PRESS RELEASE
March 3, 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Sharon Kayne, Communications Director, NM Voices for Children, 505-244-9505 

ALBUQUERQUE—New Mexico Voices for Children has been awarded a three-year $900,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to continue its work to improve the well-being of New Mexico’s children. The grant is for overall operations support. Recently the child advocacy organization’s work has included making KIDS COUNT data more central to their work on state fiscal policy, and advocating for policy proposals outlined in the NM KIDS are COUNTing on Us policy agenda to improve child well-being.

“The Kellogg Foundation has been one of the most abiding, consistent, and generous funders of our work and we are grateful for their continued support,” said Veronica C. García, Ed.D., executive director of NM Voices. “Over the past decade their support has been critical to our ability to work on state tax and budget issues, and the impact those policies have on working families and their children. The Kellogg Foundation’s support has also allowed us to better focus on racial and ethnic disparities, and opportunity and achievement gaps, which are important issues in a state where 75 percent of the children are racial or ethnic minorities and our child poverty rate is so high,” Dr. García added.

###

New Mexico Voices for Children is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization advocating for policies to improve the health and well-being of New Mexico’s children, families and communities. 625 Silver Ave. SW, Suite 195, Albuquerque, NM 87102; 505-244-9505 (p); www.nmvoices.org.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal pioneer, Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive, WKKF works with communities to create conditions for vulnerable children so they can realize their full potential in school, work and life.

WKKF is based in Battle Creek, Mich., and works throughout the United States and internationally, as well as with sovereign tribes. Special emphasis is paid to priority places where there are high concentrations of poverty and where children face significant barriers to success. WKKF priority places in the U.S. are in Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans; and internationally, are in Mexico and Haiti. For more information, visit www.wkkf.org.

KIDS COUNT is a program of, and is funded by, the Baltimore, Maryland-based Annie E. Casey Foundation. For more information, visit www.aecf.org.