Ángela García
“I always make it a point to remind people that we are building little humans,” said Ángela García, President and CEO of The Toy Box Early Learning & Child Care Centers in Las Cruces, New Mexico, when talking about one of her passions: early childhood education.
“Early childhood education is the foundation of a child’s future. They learn so many skills during the first few years of their lives,” said García. “80% of a child’s brain develops before the age of 5, meaning that if we support children during that crucial time of their lives, we can change the world.”
Early childhood education (ECE) refers to the learning that takes place in the first five years of life. This critical period is the foundation for later learning, setting the stage for intellectual, emotional, and social growth. Research shows that children who receive ECE have better academic, social, and economic outcomes in adulthood. By providing children with the tools they need to succeed, ECE can go a long way in reducing the achievement gap between children from different socioeconomic backgrounds. In these crucial first five years, children acquire the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in life. Children who receive high-quality early childhood education are more likely to have good academic outcomes, from literacy and language skills to math comprehension and understanding of the natural world.
In New Mexico, we have one of the highest levels of participation in early education. Ranked 5th out of 51 states, including DC, in the Bipartisan Policy Center’s (BPC) report “We’ve Been Last in Education for Decades,” García reflects, “yet we are starting to see benefits in our approach to early learning through early education intervention.”
Ángela grew up involved in early childhood education, inspired by her mother’s passion in founding The Toy Box in 2001, a local learning center whose mission is to provide children with a safe and nurturing learning environment that emphasizes the importance of family.
“My mom is really proud of what we have done in our centers. As her biggest passion, it is what has brought her the most joy,” García said. “That is why I decided to do this because of my mom. I saw how underpaid and undervalued these passionate women are – women just like my mom.”
In fact, The Toy Box Early Learning & Child Care Centers now employs approximately 53 women and serve approximately 300 children from the community.
ECE programs mitigate a variety of social problems, including educational achievement gaps, intellectual and developmental disabilities, addiction, poverty, crime, and many others. Investing in ECE is investing in our collective future, according to García. However, this investment has not come easily.
“There are many childcare deserts in our state, which makes it very difficult to access quality early childhood education programs,” García said. “Also, limited funding for, and finding the workforce have been challenging.”
According to García, both the workforce and funding have created barriers for people who want to become business owners and open childcare centers.
“We need to professionalize early childhood education. We are educators, not babysitters. We need professional wages and the funding to allow childcare providers to expand access,” she said.