Secretary of the Early Childhood Education and Care Department (ECECD) delivered an extensive update to the Legislative Health & Human Services Committee describing department programs, budget composition and data initiatives meant to measure early development at population scale.

Secretary Graginsky said ECECD now serves a larger share of children than before the department’s creation and credited legislative investments for expanded services. "New Mexico pre‑K: we are projected to serve over 20,000 children," she said, and reported that pre‑K participation has increased for threes and fours. She said child care assistance enrollment has risen 54 percent since FY19 and that the state now covers high shares of eligible children in several programs.

The department described three major programmatic priorities: (1) expanding childcare supply and affordability (including a facility loan program and grants for start‑ups), (2) scaling evidence‑based home visiting and hospital‑to‑home models, and (3) improving early intervention and inclusion services. Secretary Graginsky highlighted Family Connects, an evidence‑based program the department plans to certify and roll out in the UNM metro hospital area: Family Connects offers a brief, universal postpartum nurse visit that connects families to local resources and routes higher‑need families into ongoing home visiting. The department said it aims to certify UNM as the first Family Connects implementing hospital and to expand to other birthing hospitals.

On early intervention, the department described recent contracting and professional development to strengthen the Family Infant Toddler (FIT) program and said FIT now delivers services statewide with new contracts executed to expand providers. The department also funded "inclusion coaches" to help childcare providers accommodate children with special needs and described professional development investments and a partnership to scale routines‑based, family‑guided intervention practices.

The department unveiled a statewide kindergarten developmental assessment (the Early Development Instrument). Staff reported 98 percent participation in a recent teacher‑completed assessment and described interactive maps that will allow district and local coalitions to see vulnerability rates by census tract. "This data allows us to ask why this community is doing well and where to invest," Graginsky said, arguing the data will inform local system building.

On supply, the department described a childcare supply‑and‑demand study that found many areas of the state remain childcare deserts, and it reported an estimated shortfall of infants and toddlers (0–2) that the department said will require investments in capacity and workforce. Graginsky asked the legislature to sustain trust‑fund distributions and budgeted appropriations to continue expansions.

Ending: The secretary closed by inviting committee members to join local resource fairs for the department’s fifth anniversary and said the department will return with more detailed implementation and budget proposals as legislative priorities are developed.