A new badge indicates providers that serve at least 50% scratch-cooked meals.
SANTA FE, N.M. — The number of child care providers in New Mexico is growing and the state is incentivizing them to cook more scratch-made meals.
No matter if they offer full day care, home-based care or what kind of child care program they are, New Mexico’s Early Childhood Education and Care Department introduced a badge designed to make it easier for parents to find programs where their child can get a home-cooked meal.
This is a special certification ECECD is giving child care providers that serve at least 50% scratch cooked meals. They’re also offering extra incentives for providers to fire up those kitchens.
“A lot of these kids really spend majority of the day here with us, so they don’t get to experience having a warm cooked meal with their family at home,” said Osvaldo Gonzalez, director of Southwest Child Care-Wyoming in northeast Albuquerque. “When our cooks make everything from scratch, they get to feel this is their second home and get to experience that feeling with their peers and their teachers.”
Southwest Child Care has been serving up scratch-made meals since it opened 40 years ago and state leaders are encouraging more child care providers to do the same.
“Food is a critical pillar or critical infrastructure for raising the next generation. The department and this administration under this governor have taken food security and food and nutrition quality very, very seriously. And scratch cooking is how you get to that end goal,” ECECD Deputy Secretary Kendal Chavez said.
ECECD launched a pilot program this year, offering providers a 65-cent reimbursement for every scratch-made meal they serve.
“A center like this, which has 110 children, would get about $1,400 a month in extra revenue to support. They can use it for higher quality food, locally grown food and kitchen infrastructure,” Chavez said.
Close to 30 child care providers are part of the pilot program, already covering 21% of kids in the entire child care system. Department leaders said they have $1.7 million to keep providing incentives through next summer.
“What we have now will not cover the demand or the need. And so we hope that if the legislature and if the next administration feels like this is important, they’ll continue to build on it, invest in it and seed it with some more money,” Chavez said.
Department leaders said applications for those extra scratch cooking incentives will open soon. There are several requirements that providers need to meet to qualify for those. The state will also update the Child Care Finder website with those new scratch cooking badges.
See what the new badges look like in the video above.
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