UVNR has worked over the past 3 years to best understand the challenges and barriers to newcomers families enrolling their children in Early Childhood Education (ECE). By conducting interviews with newcomer families, it became clear that ECE Centers were not meeting the needs of the refugee and newcomer community in Albuquerque.

We are focused on facilitating awareness and use of ECE by refugee families by creating education opportunities for refugees to learn about ECE, creating opportunities for refugee families to tour ECE facilities, and creating linguistically inclusive resources for refugees on ECE in Albuquerque. UVNR has created culturally appropriate resources for ECE Centers to promote increased understanding when working with refugee families​. UNVR has also developed an inventory of supportive ECE Centers for interested refugee families.

Through support from the Kellogg Foundation, UVNR is working with the Albuquerque Islamic Center(AIC) on the development of a culturally appropriate, high quality ECE center for Muslim refugees and the greater Albuquerque Islamic community, with UVNR providing technical assistance to establish the center, create the culturally tailored curriculum, and become state certified for public funding.

UVNR works to supportK-12 education in newcomer communities by providing linguistical and cultural support to parents and students when navigating educational systems and institutions, encouraging parental participation in children’s education, and providing parents with tools to advocate for their children’s education. Students enrolled in RIWP that are K-12 also receive tutoring and homework support from UNM students and volunteers

We are also engaged in important systems change work to improve cultural competency, language accessibility, and supports for refugee children in ECE and K-12 public schools.

Interested in learning more about the UVNR ECE & K-12 program? Contact, Suha Amer, project lead.

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