United Way of Santa Fe County

UWSFC Makes Second Million Dollar Payment on Kaune Building.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date: May 30, 2017

Contact: Marisol Baird

Cell: (505) 920-5939

Email: marisolb@uwsfc.org

UWSFC Makes Second Million Dollar Payment on Kaune Building.

United Way of Santa Fe County is closer to opening United Way Early Learning Center at Kaune with building payment to Santa Fe Public Schools.                                      

Santa Fe, NM – United Way of Santa Fe County (UWSFC) is proud to announce that it will complete the second payment to Santa Fe Public Schools (SFPS) for the purchase of the Kaune Elementary School Building at 1409 Monterey Ave, Santa Fe, NM 87505. The second payment totaled $1,000,000 plus $50,000 in accrued interest and was paid on Friday, May 24, 2017. The Kaune Elementary School building will become the United Way Early Learning Center at Kaune.

The early learning center at Kaune will provide high-quality early childhood education and care to 184 children, ages six-weeks through Prekindergarten. UWSFC has launched the Kaune Kids Campaign to call on the community of Santa Fe to help raise $500,000 to complete the first phase of renovation: the Brindle Frost Baby Wing for children six-weeks through age 2. UWSFC has raised $3.2 million of the $7 million needed to complete the transformation of Kaune.

“We are proud to announce that we are one step closer to opening the United Way Early Learning Center at Kaune,” said Katherine Freeman, President & CEO. “With the help of the community we will be able to open the Brindle Frost Baby Wing to serve babies, toddlers, and their families in 2018.”

“I greatly appreciate the leadership and partnership of United Way of Santa Fe County.” said Veronica C. Garcia, Ed.D., Superintendent of SFPS. “This win-win relationship helps both of our organizations and ensures that the children of our community have access to high-quality early childhood education.”

UNITED WAY OF SANTA FE COUNTY BACKGROUND

Early childhood education and care is the sole mission of United Way of Santa Fe County, with a commitment to ensuring that every child receives an opportunity to succeed in school and in life. UWSFC is committed to engaging the entire community, bringing together people and resources to create opportunities for children and families to achieve their dreams and aspirations.

Beginning in 2004, UWSFC has served approximately 6,000 families by using a two-generation approach, supporting both the children and families in a series of high-quality early childhood programs designed to prepare children to enter kindergarten ready to succeed.

To learn more please visit www.uwsfc.org. 

2016 State of Preschool Yearbook Shows New Mexico Investing More to Reach More Children

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, May 24, 2017

 Contact:
Danila Crespin Zidovsky
danilaz@uwsfc.org
505-435-3184

2016 State of Preschool Yearbook Shows New Mexico Investing More to Reach More Children

 New Mexico PreK Recognized for Increased Funding and a Focus on Quality

 [SANTA FE, NM] – New Mexico boosted PreK funding by almost 30 percent and expanded enrollment, according to the 2016 State of Preschool Yearbook released today by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER). Despite the increase, New Mexico is currently ranked 16^th in access for 4-year-olds out of 44 states and 22^nd for access for 3-year-olds among the 29 states that served 3-year-olds.

The State of Preschool Yearbook is the only national report on state-funded preschool programs with detailed information on enrollment, funding, teacher qualifications, and other policies related to quality. State-funded PreK programs are ranked along ten benchmarks of quality. Decades of research shows that early childhood education can prepare children for greater success in elementary school and beyond, with benefits largest for the most disadvantaged– but only if quality is high. 

New Mexico enrolled 9,757 children in PreK, including one-third of state 4-year-olds and almost 2 percent of 3-year-olds. Nationwide, state-funded preschool program enrollment reached an all-time high, serving nearly 1.5 million children, 32 percent of 4-year-olds and five percent of 3-year-olds. Five states met all 10 current quality standards benchmarks. Nine states had programs that met fewer than half; and seven states do not fund preschool at all.

“Early childhood education is one of the best ways we can invest in our children, families and local economy,” said New Mexico Early Childhood Development Partnership (NMECDP) Vice President for Policy and Stakeholder Engagement, Claire Dudley Chavez. “While we are excited to announce NIEER’s findings and the expansion of high-quality NM PreK, we must continue to work toward providing high-quality pre-K for every New Mexican child, ensuring they get the best possible start in life.”

NM PreK by the numbers in 2016:

• Total state funding was $51 million in 2015-2016, a 29 percent increase of $11.3 million from 2014-2015.
• New Mexico’s PreK program served 9,757 children, including 9,254 4-year-olds and 503 3-year-olds. Enrollment increased by 1,360 children from 2014-2015.
• New Mexico ranked 16^th in access for 4-year-olds out of 44 states and 22^nd for access for 3-year-olds among the 29 states that served 3-year-olds.
• State funding per child was $5,233, an increase of $502 from 2014-2015, ranking 20^th nationwide.
• New Mexico met eight of NIEER’s 10 current quality standards benchmarks.

Current benchmarks were designed to help states build programs, focusing on resources and policies related to the structural aspects of public pre-K—elements needed for a high-quality program but not fully defining one. This year, NIEER is introducing major revisions to the policy benchmarks for the first time since the Yearbook was launched in 2003. The new benchmarks raise the bar by focusing on policies that more directly support continuous improvement of classroom quality. State profiles in the 2016 Yearbook include both current and new benchmark scores.

New Mexico met 8 of the new benchmarks, meeting new requirements for early learning and development standards that are culturally sensitive, supported, and aligned with other state standards and child assessments. They also met the new requirements for supports for curriculum implementation; professional development, ongoing-coaching, and individualized professional development plans for both lead and assistant teachers; and have a continuous quality improvement system.

“NMECDP is committed to advancing access to NM PreK. We look forward to working with state policy leaders to prioritize funding in order to ensure every child has access to high-quality PreK,” Danila Crespin Zidovsky, Policy Analyst.

The New Mexico Early Childhood Development Partnership will launch the 2017 Expand NM PreK Tour in September. NMECDP will visit the following communities: Roswell, Las Vegas, Silver City, Gallup, Santa Fe, Albuquerque. For more information, please visit www.nmecdp.org. 

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 The State of Preschool Yearbook was supported with funding provided by the Heising-Simons Foundation while the survey data on which it relies was funded by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The findings, interpretations, and conclusions in this report are solely those of the authors. For more information and detailed state-by-state profiles on quality access, and funding, please visit www.nieer.org.