Ask Maggie why she organizes, and she’ll tell you stories about the child care providers she meets every day.
As part of her job with the Child and Adult Food Care Program, Maggie works closely with home-based child care providers throughout southern New Mexico, so she sees firsthand the challenges they face. As the daughter of a child care provider herself, she understands the sacrifices behind the work. “I saw my mom wake up early, care for children all day, and then go to a second job at night,” Maggie said. “Now I visit providers who are doing the same thing. They’re working all day and then driving for DoorDash at night just to make ends meet.” Maggie sees providers juggling long hours, increasing responsibilities, and rising costs while struggling to earn enough to support their own families. “These ladies aren’t babysitters,” she said. “They’re raising our future, and they deserve more.”
One encounter set Maggie on the path to becoming an organizer: While visiting home daycare provider and OLÉ leader Olga Grays, Maggie became curious about Olga’s advocacy work for higher wages for early educators. She had seen Olga traveling to Santa Fe and Albuquerque, attending meetings and speaking to the media. Olga invited her to an advocacy day at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe, and Maggie didn’t hesitate. “I told her, ‘This is how desperate I am. I want to go and I want to see what all this is about,’” she recalled. Maggie returned home energized and began sharing with the providers she visits about the fight for the Wage and Career Ladder and the importance of speaking up for themselves and each other.
That organizing led to a major success on May 11, when Maggie helped organize Sunland Park’s first-ever Day Without Child Care. The event brought together more than 50 providers, parents, children, elected officials, and community members to celebrate recent victories for early educators and demand better wages and support for the workforce.
“I was nervous, but I knew people would come,” Maggie said. “When providers started arriving, it was one after another after another. We ended up needing more chairs because the room was so full.” Some providers even traveled from Las Cruces, to participate. For many, it was the first time they had ever attended an advocacy event focused on their work.
“What really got to me was one provider who told me she’d been doing this for over 25 years and it was the first time anyone had acknowledged or thanked her for what she does,” Maggie said. “She had tears in her eyes.” For Maggie, the event was about more than one day of action. It was about helping providers see the value of their work and recognize their collective power. “They deserve better wages. They deserve acknowledgment,” she said. “They deserve to be treated like the essential workers they are.”
Maggie was also proud that it happened in Sunland Park. She once asked Olga, “Why does everyone forget about Sunland Park?” and Olga, who is originally from there, agreed that the child care workers in this small town on the outskirts of El Paso, TX deserved a spotlight.
Now Maggie is focused on what’s next. She and Olga are organizing a support group for providers interested in becoming licensed. Her goal is to start with a small cohort, help them navigate the licensing process together, and build from there. “We’re going to work together and stay on the same page,” she said. “If there are obstacles, we’ll figure them out together.” She hopes the effort will build a stronger network of providers who can support one another and help grow the child care workforce in southern New Mexico.
Maggie also wants to see more providers become active in civic life. She encourages providers to learn about the issues that affect them, vote, and meet and speak directly with decision-makers. “Before OLÉ, I didn’t even know who my representative was,” she said. “Now I tell providers that our voices matter. If we want things to change, we have to participate. We have to vote. We have to speak up.” After the success of Day Without Child Care, Maggie believes providers in Sunland Park are ready to do exactly that. “In order to be heard, we need to speak,” she said. “And in order to speak, we need to work together.”