Albuquerque Journal--New Mexico Voices for Children spokeswoman Sharon Kayne said that while her organization has historically supported JTIP, it also believes “some of the best economic development comes from investing in infrastructure and human capital.” “We need a well-educated and skilled workforce,” said Kayne. “That’s how to get jobs here.”
Las Cruces Sun-News--New Mexico continues to struggle when it comes to improving child well-being, and Doña Ana County isn’t faring well either. New Mexico was ranked as the second-worst state in child welfare, according to the 2017 New Mexico Kids Count Data book, a nationwide effort to track the status and well-being of children across the nation and in each state in four areas: economy, education, health, and family and community.
New Mexico In Depth--We all want a prosperous state, but prosperity requires investments. You can’t grow a garden without good soil, sunlight, water, and some hard work. Same with a state—you can’t have prosperity without resources, infrastructure, and a skilled workforce. But instead of following an investment strategy to prosperity, New Mexico has tried to cut its way to prosperity.
Santa Fe New Mexican--“It does provide a sort of snapshot, but I would also say it’s a bit of an incomplete snapshot because it doesn’t really show the resilience of New Mexico families and that how in really tough economic times, New Mexico families have been working hard to do well by their families,” said Jimenez, a former secretary of the state Department of Finance and Administration. “That’s sort of a piece that’s missing from it.”
New Mexico In Depth--A couple of years ago a mother came to Ray Jaramillo, director of a childcare center in Las Cruces. She worked for minimum wage at Burger King, but was offered a supervisory position with better hours and a wage bump to over $9 an hour. She worried the extra money could cause her to lose childcare assistance for her two little girls.
New Mexico In Depth--Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima has been hearing complaints and concerns from businesses throughout the process to increase his city’s minimum wage from the state minimum of $7.50 in 2014 to $10.10 an hour in 2019.
New Mexico News Port--Child poverty affects New Mexico more than any other state. While the share of children living in poverty in the U.S. decreased one percent from 2015 to 2016, New Mexico experienced a one percent increase from 2016 to 2017, putting the state’s child poverty at 30 percent — an increase of over 4,000 children. The report released this September by the U.S. Census officially ranks New Mexico as the worst state in the nation for child poverty, beating out Mississippi which improved, falling to 29.7 percent.
Farmington Daily Times--An Albuquerque-based nonprofit organization is planning a family game night and nonprofit resource fair here to provide a family-friendly atmosphere in which residents can connect with agencies that could help provide them support. The Southwest Women’s Law Center is presenting the event Friday at the Farmington Civic Center as part of a $400,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, according to law clerk Jaclyn Page.
Albuquerque Journal--New Mexicans are a tenacious and hard-working bunch. Those who are out of work spend longer looking for a new job than anyone else in the nation, according to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Weeks – even months – after workers in other states have found new jobs, New Mexicans are still hitting the pavement in search of a paycheck. Part of the reason it takes so long to find a job here is that New Mexico has the (second-)highest unemployment rate in the nation.
Quay County Sun--A national study of family and child well-being has found that New Mexico ranks second to last behind Mississippi, and Curry and Roosevelt County are not faring much better than the average. Local health-care and poverty experts say this is nothing new, and the high amount of poverty in the state has been on the increase for several years.