As we shift from the rebirth of spring to the full blooms of summer, we bring you a few stories of births from new moms and dads throughout Los Angeles County who have delivered healthy babies and blossomed with new parenting skills, thanks in part to First 5 LA’s...
“We’re here to talk about the children.” Spoken by a small, bespectacled grandmother by the name of Zonia Sanchez, these seven words reached across the desk and grabbed the ear of the Lancaster lawmaker seated beneath the California State flag. As Assemblyman Tom...
A few years ago, Rochelle McCollum was working as a manager of a dental office in El Monte, making good money and living in a nice home with her six kids. Then she got the news: her mother had breast cancer. So Rochelle left her job and home and moved her family into...
One by one, on a crisp winter evening in downtown Sacramento, the lawmakers shed their coats and ducked into the confines of a darkened lounge not unlike many others in the state capitol where power is brokered and deals are made. But instead of huddling up at the bar...
When Michelle Catalan moved from Los Angeles to Orange County, she discovered that the nearby preschool had an impossibly long waiting list for her then 4-year-old daughter, Evana. Nor were there any preschool slots available near her work as a cashier. After a couple...
A little boy who hates school gains new sight and insight. A mother of a baby girl with Down syndrome is uplifted by caring professionals. A single father learns from others how to be a better parent himself . . . then returns the favor. As a gift to our newsletter...
As watchful eyes focus on how the White House and Congress transition to a new administration, what remains unclear is how these changes will steer early childhood priorities decided in Washington, D.C. that could impact child care, health, early education and more...
As a boy growing up in Bakersfield, California, Armando Jimenez often spent time at his family’s small Mexican restaurant. It was there that he would find his 50-something-year-old Uncle Eddie, sitting on a barstool with his glasses on, perusing the pages of the New...
When Joshua was 2 years old, his high energy and aptitude for learning prompted his stay-at-home mother Marlene Cole to seek out a high quality day care facility in the Westside of Los Angeles that could further his developmental growth and connect him with other...
Growing up as one of 13 children in Chicago, Teresa Nuno learned early in life the value of her immigrant parents’ efforts to create a better life in this country. Even for other kids in the neighborhood. “She had a ‘can do’ attitude and was always one of the go to...
