The National Women’s Law Center fights for gender justice—in the courts, in public policy, and in our society.
Sparking Change Storytellers in the News
Chantelle Mitchell
WCSC-TV
“So even though it may feel like two years is enough, you’ve got to think about so many families that have been impacted”
Alma Patricia Ortiz
Telemundo Nuevo Mexico
“Ahorita estamos en una incertidumbre, en una cuerda floja”
Sandra Ibarra
Univision
“Quieres enseñar y darles una educación de calidad a los niños, pero sino se te remunera es muy triste y te sientes desvalorado”
Merline Gallegos
Radio Bilingue
“Es fácil opinar, pero no siempre se ponen en nuestros zapatos, que vean lo que van a batallar nuestras familias al dejarnos sin trabajo”
Christine Matthews
Forbes
“I’d tell them the hours I could work when I had child care covered from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and they’d give me that schedule because I’m a good worker”
Christine Matthews
WBUR
“Unfortunately, with being a mom, a single mom, you know I have to do what I have to do, I had to go to a job that offered me less money and more on the schedule that I needed”
Sandra Ibarra
Voz de América
“Es una cosa tan hermosa trabajar con pequeños, te cambia la vida y cambió mi perspectiva”
Alma Patricia Ortiz, Patricia Bustillos Ramirez, and Felicitas Torres Meza
Voz de América
“Tengo 28 años trabajando en las guarderías y no sabe cuántas maestras buenas, dedicadas, profesionales, se han ido a trabajar al fast food porque pagan más y ellas necesitan el dinero. Es triste, es triste ver como entonces nuestros niños se están quedando sin buenas maestras porque ellas tienen que buscar un mejor salario. Es muy triste”
Patricia Bustillo Ramirez
The New Republic
“She is the matriarch of a household in New Mexico that includes her daughter and her daughter’s child, as well as her son and his wife and their child. They all struggle to work and pay the rent together”
Merline Gallegos
National Women's Law Center
“Even with four kids of her own, Merline A Gallegos takes money out of her paycheck every week to buy food and clothing for the children in her care whose families cannot afford it”
Merline Gallegos
23 ABC Bakersfield
“Now we are coming back into this cycle of, well, shall I keep on working? Should I shut down? How can I secure the funding to continue paying our staff — because we need help,”
Merline Gallegos
OLE NewMexico
“It’s a cycle of… Do I keep working? Do I shut down, because we need help”
Merline Gallegos
Albuquerque Journal
“Study after study has shown when we fund access to quality early education, we are funding a safer future”.
Raynique Syas
The Cut
“I knew once I got a stable house that was mine and affordable to me, I’d be able to do other things,”
Merline A Gallegos, Raynique Syas, Chantelle C. Mitchell, Patricia Bustillos R,
National Women's Law Center
“It felt empowering to use my voice to encourage accountability and policies that serve our communities’ best interests. And to do so with my baby in my arms!”
Alma Patricia Ortiz
Nuevo Mexico
“Some of the needs is that there is still no affordable child care. There’s quite a waiting list”
Merline Gallegos
ABC 7
“Let’s Take Care of Our Caregivers”
Merline Gallegos
Telemundo El Paso
“Los trabajadores de cuidado infantil enfrentan salarios más bajos que el promedio nacional, lo que agrava aún más la crisis”
Merline Gallegos
Telemundo Nuevo México
“El salario medio de los trabajadores de cuidado infantil en Nuevo México es significativamente más bajo que el promedio de todos los trabajadores por hora, subrayando en evidencia la disparidad salarial en el sector.”
Merline Gallegos
NW Political Report
“Early childcare is in a crisis because early childhood educators can go to work in retail stores and make more money. They’d rather go to other jobs that pay much better”
Neaka Robinson, Patty Alma Ortiz
National Women's Law Center
“The thought of burdening family or friends weighed heavily on my mind—would they judge me? Would they think I can’t handle it on my own? Those feelings of pride and shame often clashed within me. But I had to work. I had to provide for my children”
Sandra Ibarra
Nuevo México
Se informó que en Nuevo México, el 50% de la fuerza laboral en centros de cuidado infantil es latina.