Tony Fox addresses the Kiwanis Club July 14 meeting. Courtesy photo
BY BROOKE DAVIS
Kiwanis Club
At the Kiwanis July 14 meeting, Tony Fox, Vice President for Operations and Advancement of the LANL Foundation gave an overview of the organization and an update on their programs and activities. The LANL Foundation has been investing in education in Northern New Mexico since 1997.
It is a regional nonprofit that, through education, strives to enrich the lives and economic opportunities of residents of 18 Native American tribal nations and 7 Northern New Mexico counties along the North Central Rio Grande corridor. Their mission is to inspire excellence in education and learning in Northern New Mexico through innovative programming, collaboration, and advocacy.
Fox described the foundation’s “cradle to college” focus for children pre-natal to college. Knowing that the first 3 years of a child’s life are the most important for brain development, they began with the Early Childhood Program which involves advocacy for home visits, establishing their Education Training Initiative for mindful and nourishing parenting, statewide advocacy for addressing early childhood development, assistance in increasing family participation in the eight Northern Indian Pueblo communities, assessing needs for the Grandparents/Kin Raising Children advisory council, and forming the Rio Arriba County Early Childhood Collaborative to better network and understand the services being offered to young children and their families.
The K-12 Program supports school Leaders and Districts, provides teachers with professional development, and works to recruit and retain educators. Working with tribal communities, the foundation is developing an Indigenous Science Curriculum and also supports teachers to attain National Board Certification. They also provide a Teacher Leader Fellowship and are working to build a STEM education framework for Northern New Mexico.
The Pathways Program was established in 2020 to create equitable opportunities in Northern
New Mexico. The areas of focus are: expanding opportunities for underrepresented youth, improving career technical education opportunities, building a work-based learning ecosystem,
and transforming New Mexico’s high schools.
The LANL Foundation is well known for the scholarships they provide both for 4-year college bachelor’s degrees and associate’s degrees or certification in any field or trade. Since 1999, LANL Foundation has partnered with the Los Alamos Employee’s Scholarship Fund to award
more than 2600 scholarships worth more than $13 million.