Our Story
Vamos Niños! Play to Learn is a program of Ngage New Mexico, developed through its early childhood coalition work to expand access to hands-on, play-based learning for children and families across Doña Ana County. The program emerged from the Early Childhood Education (ECE) Coalition, part of the Success Partnership, as a community-driven effort to connect families to early learning opportunities and resources.
Ngage advanced the development of Vamos Niños! Play to Learn by securing early funding, completing branding, and purchasing a toy hauler RV for the mobile unit. In partnership with NMCO Studio, Ngage established a culturally responsive brand identity for the project.
Today, Ngage staff manage and operate Vamos Niños! Play to Learn, overseeing program design, logistics, and community partnerships. Staff coordinate site visits and travel throughout Doña Ana County and southern New Mexico, facilitating hands-on learning experiences for children and caregivers. They also use the program as a platform to connect families to early childhood resources and services, ensuring the museum remains responsive to community needs.
Mission
The mobile children’s museum, Vamos Niños! Play to Learn, is guided by the mission to connect families to resources while they engage with their children in a fun, welcoming space designed for play, exploration, and learning.
Vision
The Vamos Niños! Play to Learn team hopes to work towards a diverse, vibrant and resilient community where all can enjoy freedom, opportunity and the power to direct our own lives
Values
Here at Vamos Niños! Play to Learn, we believe:
- Children learn best through hands-on, interactive experiences that spark curiosity and joy.
- Learning is strongest when children and caregivers explore, play, and grow together, and;
- That every child and family deserves high-quality early learning opportunities.
About Ngage New Mexico
Ngage New Mexico is a pivotal support organization for affecting positive change in Doña Ana County, with a focus on improving education outcomes. At our core, we believe all people deserve freedom, opportunity, and the power to direct their own lives. We mobilize our community to make change happen. This work is done through a prenatal-to-career education initiative that we helped create, called the Success Partnership.
Ngage coordinates, facilitates, and convenes; creating an inclusive space for conversations to meet the needs identified by our community. Together we strengthen collaborative solutions to shared problems. Our partners represent families, businesses, education, nonprofit, government, and faith-based communities. Lasting change happens when education becomes a shared responsibility.
Meet the Team!
Lori
Martinez
Ngage Executive Director
She has led Ngage NM since 2017. Lori holds both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Social Work from NMSU. With deep roots in Doña Ana County, she is committed to advancing community-driven solutions through Ngage’s collective impact approach.
Abeer
Al-Ghawi
Ngage Assistant Director
She has helped lead the development of Vamos Niños! Play to Learn. Abeer holds a Bachelor of Science in International Business, and a Master of Public Administration and is passionate about expanding equitable, community-driven opportunities for young children and their caregivers and families.
Andy
Triviz
Vamos Niños Facilitator
With a background in Early Childhood Education and a product of Out-of-School-Time Programming, Andy was ready to jump in and build the curriculum and hands-on learning the museum provides. Her bilingual upraising also helps her connect with our English and Spanish speaking communities.
Chris
Holloway
Vamos Niños Driver
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Star Volunteers
From our Ambassadors that help show how to play in the museum to our set-up and tear-down crew that helps set up exhibits and clean the museum, Vamos Niños! Play to Learn is made possible thanks to the Star Volunteers that stepped in with a helping hand!
