NM KIDS COUNT Data Book Child well-being is slowly improving in New Mexico, thanks to investments by our lawmakers. This annual report provides data on numerous child well-being indicators related to economic security, education, health, and family and community, and includes policy solutions. New this year are indicators related to environmental health. (State-, county-, tribal- and school district-level data on child well-being.)
Child well-being in New Mexico appears to be slowly improving. As history has shown us, fighting poverty is a policy choice. This was made clear by the pandemic-era changes in the federal Child Tax Credit (CTC). The CTC expansion led to the largest decrease in national child poverty on record. Not only did child poverty dramatically decline, but the gaps between the poverty rates for children of color and those for white children also narrowed. Not surprisingly, the year after the federal CTC expansion expired, the gaps in poverty by race and ethnicity widened again. Still, child poverty in New Mexico remains lower than it did a decade ago.
NM Political Report--Jordan said Lujan Grisham’s budget asks for a significant increase in Medicaid to increase provider reimbursement rates. He said the state has significantly raised Medicaid reimbursement rates over the last few legislative sessions. He said the industry is very competitive and he said the provider shortage during the COVID-19 pandemic created a “wake-up call.”
NM Political Report--Bill Jordan, interim co-director and government relations officer for New Mexico Voices for Children, said one of the nonprofit’s legislative priorities for 2024 is to see full funding for early childhood services. He said NMVC doesn’t want to see lawmakers slack off on expanding early childcare services now that the 1.25 percent additional distribution from the Land Grant Permanent Fund is helping to expand ECECD’s services.
Children of color in New Mexico make up the majority of kids, yet overall, they fall behind their peers nationwide and face disparate outcomes compared to kids who are Asian and Pacific Islander and white in New Mexico, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2024 Race for Results report.
KRWG--New Mexico Voices for Children has proposed a number of policies that would directly help struggling families. They include paid family and medical leave; increased funding for early childhood care and education; a new fund to support tribal education; full funding for college tuitions; increased tax credits for young children, coupled with tax increases for upper-income residents; increased funding for the TANF program and full funding for Medicaid and Disabilities waivers.
Santa Fe New Mexican--“When you give people money, they invest in themselves,” New Mexico Voices for Children policy analyst Javier Rojo said during a news conference Tuesday at the Capitol.
The Hill--Mixed-status immigrant families are less likely to have health insurance, stable employment, savings, stable housing and food security, according to the report. “Their exclusion from most of the social safety net further exacerbates their tenuous socio-economic conditions,” the report states.
Santa Fe Reporter--At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, immigrant families were “not only excluded from pandemic relief, but also social safety nets,” leading them to be the focus of the program, NM Voices for Children Javier Senior Research and Policy Javier Rojo said during a news conference. Such exclusion took place despite mixed-status households reportedly paying $68 million in local and state taxes yearly in New Mexico.
A report on a recently concluded statewide guaranteed income pilot program with 330 immigrant families demonstrated unrestricted cash assistance programs allowed for low-wage earners to pursue better jobs, increase their educational levels, and improve other critical outcomes for their children. The report, Guaranteed Income: Increasing Employment and Helping Families Thrive, on the New Mexico Guaranteed Income Pilot Program for Immigrant Families, was released on December 12, 2023.