Hailey is Deputy Director of the University of New Mexico Cradle to Career Policy Institute. Her work as a policy researcher emphasizes New Mexico families and children, and the effectiveness of programs designed to support them. She serves currently as co-principal investigator on a federal Child Care Policy Research Partnership Grant focused on family perspectives on different aspects of the child care subsidy system in New Mexico. Other recent major projects have included serving as co-PI on two projects funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Equity Focused Policy Research grant program. These focused on the child care needs and preferences of families from traditionally underserved communities, and on connecting home-based child care providers with the Child and Adult Care Food Program. She also currently serves as PI of research investigating family and child outcomes from the First Born home visiting program. Hailey holds a master’s degree in political science from the University of New Mexico, and is writing a doctoral dissertation in political science that examines drivers of state variation in child care subsidy policy. Hailey’s first career was as a newspaper journalist and she is interested in communicating about research and policy in ways that are useful to families, policymakers and communities.
