 5 San Mateo County stands united with our communities— those reeling from the trauma of gun violence, those who are scared, and those who can envision a future without it. We are here for our families and children.

Talking with Students About Bad News

Age-based tips for teachers to help students process.

Talking to Children about Safety at School

Resources for parents and teachers to talk to children.

Explaining Violence – Repair the World

Talking to children about safety in the world we live in.

Explaining the News to Our Kids

Age-based tips on how to talk with kids about the news.

Headshot of Kitty Lopez

Kitty Lopez has served as the Executive Director of First 5 San Mateo County since 2013, focusing on strategic investing, community leadership, policy and advocacy development for young children, 0-5, and their families.

Kitty has served as Co-Chair of the Advisory Body for Build Up for San Mateo County Children’s Initiative, with Board of Supervisor, Dave Pine, since 2018.  Congressman Kevin Mullin is Honorary Co-Chair.  This initiative was established to preserve, grow, and increase the number of early care sites in San Mateo County.  

Kitty previously served as the Executive Director of Samaritan House, one of San Mateo County’s leading Core Service Agencies and safety-net nonprofits serving low-income families and individuals with food, shelter, clothing, health care, counseling, education classes, and holiday assistance from 2002 to 2013. 

Kitty taught kindergarten, second grade, and high school in southern California and San Francisco and was a consultant in schools with children who have autism and special needs. Additionally, Kitty worked in a residential substance abuse treatment center in San Francisco and psychiatric hospital for children and youth in San Diego.  Kitty’s roots in supporting children began as a 16-year-old volunteer at the Braille Institute in Los Angeles where she taught swimming to children and adults with visual impairments.

She attended University of California Santa Barbara earning a California Teaching Credential and B.A in Psychology. Kitty is active in her community serving as Vice Chair of the San Mateo County Event Center, and Past President and Current Member of the San Mateo Rotary Club.  She is currently serving as Past President of the First 5 Association of California. On March 2022, Assembly Speaker pro Tem Kevin Mullin selected Kitty Lopez as the 2022 Assembly District 22 Woman of the Year.