New Mexico Voices For Children
Improving children’s lives through advocacy
The future of our society is in our children’s hands. When all children have the opportunities they need to thrive, we all benefit, so it makes sense to ensure that every child has access to the educational, emotional, health, and economic supports they need to grow up healthy and strong, and to become contributing members of society. We believe that the best way to ensure this is to discover the underlying reasons that some children lack these supports and then to advocate for the public policies that will address the gaps. Learn more about our work to accomplish that here.
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Recent Blog Posts
Time to restore fairness to the personal income tax and break the boom-or-bust cycle
Now is the time to enact bold tax reform and improve our tax system so we can begin to generate key, sustainable resources that are not ruled by the boom-or-bust cycle of the oil and gas industries. This reform should begin by restoring fairness to the personal income tax, a stable source of revenue that is underutilized in New Mexico due to tax cuts enacted in 2003.
Changing the course on child well-being
The past decade of austerity has been hard on New Mexico’s children. Still, we are optimistic about the future because we believe in the strength and resiliency of New Mexico’s families. We know we can build stronger communities and support more resilient families and children so that they can thrive. But we can only build a stronger New Mexico if our policymakers are willing to provide the revenue we need to make these investments.
NM Voices’ policy priorities for the 2019 legislative session
You can count us among those who are grateful for the billion dollar surplus. This has been a rough few years for kids and families. You can also count us among those who are nervous about how long it will last.
Recent News Coverage
Districts onboard with a longer school year
“It’s also going to take more revenue – and it needs to be a more reliable revenue stream than oil and natural gas. If we don’t stabilize our revenue situation, we’ll just have to cut some of these initiatives when oil and gas prices go down. You can’t expect real education reform on a boom-or-bust funding cycle,” he wrote in an email to the Journal.
How can New Mexico lawmakers make a difference for our state’s children? Let’s discuss
It will take a concerted, multifaceted effort to significantly improve child well-being because it is dependent on so many factors. But one policy with a proven, positive rate of return is high-quality early childhood care and learning. The first five years of life are critical for laying the foundation for future success, so the investments that we make in those years pay off dividends for children and society for many years — and future generations — down the road.
NM Legislators to Hear Need to Improve Kids’ Well-Being
As part of opening day at the 2019 New Mexico Legislature, the state's Voices for Children group will highlight its annual New Mexico KIDS COUNT Data Book. Deputy Director Amber Wallin said there have been improvements in teen birth rates, increased rates of kids covered by insurance, higher preschool enrollment and reduced child poverty. But the state's dead-last ranking for child well-being reported last summer means lawmakers have more work to do.
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