Albuquerque Journal--“If lawmakers continue putting kids and families first, we expect to see even more improvements, Wallin said. “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.”
“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.”
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.)
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.
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.
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.”
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.
The Board for Directors of New Mexico Voices for Children has hired Amber Wallin, MPA, as executive director of the child advocacy organization, effective Jan. 1, 2022. The group’s former executive director, James Jimenez, MPA, retired at the end of 2021.
Santa Fe New Mexican--When you file your tax return this winter, you may be in for a very nice surprise. Thanks to the leadership of state legislators and Governor Lujan Grisham, New Mexico enacted several improvements in two tax credits that help those New Mexicans who need it most.
Santa Fe New Mexican--While families in New Mexico face rising gasoline prices at the pump, oil and natural gas companies are getting the deal of a century. Not only are they cashing in on higher prices, but they pay pennies on the dollar to lease our public lands for development and evade having to pay New Mexicans what we’re rightfully owed in royalties. All of this undercuts funding for our schools, and our children deserve better.