Report: To Improve Child Well-being State Must Ensure an Equitable Recovery
“Child well-being was steadily improving prior to the onset of the pandemic, and much of that was due to changes in public policies that made kids and working families a priority,” said Amber Wallin, executive director of NM Voices for Children. “If lawmakers continue putting kids and families first, we expect to see even more improvements. However, in order to ensure an equitable recovery from the pandemic and recession, these policies must consider the unique barriers faced by our children, families, and communities of color.”
2021 New Mexico KIDS COUNT Data Book
NM KIDS COUNT Data Book Still in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic and recession, New Mexico’s child well-being wavers. This annual report provides data on numerous child well-being indicators housed under four domains (economic security, education, health, and family and community) and includes policy solutions for ensuring a more equitable recovery. Includes some pandemic-specific data from 2021. (State- county- tribal area- and school district-level data on child well-being.)
Survey: Hispanic families are facing ‘extreme’ economic hardship in pandemic
Santa Fe New Mexican--The bilingual survey of 1,000 Hispanic adults, including nearly 250 immigrants, was conducted last month by polling firm BSP Research and commissioned by New Mexico Economic Relief Working Group, a coalition of organizations that includes children advocacy nonprofit New Mexico Voices for Children and the immigrant rights group Somos Un Pueblo Unido. The effort was a follow-up to a smaller survey conducted in 2020.
Coalition urges NM to use federal funds for cash assistance
Albuquerque Journal--“This is very sobering data,” Sanchez said. The findings, he said, show “tough times for everybody across New Mexico, particularly rural Hispanic residents.” The survey was sponsored by a host of groups advocating for worker or immigrant rights, including Somos Un Pueblo Unido, El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos and New Mexico Voices for Children.
Amber Wallin replaces James Jimenez to lead New Mexico Voices for Children
NM Political Report--Wallin said the state’s recent investments in early childcare education are positive signs and she is hopeful that similar policies will continue in the future. She also said she believes New Mexico needs to continue to help families afford early childcare education. At the same time, she said that while early childcare is “really expensive for families,” early childcare workers are not “paid nearly enough for the work they’re doing” and some early childcare centers are “barely getting by.”
Voices for Children chief committed to ‘improving opportunities’ for kids
Albuquerque Journal--The programs that Wallin and Voices advocate for “depend on us passing good tax policy, and diversifying and raising revenue from a lot of different sources.” She noted that there is currently significant federal investment in the state, along with record setting revenue generated by the oil and gas industry. “But really, we need to diversify our economy and our revenues moving forward so that we always have the funding needed to support the programs that matter most for kids 20, 30 years into the future, when oil and gas is maybe not able to contribute the revenues that they do now,” she said.