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Historic wins need to be preserved. So we focus on strengthening the early childhood workforce, addressing issues of attrition and advocating for a living wage for educators. We also push for an early learning system that makes sense to all partners, children and families, reflective of parent voices and experiences.
Passage of the Early Education Act.
The city invests $750,000 in early childhood education (ECE).
Voters approve $21 million millage for ECE1,000 classroom seats added for children under 3 years old.A local HBCU builds an early childhood lab school.
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Moms and babies need culturally competent support beyond the birthing process. Our investments support safe housing for the houseless, ongoing medical care, education assistance, job placement and family counseling.
A healthy food system takes care of everyone, from growers to growing kids. With our support, families can use Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) dollars at farmers markets. And, farmers cooperatively bring produce to markets, sharing supplies, labor and transportation.
We aim to provide joy and parity in the birthing experience of all people, of all racial backgrounds. We know Black moms face the most pronounced disparities, and are twice as likely to die after childbirth than White moms. When something goes wrong in their pregnancy, Black mothers have a right to be heard by their medical providers. We support initiatives to help Black mothers speak their truth and have access to caregivers who will liste very DNA. She is deceptively cozy, romantic and perplexingly – yet wonderfully – complicated
And we’re also striving for the city to be a place where mothers and birthing people receive culturally relevant care in their communities.
Our partners are:
Our first investments in New Orleans support scholarships in medicine and dentistry.
Our grants help increase the representation of people of color in the business and economics sectors. We continued grantmaking with a racial equity lens for decades.
Investments in community-based organizations provided neighborhood-based health care, child care and family support. Our grants also supported the teacher preparation program at Xavier University.
After Hurricane Katrina created epic devastation for families and children and highlighted the deep intersection between race and poverty, we named New Orleans a priority place, committing our investments for at least a generation.
New Orleans embodies her Native name Bulbancha — the place of many tongues — in her culture, cuisine and architecture. Alive with her Indigenous, African, French and Spanish history, you can feel the spirit and legacy on the land and in the air. Incorporated before the establishment of the U.S. (1718), diversity flows through her very DNA. She is deceptively cozy, romantic and perplexingly – yet wonderfully – complicated
It has been our humble honor to walk alongside and support New Orleans in the vision that New Orleanians have for themselves, a more equitable city with:
Good food bolsters children’s health, well-being, learning abilities and school readiness. Yet there are some significant barriers in New Mexico:
In New Mexico, farm to early care and education is an incredibly promising community-based solution – letting both children and local, sustainable food systems thrive.
This movement brings together diverse groups of community and government partners in education, health and agriculture to address systemic inequities, especially related to race and income. Together, our partners are building resilient, effective ways to get healthy food to children and families while strengthening economic opportunities, supporting health and improving the environment. Increasingly, state coalitions are embracing this win-win-win strategy to improve childhood nutrition, enrich early learning environments and help local agriculture flourish.
We envision a New Mexico where every mother, birthing person and baby can access quality, affordable and culturally relevant health care. Our long track record shows our steadfast commitment to birth justice for all New Mexicans.
We invest in community-based organizations that are improving health care through home visiting, baby-friendly hospitals, doula services and breastfeeding support. Our partners’ work is improving health outcomes and reducing the health gap for people of color across the state.
We invest in the holistic health of children, with a focus on:
Our investments center on the factors that affect employment equity, the choices available to families and the resources needed to reduce employment disparities. We support:
New Mexico’s resilient families and communities are overcoming incredible challenges to change lives and lead the nation in early childhood education.
We are honored to work along the leaders of New Mexico’s child-centered movement — groups that tirelessly work for:
Their work inspires our vision of an educational system that affirms the identity of every child. We support educational sovereignty, quality early childhood education and strong K-12 schools.
Most important, our child-centered investments include the development and scaling of culturally and linguistically responsive education. Learning that’s reflective of children’s unique identity, heritage and diversity is crucial to the academic success of New Mexico’s children.
Providing energy with an Indigenous lens: Q&A with Navajo Power co-founder Brett Isaac.
We recognize and honor Native people and their unwavering commitment to ensuring that all people thrive. Since time immemorial, Native people have upheld their traditions and cultures while making innovative contributions for a sustainable future. We commit to a future grounded in respect for the sovereign rights of Indigenous peoples.
We partner with organizations that honor Tribal Sovereignty. This means Indigenous communities are leading the decisions and charting their own culturally appropriate methods toward healthy early development outcomes for Indigenous children.
Our investments help support:
We focus our investments in four counties — Bernalillo, Doña Ana, McKinley and San Juan — and partner with the 23 Sovereign Pueblos, tribes and nations statewide. Our focus is on child-centered and community-led strategies that strengthen leaders, systems, policies and practices. Our aspiration for all children to grow, learn and thrive is being realized through innovative models that yield sustainable positive outcomes, including:
Welcome to New Mexico – a tapestry made up of the rich stories of people, cultures, languages, land, history and community pride. In New Mexico, we cherish all the mosaic cultures of our children and honor all of their identities. The threads of traditional knowledge and continuous innovation flow through the generations giving today’s New Mexicans a deeply rooted base of knowledge about what fosters children’s spirit and well-being. With these woven threads, champions and advocates for children envision a child-centered future and embody a movement of collective action and innovation.
Community grantees and partners of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation are central to this child-centered movement. Their decades-long commitments have led to historic transformations in systems and policies that advance the well-being of underserved communities and their youngest members.
At the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, our strategies cut across the political aisle, philanthropic siloes, diverse sectors and issue areas. And in partnership with the 23 Sovereign Pueblos, Tribes and Nations, we commit to a future grounded in respect for the sovereign rights of Indigenous peoples.
All in the service of children – so every child knows without a doubt they and their future are cherished.
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Preschools impacted by Socio-emotional Learning Program “AtentaMente”
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Primary schools benefiting from Socio-emotional Learning Program “AtentaMente”
Learn more about AtentaMente’s SEL program
Access to water is a fundamental need, which our community partners have established as a priority. We support local leadership, innovation and expansion in work toward sustainable water management strategies. The scope of grantee initiatives has broadened from families to groups, to neighborhoods and even communities, significantly increasing water access.
Universities in Mexico collaborate with local communities in Yucután to create an economy of solidarity.