 Social Enterprises:
Child Care Centers
Chaparral Family Development Center
Chaparral, New Mexico
The Colonias Development Council began working with women in Chaparral on a child care center project in 2001. In 2002, another group of women formed to teach themselves sewing skills. In 2003, the Colonias Development Council worked with both groups to combine their energy to apply for federal funding for a building to house their planned activities. The groups received funding from the Housing and Urban Development Department in 2004, and the construction of an almost 4,000 square foot facility was completed in August 2007.
The Chaparral Family Development Center now houses the HELP New Mexico’s Pre-K and Head Start programs and the Happy Faces Day Care program. It also has a sewing room for the women’s sewing collaborative Creaciones Yuca, a commercial kitchen and a multi-purpose room that is rented for community events.
The Colonias Development Council has recently hired a new director for the center and will continue to provide training opportunities to the day care employees. In addition, Happy Faces Day Care is working on a proposal to become a Head Start program and Creaciones Yuca is developing a webpage.
Columbus Child Development Center
Columbus, New Mexico
In 1997, five women from the Mujeres en Progreso organization of Columbus began efforts to develop a quality child development facility within their small rural community along the U.S.-Mexican border. They envisioned a center that would give their children and other farmworker children, who would sit alone in cars while their parents worked in the fields, a safe and stimulating place to grow and learn. The women also hoped to create stable jobs for women like themselves who were working strenuous and seasonal jobs.
After five long years of dedication, determination, hard work, organizational help from the CDC, financial assistance from the Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces, and a federal grant obtained through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the five women opened the Columbus Child Development Center in 2002.
Today, the Columbus Child Development Center provides quality care to children ages six weeks to thirteen years old as well as jobs for five women. It has reached the 2 Stars level of licensure and the parents and children are happy with the services provided. While the center struggles financially because of the low incomes of the residents of Columbus, the Center’s staff continues to provide needed services to the children of their community. The women work to improve their professional skills through training opportunities provided by the CDC. The CDC also provides in-kind management and accounting services to the Center.
Compressed Earth Blocks (CEBs)
Duplex: Apartamentos Carlos Corral
Take a virtual tour of the apartamentos! |
