Early Childhood

The Rio Arriba County Early Childhood Collaborative was formed in 2018 at the request of community interest to better network and understand the services being offered to young children and their families in the county. The group of close to fifty educational, health and other service organizations meets monthly with a community program guest speaker at each meeting.

Responding to an increasing number of grandparents involved in raising their grandchildren in Rio Arriba County, the Early Childhood Program has assessed grandparent needs and collaborated with organizations already working in this area to form the Grandparents/Kin Raising Children Advisory Council, which helps provide a variety of services to grandparents and their grandchildren, including respite, counseling, education, stipends, mentorship, and access to legal aid services.

Started in 2017, in partnership with the Eight Northern Pueblos Council, Inc. (ENIPC) and members from each Pueblo, appointed by the Governors, the Pueblo Outreach Project provided assistance in increasing the participation of families in family support systems such as home visitation in the eight Northern Indian Pueblo communities. This initiative was successful in forming early childhood collaboratives in each of the eight Pueblos, with early childhood plans unique to each community.

The Early Childhood Program’s Education Training Initiative was established as a way to respond to feedback from community members interested learning how to be more effective parents and caregivers through early childhood education. Among the topics of previous sessions are “Early Childhood Development,” “Nourishing Our Children From Birth to Young Adulthood,” “Mindful Parenting—Guidance with Love” “Helping Your Child Build a Strong Brain” and “Grant Proposal Writing and Reporting.”

The statewide work done by the LANL Foundation’s early childhood team focuses on strengthening family support systems through collaboration, equity and advocacy. This work has brought multiple stakeholders together to address complex issues in early childhood to provide an integrated continuum of quality early childhood services to our state with a focus on prevention strategies such as home visitation. Initiatives include a robust statewide Home Visiting Collaborative with an interactive Home Visiting Capacity Map and membership with the New Mexico Early Childhood Funders Group, which is made up of private and public charitable Foundations working together to support quality, culturally responsive early childhood education and care.

Culturally responsive, quality home visiting has proven to be an effective service delivery model that strengthens families, children and communities, leading to self-sufficiency, lower health costs and school readiness. Along with other partners, the LANL Foundation has actively advocated for home visiting as an effective strategy that strengthens families, children and communities.