Kids Count Blog – New Mexico Voices for Children

Feb 02 2022

Data shows New Mexico families struggle with basic expenses

Web Admin2022-02-02T14:31:04-07:00Blog Posts, Economic Security Blog, Economic Security News Coverage, Education Blog, Education News Coverage, Health Blog, Health News Coverage, Kids Count Blog, Kids Count News Coverage, News Coverage|

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. These actions prevented us from losing all the progress we’ve been working for to improve well-being for all of our children.

Jun 27 2021

Pre-pandemic improvement in child well-being a glimpse at what investments can do

Web Admin2021-06-29T12:54:07-06:00Blog Posts, Economic Security Blog, Economic Security News Coverage, Education Blog, Education News Coverage, Health Blog, Health News Coverage, Kids Count Blog, Kids Count News Coverage, News Coverage|

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.

Jul 15 2020

Still at 50th, New Mexico must continue to invest in our kids in hard times

Web Admin2021-01-06T16:06:44-07:00Blog Posts, Economic Security Blog, Education Blog, Health Blog, Kids Count Blog|

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.

Jan 15 2019

Changing the course on child well-being

Web Admin2019-01-15T15:15:28-07:00Blog Posts, Economic Security Blog, Education Blog, Health Blog, Kids Count Blog, Tax and Budget Blog|

The past decade of austerity has been hard on New Mexico’s children. Still, we are optimistic about the future because we believe in the strength and resiliency of New Mexico’s families. We know we can build stronger communities and support more resilient families and children so that they can thrive. But we can only build a stronger New Mexico if our policymakers are willing to provide the revenue we need to make these investments.

Oct 22 2018

Local conference will focus on childhood trauma

Web Admin2021-09-03T16:29:05-06:00Blog Posts, Health Blog, Health News Coverage, Kids Count Blog, Kids Count News Coverage, News Coverage|

This year’s conference Childhood Trauma: From Symptoms to Systems Change, will take a hard look at ACEs – what causes them, what can be done to prevent them, and how we can promote resiliency. We will look at the importance of building trauma-informed practices throughout our agencies and organizations.

Oct 19 2018

To make all kids count, we must count all kids

Web Admin2021-09-03T16:31:02-06:00Blog Posts, Economic Security Blog, Education Blog, Kids Count Blog, Kids Count News Coverage, News Coverage, Racial and Ethnic Equity Blog|

This is a perilous moment for New Mexico’s children. There’s no getting around it. Yet the future is not predetermined for kids in New Mexico. This state’s leaders can be inspired by this moment to do better by its children. They can choose to collaborate inclusively and act boldly and swiftly. That’s what it will take — both to position the state well for the 2020 census and to give children a better chance to thrive.

Jul 24 2018

Ruling in K-12 funding lawsuit is movement in right direction

Web Admin2018-07-30T12:32:05-06:00Blog Posts, Education and Early Learning/Care, Education Blog, Kids Count Blog|

Given the many challenges faced by our children, New Mexico should be making whatever investments are necessary to ensure that every child has the opportunity to thrive and achieve success. Instead, over the last decade New Mexico has made some of the deepest cuts to K-12 education in the country. While some funding was restored during the 2018 legislative session, we are still far behind where we should be on a per-student, inflation-adjusted basis.

Oct 10 2017

Democracy and lots of money are at stake for New Mexico in the upcoming census

Amber Wallin2018-04-03T12:39:04-06:00Blog Posts, Economic Security Blog, Human Rights/Civic Participation Blog, Kids Count Blog, Tax and Budget Blog|

When it comes to the census, it pays to be counted. The next big census is less than three years away, and a lot is at stake for New Mexico. Besides being used to determine voting districts, data from the 2020 census will translate to almost $3,000 coming into the state per person, per year for the next decade.

Jul 12 2017

That women have options is not the problem (stupid)

Sharon Kayne2018-06-14T18:17:37-06:00Blog Posts, Health Blog, Kids Count Blog|

Diana was nervous as she spoke to the nearly 400 people gathered at our 5^th annual KIDS COUNT Conference. As part of the panel discussion on women’s economic security and child well-being, Diana shared her frustration when, after a decade of working in the early education field and rising to the level of assistant director, she was still earning minimum wage. Her only raises, she said, came from changes in minimum wage laws. But this wasn’t the part of her story that I found most powerful. What really stuck with me was when she told us about having to become a single parent after surviving a domestic violence attack.

Jul 07 2016

Budget cuts put our KIDS COUNT gains in child health at risk

Bill Jordan2018-06-14T20:11:35-06:00Blog Posts, Health Blog, Kids Count Blog|

It's always gratifying when we can link a good outcome directly to a specific public policy--as we can in this case. We can also often predict a poor outcome when a bad decision is made. If we're smart, we'll use that knowledge to make better decisions. In this case, however, some lawmakers insisted on making a bad decision anyway.