The Family Development Program’s belief that relationship building leads to better outcomes for children inspires our long-standing commitment to building authentic partnerships and collaborations. The Family Development Program is recognized as a powerful bridge-builder on behalf of children and the early childhood field because of our intentional practice of honoring all relationships. Bridge-building through honoring relationships is how the Family Development Program contributes to building community capacity for sustainable social change.
The Family Development Program believes that relationships are the key to fostering the very best for our children and communities. Our bridge building focuses on the following essential relationships:
- Honoring the relationships between children and their parents and family members.
- Honoring the relationships between teachers and the children in their care.
- Honoring the relationships between teachers and the children’s families.
- Honoring the relationships between educational institutions and teachers.
- Honoring the relationships between early childhood educators, advocates, activists, funders, national experts, business leaders, policy makers, and elected officials.
- Honoring the Family Development Program staff and investing in their continuous professional learning.
- Honoring the University of New Mexico’s commitment to leadership, education and service as a network of relationships for our shared goals for excellence.