The OLÉ Parents Association

Since 2010, New Mexico has cut parents' eligibility for subsidized child care and early education from 200% of poverty to 100%. Now, only parents making minimum wage can qualify for a subsidy, and thousands of parents are unable to afford safe child care and quality early education. Some parents have given up work. Others are making do with inferior child care that neither educates their children nor provides them with the safe environment that a licensed provider does.

Our early educators are downsizing and struggling to provide a quality education, as well. In the past year, the state cut its reimbursement rate to providers by 4%. Early education teachers are getting laid off or having hours cut, and some centers are closing, leaving parents fewer centers to choose from and the quality of their young children's education deteriorating.
Over 3,500 parents have joined OLÉ 's Working Parents Association (WPA) to revolutionize how the State of New Mexico funds and administers its early education programs. Our mission is to make quality early education affordable and accessible to all parents, to provide early education professionals with the wages and benefits they need to make a lifelong career in early ed, and to win a seat at the table for parents and providers, so they can help shape the future of early education in New Mexico.
What have we accomplished?

•  As a member of Invest in Kids Now! we came within a single vote of passing a constitutional amendment that would use New Mexico's $14 billion permanent land trust fund to put $150 million into early education programs every year. We will take another stab at putting this proposal on the ballot for voter approval in January, 2012.

• We stopped the cuts to early education from being much, much worse, convincing Governor Richardson not to cut 7,000 children from child care subsidies in the fall of 2010 and getting him to use federal stimulus funds to fill a hole in the child care budget, so he did not have to cut the state's reimbursement rate to early educators by 10%.

• We have developed an innovative partnership with Early Educators United, a statewide organization of 1,800 child development center teachers, directors, and owners who share the WPA's mission of making quality early education available and affordable for every New Mexican and providing early educators with the kind of wages, benefits, professional development and respect that most K-12 teachers have earned.

• We have built a base of parents almost anywhere in New Mexico that has child care centers, including groups in Albuquerque, Roswell, Taos, Deming, Las Cruces, Clovis, Portales, Mescalero, Hobbs, Lovington, Carlsbad, Artesia, Silver City, Hatch, Santa Fe, Espanola, and Farmington.

How can you help us accomplish more? Members help by:

+ Engaging other parents, family members and community members to fight for quality childcare
+ Participating in meetings and events
+ Asking your childcare center to support our fight
+ Hosting a planning meeting for parents
+ Attending meetings with your legislator
+ Talking to the press about issues around childcare
+ Advocating for your childcare center

To become a member and receive more information contact OLÉ!

(505)796-6544
parents@olenm.org
www.olenm.org

Register now for our first statewide Parents and Early Educators Convention Saturday, October 1 in Roswell

WPA Convention Registration Form

Registration Form Espanol