Maryann Fleming, Executive Director
The founding and current Executive Director of Family Connections, Maryann Fleming, has been involved in nonprofit organizations since 1984. For eight years prior to the start of Family Connections, Maryann was program director for a drug prevention partnership with the San Francisco Unified School District and the San Francisco Police Department, in which parents were taught how to prevent substance abuse and other problems. Maryann was involved with the Healthy Start Collaborative at E. R. Taylor Elementary School in 1992 when discussions began to focus on family support. The Healthy Start school staff was very effective helping children succeed at school, but it was felt by all that the work could be enhanced by more parent involvement. Maryann participated in writing the successful Office of Child Abuse Prevention grant that served as the original seed money that funded Family Connections. In 1993, Maryann was selected as the first employee and Executive Director of Family Connections. Maryann has strong beliefs in the concepts that formed Family Connections: resiliency, empowerment, and participant-driven services. She has been able to actualize some of these ideals in her work at the center and is proud of Family Connections growth and success. She attributes this success to a tenacious temperament and to the many talented people that have made significant contributions to the center over the years.

Lupe Alvarez, Administration Coordinator
Lupe has been an employee of Family Connections since the summer of 2000. Lupe Alvarez welcomes families, provides current information and refers them to appropriate programs. She is responsible for the administration of the Pre-Kindergarten program, Homework Club and Summer Enrichment Program, as well supervising Chinese Saturday School Program. She completes enrollment for all programs and manages the admission documentation for all Family Connections programs. The Portola Community parties are also hosted and organized by Lupe Alvarez. Lupe is a native of San Francisco. She enjoys spending time with her family. She dedicates her time to work and to her wonderful family.

Melissa Craven, MFTI, Clinical Case Manager/ Family Support Coordinator
Melissa offers Clinical Case Management and Enhanced Visitation with a therapeutic emphasis to assist families move toward stability and self-sufficiency. She also oversees the support groups and monthly, community events associated with our early childhood programs. Melissa received her Master of Arts degree in Expressive Arts Therapy from the California Institute of Integral Studies and her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. She is accruing clinical hours toward her license in Marriage and Family Therapy, under the supervision of Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Kristy Gamayo, MFT. Melissa has experience assessing for symptoms of maternal stress and depression and providing short-term therapy to individuals, families, and groups. Her use of the arts underlines intentions in treatment and encourages a sense of choice. She loves to play in nature and with friends

Cecilia Estrada, Associate Pre-K Teacher
Cecilia has been with Family Connections since 1999. She is one of three Pre-Kindergarten teachers. Cecilia prepares snacks and sets up the classroom for both morning and afternoon classes. She also assists children in reading, playing, and daily activities. Cecilia loves and enjoys working with children.

Julyann Fu, Homework Club Teacher; CPDI, Next Steps and Pre K substitute teacher
Julyann Fu is originally from Taiwan. She has been in The Golden State for more than 30 years. She likes San Francisco's people and weather. Family Connections feels like another home to her, since she has been working at the center for more than 12 years! She enjoys her daily life here with the wonderful children, families and staff. She hopes to continue serving the Portola Community as long as she can.

Kristy Gamayo, Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist
Kristy has 7 years experience in the community mental health and non-profit settings serving diverse, low-income, children, youth, families, and adults. She currently oversees our Child/Parent Drop-In, Next Steps, and Child/Family Therapy programs. Some of her work ethics include: teamwork, organization, accountability, respect, and integrity. Kristy earned her Master's degree in Social-Clinical Psychology from New College of California and her Bachelor's degree in Psychology from San Francisco State University. She is currently a Clinical Member of the California Association for Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT), a professional association involved in the advancement of marriage and family therapy as an art, a science, and a mental health profession. In her spare time, Kristy enjoys spending time with friends and family, learning new things, drawing, and playing music. To Kristy, watching a child or family grow is one of life's greatest rewards.

Martha Gonzalez, Child Care Worker
Martha has worked in Family Connections since January 2003. She works with children from ages 0 months to 3 three years in the Children Parent Drop-In (CPDI) program. She loves working with children; it makes her feel happy to see how children and parents enjoy the program. Martha was born in Mexico and then moved to the United States when she got married in 1987. She lived in the Portola District in San Francisco for 15 years. She then moved to San Bruno City, where she currently resides.

Jeryl Lynn Irvine, Homework Club and Summer Academic Enrichment Teacher
Jeryl, or Ms. Jeri as she is known to the kids at Family Connections, was born into an Army family at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. She grew up with two sisters and two brothers; she is the youngest girl and fourth child. For the majority of her life, she has lived in California. She has also lived in Texas and Germany. In addition to Family Connections, Jeryl works for the San Francisco Unified School District as a Special Education classroom paraprofessional.

Mimi Ly, Chinese and Vietnamese Bilingual Outreach
Mimi Ly has been involved with our Center since 1994. She is a mother of two lovely children and a local community leader. She enjoys working with families, especially new immigrants, in helping them to adjust and adapt to their new environment. She is also passionate about helping people to become financially independent. Mimi enjoys grocery shopping/ collecting grocery coupons, and her hobbies are walking, traveling, and listening to music. She is a big basketball fan, and enjoys spending quality time with friends and family.

Gina Mendicino MA, Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist
Gina has been with Family Connections for over 10 years. She has stepped down as our Family Therapist and is instead working part time in our Next Steps Pre-K readiness program, as well as our Summer Program. She enjoys working with children and their families. She particularly loves seeing a young child grow and move through the various programs Family Connections provides. She is a San Francisco Bay Area native. She treasures spending time with family and friends.

Bee Moua, Site Supervisor/Early Literacy Coordinator
Bee Moua has been in the child development field for over 9 years working with children ranging from birth to 13 years of age. In her 9 years of being in the field, she has acquired many years of classroom teaching and administrative managerial experiences in working with children, their families and the public community. In addition to her experience in the field, she holds a B.A. in Child Development and is working on completing her M.A. in Education with an emphasis on ECE (Early Childhood Education) from San Francisco State University.

Elizabeth Ortega-Toro, Community Builder
Elizabeth has over ten years of work experience in program development and implementation with a focus on community organizing and empowerment, youth advocacy and adult education. Her commitment towards social and economic justice flourished in an organization whose mission was to provide healthcare workers with counseling, education and training opportunities to advance their careers, ensure job security, and provide the highest quality of patient care possible. Elizabeth has a BA in Criminal Justice Administration and has four young children ranging from 3-13years old.

Leslie Pang, Next Steps Bilingual Lead Teacher/Assistant Site Supervisor
Leslie is the Next Steps bilingual teacher and Homework Club assistant site supervisor. Leslie graduated from UCLA with a degree in Psychology and minors in Applied Developmental Psychology and Southeast Asian Studies. Her background includes working with young children and high school students

Thanh Pham, CPDI Lead Teacher
Thanh is the Child Parent Drop In (CPDI) head teacher and has been at Family Connections since October 2009. She enjoys working with children and family. Thanh has been working with children since 2002, with a focus on children ages 0 to 5. She is also currently working with infants and toddlers with special needs while pursuing her career in Early Childhood Special Education at San Francisco State University (SFSU). Thanh studied in the Child and Adolescent Development and earned a B.A. degree at SFSU. She loves spending time with friends and family

Katryna Shek, Lead Pre-K Teacher
Katryna Shek graduated from Cal State Long Beach with a BA in Child Development and Family Studies. She loves being around children and has been volunteering and working with children since she was 13 years old. She has been working at Family Connections as the Lead Pre-K Teacher since 2003. She enjoys working with the students and families to prepare them for kindergarten. Katryna had a baby girl in June 2007 and enjoys spending time with her when she’s not working.

Celia Yu, Pre-K Teacher
Celia has been with Family Connections since early 2008. She has a B.A in Child and Adolescent Development with a concentration in Young Child and Families and a Minor in Special Education. She has been working with children for the past four years in different settings: volunteer opportunities, internships, after school programs, language schools and Pre-K classrooms. In addition, she loves to cook; pasta and curry are her favorite dishes!