Government-funded child care in the United States has long been considered a political long shot. But Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico has a habit of breaking from expectation, and decided to take an unconventional approach to make it happen.
When she took office in 2019, making child care accessible was among her biggest goals. Although it took six years (“I didn’t get to free overnight,” she says via Zoom), the governor kicked off the process with unwavering determination—and a little help from her then-3-year-old granddaughter, Avery.
