Overview

Cradle to Career Collective Impact in central New Mexico.

Led by the United Way of Central New Mexico, the Albuquerque Talent Hub is a collective impact collaboration that leads several initiatives focused on postsecondary completion, family stability, and community investment.  Formerly Mission: Graduate and Mission: Families, the ABQ Talent Hub recently combined their impact teams to form a Cradle to Career initiative.  This new structure recognizes that long-standing inequities and social injustices have disproportionately affected children and families of color and those from lower-income homes. True equity can only be achieved by tackling the systemic and institutional issues impacting poverty, housing, safety, education, and racism.

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People

Sondra Slivon
Senior Director, Community Impact
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Martha Hughes
Adult Education Manager
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Outcomes

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Districts Statewide Reached

United Way of Central New Mexico’s Attendance Team Support Group, made up of representatives of local school districts, NMPTA, NMPBS, NM Juvenile Justice, School Based Health Centers, and the National Dropout Center, has partnered with the New Mexico Public Education Department to present a series of virtual trainings and resources to assist school districts throughout the state as they implement the new Attendance for Success Act.  The trainings have focused on specific changes to district policies that must occur in order for the districts to comply with the law and be effective as they seek to remove barriers to attendance that families face. The work of this group is focused on school-based attendance teams needing guidance and resources as they work to change their policies and processes in the implementation of this law. 

43,058

Additional New Graduates 20210-2019

Educational attainment in central New Mexico increased by an additional 43,058 post-secondary graduates from our baseline year in 2010. UWCNM collective impact initiatives partner with local school districts, higher education institutions, state departments, non-profit organizations, and the business community to address barriers and improve systems for increased student access, enrollment, presentence, and completion. Projects include the Valencia County Partnership, the Bursar/Cashier Hold Working Group, College & Career Readiness activities and workshops.

$14M

In tax refunds and credits returned to 7,000 New Mexicans in 2021

Tax Help NM offers free tax preparation services to New Mexico households with an annual income of $56,000 or less and for senior citizens. During COVID-19, Tax Help NM pivoted by offering safe, socially distanced intake and online tax preparation for clients. In the coming year, Tax Help NM plans to implement an awareness campaign about the new child tax credits and will offer financial education and information to clients as well. 

Key Initiatives

Strategic Barrier Removal Working Groups - Institutional Debt

UWCNM began a series of collaborative “Strategic Barrier Removal Working Groups” focused on identifying and addressing barriers to educational access and success for adults. The first cross-sectoral group, which met January through June 2021, focused on the barrier of low-level institutional student debt and bursar (or cashier) holds, which often block low-resource individuals from re-enrolling and attaining needed trade/career-focused and academic classwork. The group produced a summary report of local findings and national data around institutional debt and listed a set of specific proposals, and collaborated with the CNM Foundation to start a Finish Line Fund.  

Outcomes: 

  • Involving and compensating students with previous institutional debt experience 
  • Student interview video compilation 
  • Local higher education institution learning panels 
  • Summary of local findings & national data/trends 
  • Data request from Central New Mexico Community (analysis by Dec. 2021) 
  • New Mexico Higher Education Department and Legislative panel  
  • Specific proposals including: pilots at local higher education institutions to test the prevailing assumption that bursar and transcript holds increase the overall financial health of an institution; encouraging multi-sectoral collaboration to remove barriers; the adoption of student-centered approaches; the adoption of debt-removal initiatives 
  • Creation of the ‘Finish Line Fund’ in collaboration with the CNM Foundation to provide students with low-level institutional debt the opportunity to re-enroll and complete credentials. 

Central New Mexico Community College

CNM is New Mexico’s largest community college, serving more than 30,000 students every year. We strive every day to help each of our students achieve their educational and career goals while producing a skilled workforce that helps our local economy grow and thrive. We take great pride in serving students from all backgrounds and are #1 in the nation on number of Native American graduates, and in the Top 10 in Hispanic graduates. We provide award-winning student support services that are tailored to each individual. For 55 years, we have remained committed to keeping a CNM education affordable and accessible to all of our community members. 

Valencia County Partnership

The Valencia County Partnership for a Work Ready Community (VCPWRC) is made up of local employers, educators, and community members in this largely rural area. The group works to address the gap between the skills that local employers say they need and the focus of local schools by changing the practices within the districts.  This community has a high poverty rate (17.6%) and a high rate of adults without a high school diploma (15.5%) and the rural aspects of the county make it more difficult for students to participate in external career readiness events. The goal of the partnership is to strengthen the local workforce while increasing the opportunities for local youth to investigate college and career options. To do this, the group is focusing on incorporating college and career readiness into everyday lessons, and bringing local employers into the schools for face-to-face engagement with students and teachers.  

After the 2021 Summer Teacher Academy, where employers presented workshops to local teachers on the skills they look for when hiring, 99% of survey respondents (36 teachers) agreed that: 1.) they have a better understanding of the skills local employers are looking for in graduates, 2.) they will connect more with local employers in the coming year, 3.) they feel better able to discuss local career options with their students, 4.)  they would participate again in this Teacher Academy, and 5.) they would recommend the Teacher Academy to other teachers. In addition, 100% of participating employers (15) agreed that they were able to connect with teachers on the skills that are needed in Valencia County and would like to connect more with students during the school year. 

COVID-19 Emergency Action Group

UWCNM has formed an Emergency Action Group (EAG) to connect families and children with resources to address acute, short-term needs during the COVID-19 crisis. The group of cross-sector partners has provided support to children and families since its inception in April, 2020.   

Those activities include: 

  • Secured support, furniture, and resources for families subject to eviction 
  • Donation of more than 250 hand-sewn masks for the Family Advocacy Center (FAC) and Tax Help New Mexico 
  • Assured APS Grab-and-Go Meals are available to all families 
  • Deployed text-to-mobile messages for families with young children about COVID-19 resources  
  • Secured hand sanitizer for the Rape Crisis Center 
  • Delivered emergency hygiene packets for the Westside Emergency Shelter 
  • Shared COVID-19 Resource Lists between 2-1-1 and APS @home Helpline 
  • Prerecorded a Spanish message on the FAC phone line directing Spanish speaking victims of domestic violence to Enlace Comunitario 
  • Secured a donation of 9,000 breakfast bars for ABC Community School food pantries in need 
  • Addressed a Native American family’s funeral expense needs for two children lost to COVID-19 

The participating partners of the EAG include: 

  • Albuquerque Public Schools (APS); APS School Board 
  • Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office (Community-Based Crime Reduction) 
  • DreamSpring 
  • Enlace Comunitario 
  • Heading Home 
  • NMCAN 
  • New Mexico First./Share NM 
  • New Mexico Legal Aid 
  • New Mexico PBS 
  • Presbyterian Healthcare Services 
  • Pegasus Law 
  • Shine Partnership 

The Graduate Network

The Graduate! Network catalyzes communities and systems around the interests of individual aspirations and goals in the collective movement toward full education and economic equity. Bridging The Talent Gap (BTTG) is our proven approach to activate employers in support of this essential agenda. The United Way of Central New Mexico is currently using the BTTG Employee Survey to engage selected businesses who want to support the education goals and aspirations of their workers. 

LENA

LENA which stands for Language ENvironment Analysis, is a national nonprofit on a mission to transform children’s futures through early talk technology and data-driven programs. Available to all of the adults in a child’s life — both parents and teachers — LENA programs help caregivers engage more with young children, ensuring children have access to the language they need to support their socioemotional development and later academic success. 

LENA | Building Brains Through Early Talk  

 

Partners

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Featured

Central New Mexico Community College

CNM is New Mexico’s largest community college, serving more than 30,000 students every year. We strive every day to help each of our students achieve their educational and career goals while producing a skilled workforce that helps our local economy grow and thrive. We take great pride in serving students from all backgrounds and are #1 in the nation on number of Native American graduates, and in the Top 10 in Hispanic graduates. We provide award-winning student support services that are tailored to each individual. For 55 years, we have remained committed to keeping a CNM education affordable and accessible to all of our community members. 

Learn More
The Graduate Network
The Graduate! Network catalyzes communities and systems around the interests of individual aspirations and goals in the collective movement toward full education and economic equity. The United Way of Central New Mexico is currently using the BTTG Employee Survey to engage selected businesses who want to support the education goals and aspirations of their workers. You can find out more about BTTG here.
New Mexico Legal Aid
New Mexico Legal Aid provides high-quality advocacy and legal representation to eligible and low-income individuals and families to help them help themselves toward safer, more stable, and healthier futures.
Para Los Ninos
Para los Niños serves children and adolescents for whom there is concern of sexual abuse or sexual assault by providing comprehensive medical examinations, laboratory evaluations, crisis counseling and anticipatory guidance by medical experts and family advocates.
Youth Development Inc.
YDI, Youth Development Inc., is a New Mexican organization that provides Head Start, Early Head Start, and family support services to young children and their families. YDI provides quality education to young children throughout New Mexico
LENA
LENA, which stands for Language ENvironment Analysis, is a national nonprofit on a mission to transform children’s futures through early talk technology and data-driven programs. Available to all of the adults in a child’s life — both parents and teachers — LENA programs help caregivers engage more with young children, ensuring children have access to the language they need to support their socioemotional development and later academic success.
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“I want to thank you so much for the opportunity to volunteer while I lived in New Mexico. Tax Help NM changed my life! I am a tax preparer, and I’m studying to take the Enrolled Agent exam. When I retire from Higher Education in a couple of years, I’ll run my own tax business. Super jazzed for it! Thank you for the opportunity to serve. It means a lot.” 

Xeturah Woodley
Tax Help New Mexico Volunteer
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“Language is the medium through which we establish our human connections. Experiencing enough language is vital to the development and wellbeing of young children. It has been an honor to witness how our pilot program has enriched the children’s language environments, and in turn the relationships between educators and children.”

Galiana Loorem
Early Childhood Coordinator