2025 Honorees
Patty Siegel Child Care Champion
Graham Dobson
Graham Dobson has dedicated his life and career to the children, families and the early childhood education system of San Francisco, and his enduring relationships have left a lasting impact on the communities he has served.
After working as a classroom teacher in preschool classrooms and nursery schools in London for six years, Graham relocated permanently to San Francisco in 1990, where he eventually went on to earn a Master of Arts in Education at Mills College in 2011, as part of the Leadership Program in Early Childhood.
His deep commitment to early childhood education in San Francisco began with over a decade spent at the Tenderloin Child Care Center (now Compass Children’s Center). Graham’s various roles at the center included classroom teaching as well as administration. This experience propelled him into leadership positions at the San Francisco Child Care Planning and Advisory Council and the San Francisco Department of Early Childhood (formerly Office of Early Care and Education), where he continued to champion child care services in the city. We are especially grateful for Graham’s years of service as a board member and Chair of the Board of Directors of Children’s Council.
He has contributed to the fabric of this city in numerous, diverse ways, including decades of involvement in the movie theater community, notably at the Wednesday night box office for the Castro Theater for over thirty years. Graham grew up in the suburbs of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the northeast of England, and in his semi-retirement frequently returns to visit his family. He is supported by his husband of 26 years, Mick.
Family Child Care Champion
Kim Garcia-Meza
Kim Garcia-Meza is the founder and director of Escuelita Las Mañanitas, a Spanish Immersion Preschool through Kinder in San Francisco focusing on outdoor education and play based learning. Originally from a small town in Wisconsin, Kim Garcia-Meza moved to San Francisco in 1989 after graduating from college. She holds a BA from Stanford University, a Bilingual Multiple Subject Teaching Credential from SFSU, a Masters in International and Multicultural Education from USF, a year of field research on bilingual education in Argentina, and a Preschool Program Director Permit from the State of California. Before founding Las Mañanitas, she worked as a Spanish bilingual educator, mentor teacher and teacher trainer in SFUSD. Kim’s advocacy has focused on parent and student educational rights as well as teacher employment rights. She served on SFUSD Flynn Elementary’s ELAC (English Learner Advisory Committee), SFUSD district level BCC (Bilingual Community Council), UESF (United Educators of San Francisco Teacher Union) , and the OECE Advisory Council. She currently serves on the University of San Francisco’s School of Education Dean’s Circle.
Over the past 17 years, KIm Garcia-Meza has grown a preschool from a part day part week school for 6 children to a Pre-K – Kinder School which offers full day full week learning opportunities, need based privately funded scholarships for their students and matching retirement funds, paid prep time and subsidized health care for their teachers.
In 2022 Kim launched Las Mañanitas Education Foundation with the support of a team of alumni parents and education advocates, fulfilling a long held vision to establish a non-profit focused on funding need based scholarships for Escuelita Las Mañanitas, planting Little Free Libraries in our greater community, and raising seed money to eventually create a community center.