Brindle

FROM our GRANTEES

The weekly Nuestra Jornada (Our Journey) Young Parents Group at Gerard’s House gives essential support for Latina immigrant moms, dads and their babies. Since 1997 Gerard’s House has been supporting grieving children and families. The Nuestra Jornada program recognizes the grief and uncertainty many immigrant youth experience.

NMAEYC, the state chapter of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, supports the many early childhood teachers in the state, providing resources and advocating that these professionals deserve greater recognition for the essential role they play as the educators of our youngest children.

Story time at the Embudo Valley Library offers families in this rural community opportunities to understand the importance of reading, singing and playing with their babies and toddlers, building the foundations for early literacy when a baby’s brain is developing rapidly.

Many Mothers trains volunteers to provide much-needed assistance and respite to moms and dads with newborns. Having a baby can be exhausting; having a trusted volunteer watching your baby so you get a nap can make all the difference.

REEL Fathers encourages fathers to engage more with their young children through film, storytelling, shared art activities, and meals together. In group meetings, dads can share experiences about their own fathers and their hopes for their children.

News & Events

Welcome ECECD!

July 2020

The Brindle Foundation is delighted to welcome the New Mexico Early Childhood Education and Care Department (ECECD). As of July 1, New Mexico joins only three other states in the US with such a department. Under the leadership of Secretary Elizabeth Groginsky, a talented team is already working hard towards the goal that every child “has access to the health, developmental, educational, nutritional and socioemotional supports they need to thrive,” according to Sec. Groginsky. Importantly, NM now also has the country’s first Assistant Secretary for Native American Early Childhood and Care, Jovanna Archuleta. The foundation looks forward to partnering with the new department, as well as the state’s diverse communities, to strengthen opportunities for all of NM’s youngest.

COVID-19 Early Childhood Perspectives and Resources

May 2020

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for early childhood education and care has both garnered attention and caused concern. It has become clear that significantly more support will be required moving forward, including for child care providers.
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See our COVID-19 page for viewpoints offered by advocates, policymakers, and organizations supporting childcare, as well as a short list of resources available to those working in this industry in New Mexico.

It's Count all Kids Day for the US Census!

March 18, 2020

"With roughly 300 federal programs using Census data to allocate more than $675 billion each year, inaccurate Census data could result in a decade or more of inadequate funding for key programs serving babies and their families across the nation." Please share these resources from Zero to Three for how important it is that we all join forces to count babies.

In New Mexico especially, it is more critical than ever to respond to the census, given the undercount we experienced as a state last time.

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Brindle Names Mary Nell Wegner as Executive Director

January 11, 2020

Following a very reflective search process, the Brindle Foundation is pleased to announce Mary Nell Wegner as our new Executive Director.

A resident of Santa Fe, Mary Nell has extensive experience as a maternal and reproductive public health advocate and strategist across the globe. Most recently she served as Executive Director of the Maternal Health Task Force at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She has worked both for funders nationally as well as for community-based and nonprofit organizations (EngenderHealth, White Mountain Apache Tribal Health Authority, The Women’s Dignity Project, Planned Parenthood) and holds degrees in Cultural Anthropology, International Education, and Public Health. Bringing expertise in organizational capacity building, leadership development, systems-level collaboration, programmatic learning, and a natural ability to forge partnerships, Mary Nell has helped to strengthen numerous programs on behalf of mothers, babies and families, including rural and indigenous communities, in the US and internationally.

Brindle remains committed to its work in early childhood, prenatal to three, supporting direct service programs in Santa Fe, San Miguel, Mora, Rio Arriba and Taos counties, as well as statewide efforts around early childhood policy and advocacy, and higher education. The foundation cares deeply about the issues facing New Mexico and in keeping close relationships with grantees and partners. Mary Nell’s commitment to building and tending relationships and understanding the social determinants that have an impact on maternal, newborn and child wellbeing promise to carry on the heart and thoughtful engagement so valued by the foundation.

We wish to thank NPAG, Linh Nguyen, Katherine Jacobs and numerous others who have helped us in conducting the search.

We are excited that someone of Mary Nell’s caliber will lead us, beginning Jan 21st, in “making noise for babies” in this new decade.

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