New Mexico has the nation’s largest percentage of young children receiving food stamps, with nearly half of children age 4 and under participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, according to a report issued this week. The program, also known as food stamps, is the largest provider of nutrition assistance to children in poor families nationwide.
Income is up and poverty is down in New Mexico, new Census data show, but the state still lags behind the rest of the country in economic growth and remains one of just two states where more than 1 in 5 residents live in poverty. “There is relatively little movement out of poverty,” said Jeffrey Mitchell, director of the Bureau of Business & Economic Research at The University of New Mexico. “The poverty rate declined, but less so than other places.”
LAS CRUCES - Since Las Cruces resident Karen Acosta-Lombino, 45, a mother of three, began buying produce at the Las Cruces Farmers & Crafts Market through the Double Up Food Bucks program, her family has started eating more fruits and vegetables. “There’s always fruit in the fridge now and now I cook with fresh vegetables instead of buying them frozen,” Acosta-Lombino said.
San Juan County nonprofit organizations are seeing increased demands for services for children and families at the same time that they're facing cuts in funding due to the depressed regional economy. More families impacted by layoffs in the oil, gas and coal industries need services, while financial support for the nonprofits that fund those services is declining. More families impacted by layoffs in the oil, gas and coal industries need services, while financial support for the nonprofits that fund those services is declining. And this comes as a new report ranks New Mexico 49th in the nation for the overall well-being of children.
It was pushing toward 1 p.m. Monday and Donna DeMarco was still cooking hamburgers and hot dogs for a dozen or so kids and their relatives at Franklin Miles Park. It was no ordinary barbecue for family and friends.
A full-time head of household, working at New Mexico’s minimum wage, would have to clock 86 hours per week to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment, according to the just released “Out of Reach 2016” study.
Ten percent of New Mexico children have had at least one parent incarcerated at some point in their lives, one of the highest such rates in the nation, according to a study released Monday by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
One in every ten children in New Mexico have at least one parent incarcerated at some point in their lifetime, according to a recent report. That’s the third-highest rate in the nation and just one of three states with a rate in double digits.
More than 52,000 kids in New Mexico – about 10 percent of the state’s child population – have had a parent who at some point in their lives served time in jail or prison, according to a new Kids Count report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a national advocacy organization working to improve the lives of at-risk children and families.
I am grateful to U.S. District Judge Kenneth Gonzales, who, early in March, issued an injunction to prevent the Human Services Department from imposing work requirements for those enrolled in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.