Three-year plan includes input from nearly 5,000 New Mexicans
January 28, 2021 — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Children’s Cabinet Director Mariana Padilla, Early Childhood Education and Care Secretary Elizabeth Groginsky and other state Cabinet secretaries on Wednesday launched New Mexico’s first Statewide Early Childhood Strategic Plan, laying out a strategic vision for enhancing equitable access to high-quality learning opportunities for the youngest New Mexicans.
Nearly 500 New Mexican families, early childhood providers, funders, advocates and more joined the virtual launch of the Early Childhood Strategic Plan.
“We have a once in a generation opportunity to improve the lives of young children and their families,” said Gov. Lujan Grisham. “New Mexico is proudly focused on early childhood and moving forward together. This plan provides a roadmap for our state to take bold strides and be even more equitable and effective in our work to improve outcomes for children.”
The plan is the result of a year and a half of community engagement and vetting with nearly 5,000 people providing input from diverse communities across New Mexico. It was funded through the federal Preschool Development Grant Birth to Five (PDG B-5).
The plan’s strategic vision seeks to ensure that each and every New Mexican child, prenatal to age 5, and their families will have equitable access to quality learning opportunities to support their development, health, and well-being, ensuring they are ready to succeed in kindergarten and beyond. The strategic plan’s vision pulls the Early Childhood Education and Care Department, Children, Youth and Families Department, Public Education Department, Department of Health, Human Services Department and Indian Affairs Department into a rigorous singular framework to develop, represent and execute the investments and multi-prong approaches that New Mexico will use to address the long-term needs of our children.
“ECECD is excited to collaborate with the Children’s Cabinet and our private sector partners to build a strong, equitable early childhood system that delivers quality programs and services to support the diverse communities of New Mexico,” said Secretary Groginsky.
One of the strategic plan’s goals—to strengthen government relationships with tribes, pueblos, and sovereign Nations to support early childhood opportunities—will help to ensure respect for, and celebration of, New Mexico’s multicultural and multilingual diversity. “This is a true showcase of State-Tribal Collaboration Act, and the goals of this plan support the importance of the work to be done within tribal communities,” said Secretary Trujillo.
The strategic plan sets forth six clear goals around Families, Governance, Workforce, Funding, Data, and Tribal relationships. All the goals have clear objectives and identified action plans and measures of success.
The process was led by the New Mexico Early Childhood Development Partnership in conjunction with the Native American Budget and Policy Institute.
A copy of the Statewide Early Childhood Strategic Plan can be found here: 2021-2024_NMEarlyChildhood_StrategicPlan.pdf (nmececd.org). The Plan will be available on the website in Spanish next month.
A video of the Strategic Plan’s launch on Wednesday can be found here: https://fb.watch/3hwzEE0jq-/
For more information, please contact Brendan Egan, Brendan.egan2@state.nm.us, (505) 551-2762.