Kids Count Blog

Our changing—and highly vulnerable—future workforce

Alex McCausland2018-04-03T12:39:37-06:00Blog Posts, Education Blog, Kids Count Blog, Racial and Ethnic Equity Blog|

When the national KIDS COUNT Race for Results: Building a Path to Opportunity for All Children report was released earlier this month it was as if the proverbial other shoe had dropped. The first shoe that fell was New Mexico being ranked dead last in the nation in terms of child well-being. Now, Race for Results presents us with a first-ever, state-level index of racial/ethnic equity for children that shows New Mexico is also failing to provide equitable opportunities for ALL of our children to succeed at key developmental stages of life.

Use county health rankings to link data to action for change

Imagine New Mexico as a community with 33 different neighborhoods. Then imagine yourself as a business leader looking to locate your company in one of those neighborhoods. As you consider what qualities each locality offers your firm—and your employees, many of whom have families and children—you may be surprised to discover that in 16 of these neighborhoods as many as half of the children live in poverty, roughly half of the families are headed by single parents, and half of the residents have limited access to healthy foods.