January 21, 2025 As child advocates, we strive for long-term, sustainable change and rely on data to understand which policies will most effectively meet the needs of our families. To support Legislators as they [...]
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic assistance policies like the expanded federal Child Tax Credit resulted in a record decline in child poverty. Now, with the end of COVID-era assistance, the nation saw a record increase in child poverty – clearly showing us that poverty is a policy choice.
Las Cruces Sun-News--The fact is, New Mexico has made some extraordinary headway in improving opportunities for kids in recent years. Some of it’s made nationwide headlines. Our investments in child care assistance, voter-approved expansion of early childhood services, and child-focused tax policy improvements all received national accolades.
Santa Fe New Mexican--New Mexico voters can also take action by voting Yes on Constitutional Amendment 1 on the ballot in November. Constitutional Amendment 1 would draw down a small portion of the $26 billion permanent school fund to support high-quality early childhood care and education services - such as home visiting and pre-kindergarten - and services for at-risk students.
Albuquerque Journal--New Mexico’s leaders have taken many actions to protect and support children and families through this uncertainty, including hunger relief funding, emergency economic relief for those left out of federal stimulus payments, a new paid-sick-leave policy, and an increase and expansion of the Working Families Tax Credit, which will put money in the hands of families who will spend it quickly and locally to provide for their children’s basic needs.
Las Cruces Sun-News--Incremental improvements show us both that progress is possible and also that creating the nurturing environments our kids deserve and need to thrive will require bold and sustained actions and investments.
New Mexico’s 50th ranking in child well-being is the result of a decade of austerity due to choices lawmakers made during the last recession. In 2019 and early 2020, Lawmakers began to put the state on the right path for our kids. The pandemic and current recession do not need to derail us.