Updated: August 17, 2026
What’s Inside?
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Reminders/Announcements
Home Visiting expands to all 33 counties in FY27
New Mexico Home Visiting is contracted to serve more than 8,200 individuals across every county in the state in fiscal year 2027, an expansion built on increased statewide capacity and new partnerships with local providers.
Home visiting is a voluntary, no-cost service. A trained home visitor meets regularly with expecting parents and families with young children, usually in the family’s own home, and works on whatever that family needs most: healthy pregnancy and infant care, child development and early learning, parent wellbeing, and connection to community resources like food assistance, housing support, and health care.
The significance of reaching all 33 counties is geographic. New Mexico’s rural and frontier counties have historically had the thinnest coverage, which meant a family’s access to support depended less on need than on where they happened to live. Contracting for statewide coverage is what closes that gap.
Families can enroll directly. No referral from a doctor or agency is required, and participation does not affect eligibility for any other benefit.
Go deeper: Find a home visiting program near you
Loans starting at $100,000 for child care facilities — applications open Sept. 1
The Child Care Facility Loan Fund offers low-interest, long-term loans for major capital projects: expansion, renovations and repairs, new construction, or operating capital. It’s a partnership between ECECD and the New Mexico Finance Authority.
Why it matters: Financing is one of the hardest barriers to growing child care supply in New Mexico. This fund exists to make affordable capital available to providers ready to make serious investments in their programs.
Who’s eligible:
- Child care providers — individuals, private businesses, nonprofits, and entities owned or managed by tribal governments — who operate or plan to operate licensed home-based or center-based programs
- Employers who want to provide child care for their employees
- Not eligible: entities owned or managed by state or local government, including school districts and charter schools
The details:
- Loans start at $100,000
- Applications open Tuesday, Sept. 1 at 12 p.m. and close Saturday, Oct. 31 at 5 p.m.
- Incomplete or late applications will not be reviewed
- Funds are limited and applications are scored competitively — bring a detailed, well-planned proposal
Worth knowing: Projects in McKinley, Santa Fe, Sandoval, Lea, Eddy, Bernalillo, and Doña Ana counties earn additional points on the scoring rubric. Loans are open to eligible projects statewide.
What’s next:
- Catch a September info session (join here — note this is a different Zoom link than the Community Call):
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- Thursday, Sept. 3, 12:30–1:30 p.m.
- Wednesday, Sept. 9, 6–7 p.m.
- Saturday, Sept. 12, 10–11 a.m.
- Apply, read the FAQ, and find application resources: nmececd.org/childcareloan
- Questions: ECECD.ChildCareLoan@ececd.nm.gov
September is National Student Parent Month
ECECD recognizes September as National Student Parent Month and marks the statewide launch of the New Mexico Student Parent Alliance.
Parenting students are one of the least visible groups in early childhood. They are counted as students by their colleges and as parents by early childhood systems, and the two rarely coordinate. The result is a family managing a class schedule, a work schedule, and a child care schedule that were each designed without reference to the other two.
The New Mexico Student Parent Alliance (NMSPA) exists to close that coordination gap. It began as a pilot program at Santa Fe Community College and has since launched statewide, with representation from every higher education institution in New Mexico.
NMSPA works from a two-generation approach, meaning the parent’s education and the child’s development are treated as one goal rather than two competing ones. In practice that looks like child care on campus, family-friendly spaces where a student can study with a child present, and direct connection to food, housing, and other resources.
Go deeper: Learn more about the New Mexico Student Parent Alliance
475 administrators met for NM PreK’s FY27 regional meetings
New Mexico PreK hosted two in-person administrator meetings in the last week of July, one in Las Cruces and one in Albuquerque, drawing 475 program administrators between them.
The meetings were organized by region rather than by program type. That structure was deliberate: it put administrators next to the peers they are most likely to need — people facing the same enrollment patterns, the same staffing market, the same distances. Feedback on the regional grouping was strong enough that it carries forward into the FY27 schedule.
Quarterly meetings continue virtually in October, February, and May. Save-the-date flyers go to funded providers soon.
Spanish interpretation will be provided at all meetings. If you are a person with a disability and would like to request accommodations, or a person with limited English proficiency and need interpretation in a language other than what will be provided, contact Josephine Salas at Josephine.Salas@ececd.nm.gov or 505-500-9752 at least two weeks before the meeting.
Early educators: share your experience, get $100
The Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE) at UC Berkeley, in partnership with ECECD, is inviting New Mexico early educators to join focus groups evaluating the Infant Toddler Pay Parity Program.
Why it matters: You don’t have to have participated in the program to participate in the evaluation. CSCCE wants perspectives from educators across the board — and the findings shape how the program evolves.
Who they’re looking for:
- Center directors
- Home-based child care providers
- Center-based lead teachers and assistants
The details:
- When: Late August through September
- Time commitment: 90 minutes
- Thank-you: $100 Amazon gift card
What’s next: CSCCE will contact directors, home-based providers, and classroom educators directly with scheduling information. Watch your inbox.
Events
September Early Childhood Community Call
You’re Invited to participate in September’s Early Childhood Community Call!
Join ECECD Secretary Elizabeth Groginsky and special guests on the first Tuesday of every month from 8–9 a.m., to discuss important issues pertaining to the New Mexico early childhood community.
The next Early Childhood Community Call will be Tuesday, September 1, 2026.
Did you miss the most recent Community Call?
Click here for the recording (Spanish translation is available under audio settings)
Presentation: Coming Sooon!
Zoom Meeting Details (same link every meeting):
Click here to Join via Zoom
- Telephone: 669-900-9128 or 253-215-8782
- Webinar ID: 958 5783 9577
Individuals who require a disability-related accommodation or language access services to participate in this event are asked to contact ececd-access@ececd.nm.gov at least 10 days in advance of the scheduled meeting.
Child Care: Growing Supply brings families and advocates to the South Valley Aug. 29
Partnership for Community Action hosts Child Care: Growing Supply — Celebrating and Elevating Early Childhood on Saturday, Aug. 29, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at 722 Isleta Blvd. SW in Albuquerque.
The event is built for families as much as for providers. Alongside resource tables and remarks from local leaders and advocates, there are hands-on family activities, so parents can bring their children rather than arrange child care in order to attend a child care event.
Growing the supply of child care is one of the harder problems in New Mexico early childhood. Demand outpaces available seats in much of the state, and the South Valley is among the communities where families feel that gap most directly. Events like this one are where the people living the shortage and the people working on it are in the same room.
Partnership for Community Action leads the event, with support from Growing Up New Mexico, ECECD, and LIIF.
Live Spanish interpretation will be provided.
Go deeper: RSVP for Child Care: Growing Supply
Professional Development
Coalition Spotlight: Coalition for Science Learning in Early Childhood
ECECD supports 18 Local Early Childhood System Building Coalitions across 14 counties. Each works to strengthen its community’s ability to deliver high-quality programs and services for children from birth to age 5, advancing New Mexico’s Early Childhood Strategic Plan and ECECD’s five-year plan, Florecer, through community-driven solutions and local-state partnership.
This issue features the Coalition for Science Learning in Early Childhood (CSLEC), based in Albuquerque. CSLEC is a growing network of families, educators, and organizations working to expand access to early STEAM — science, technology, engineering, art, and math — learning across New Mexico. The coalition envisions a future where all children and families are supported by engaging, developmentally appropriate STEAM experiences starting at birth.
Earlier this year, the coalition hosted two Family STEAM Studio events, each themed around feedback from participating families. The January session focused on cold and frozen water; the March session, titled Spring, Stretch and Bounce, followed. Both offered hands-on activities, take-home materials, and food.
The format is built around families exploring together rather than watching a demonstration. That matters for a reason beyond the activity itself: parents who have done a science activity alongside their child tend to be more confident continuing that kind of exploration at home, where most early learning actually happens. Bringing families together also builds the community connections that make a coalition durable.
Go deeper: Visit the Coalition for Science Learning in Early Childhood
Contact: Sara McKinney at smckinney@explora.us
Live: New Mexico’s Professional Development Information System
New Mexico’s Professional Development Information System (PDIS) is now live. This free online platform centralizes education tracking, credentials, required trainings, and wages for all early childhood professionals.
Enrollment Deadlines
- Wednesday, July 1, 2026: Home Visiting and FIT programs.
Create Your PDIS Profile by clicking this link for the PDIS page on NMECECD’s website.
Support and Accessibility
- Technical Support: Email PDIS-Support@ececd.nm.gov
- Accommodations: To request an accommodation or ASL or spoken language interpretation, contact Maria Spray by phone at 505-670-8993 or click here to email at least five business days before your planned session.
FOCUS Professional Development substitution: Two college courses now substitute for three FOCUS trainings
New Mexico educators now have the option to substitute certain college courses for three FOCUS training requirements. The substitution provides a path toward higher education while protecting educator time in the classroom.
The substitution
Either of the following college courses may be substituted for three FOCUS trainings:
- Guiding Young Children
- Family and Community Collaboration
Why it matters
The change credits prior coursework that already covers the content of three FOCUS modules — reducing duplicative training time for educators who’ve already learned this material in a college setting and reinforcing the higher-education pathway as a credential-building option.
Next steps
The full FOCUS training substitution flyer lists the eligible courses, the specific FOCUS trainings they substitute for, and the steps to apply the substitution. The flyer is available in English and Spanish.
The New Mexico Panic Button: One-tap emergency response for early childhood programs
The Rave Panic Button is a mobile application designed to quickly alert authorities and simultaneously notify all on-site staff of an emergency at an early childhood program.
How it works
When activated, the Panic Button:
- Contacts authorities immediately, providing emergency responders with the program’s location and incident type
- Notifies all staff on-site at the same time, so emergency response protocols can begin without delay
- Reduces response time on both ends — staff coordination is faster, and first responders arrive better informed
Why it matters
In an emergency, the gap between an incident and an organized response is what costs the most — both in safety risk and in cognitive load on staff trying to coordinate while managing children. A single tap collapses that gap.
Learn more