Cynthia Chavez has worked in the field of early childhood education in various capacities. Cynthia spent her career working as an early childhood educator with the Ysleta Independent School District. After retiring, she contributed to the implementation of the Texas School Ready! Grant in the El Paso area, mentoring early childhood educators from various El Paso area public school districts. After serving as a multi-district early childhood coach and mentor, Cynthia then took a lead educational position with the Ysleta Pueblo Tribe to develop an early childhood program that was geared towards meeting the needs of the Native American population in the El Paso and New Mexico area. She helped develop a Heritage Language curriculum that is still in practice across southwestern Native American tribes. In addition, Ms. Chavez attended a comprehensive Spanish children’s literature program at the Universidad Autónoma in Madrid, Spain to expand her knowledge base of both bilingual and dual language programming for young children.

As an educator, Ms. Chavez was a finalist as a Texas state teacher of the year and has trained early childhood providers and educators at the state and national level. Even though she has retired, she continued with her academic studies and received a doctoral degree from The University of Texas at El Paso, focused on Early Childhood School Leadership with a specialty in early childhood educational policy. She continues to advocate for her cause in providing quality early childhood programming across the state, as well as stepping in as the voice for marginalized and disadvantaged preschoolers. Cynthia is planning to continue advocating for the youngest as an early childhood policy advocate in Washington, D.C., representing this population’s needs from both local and state levels.