Albuquerque Journal--New Mexico, Colorado, Minnesota, Vermont, Michigan and Massachusetts all made school breakfast and lunch free for all students starting this academic year. “The thing that’s really interesting is in New Mexico, the bill passed unanimously,” Wildau said. “Nobody voted against it, and so that was really unique.”
Carlsbad Current Argus--The letter was also supported by New Mexico Voices for Children, New Mexico Wild and the New Mexico Wildlife Federation, along with national groups like the Sierra Club and Earthworks.
Rio Rancho Observer--“This year, New Mexico became one of the first states to provide healthy school meals to every student in part by leveraging federal meal reimbursements through the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program,” said Emily Wildau, director of New Mexico Kids Count at New Mexico Voices for Children. “But current meal reimbursement rates don’t cover the full cost of school meal programs."
Rio Rancho Observer--New Mexico’s children deserve every opportunity to thrive and reach their full potential. With the critical funding our Legislature appropriated, these programs will reduce childhood poverty and improve educational outcomes for children. They will also expand economic opportunities for families across New Mexico. And we know that kids do better when families have the resources they need.
KRWG--For far too long, antiquated policies under the current leasing system have left our families on the hook to pay to clean up messes left behind by bankrupt oil and gas companies – messes involving orphaned wells with decaying and leaking infrastructure that can pollute our air and water. This has robbed our communities of tax dollars that could have been put to use improving our children’s classrooms, and our hospitals and roadways.
NM Political Report--Shiv said the harm of climate change comes in the fact that all the issues are interrelated. “Having conditions for drought, we’re more likely to see more wildfires. That worsens air quality; we see poor air quality and that connects to extreme heat. It’s hard to pick out one issue. It’s all linked to climate change,” she said.
Albuquerque Journal--“Rising temperatures, droughts and floods have huge impacts on food chains — which then impact the amount of food, the quality of food and increases the prices of food,” Shiv said. “All of that makes it harder to access healthy, nutritious food … in a state where 21% of children already have limited access to food.”
Carlsbad Current Argus--“We were all taught at a young age then we make a mess, we need to take responsibility and clean up after ourselves. These reforms are especially important because we know orphaned wells and infrastructure threaten the health of our families and communities,” Knight said. “We know that updating the federal royalty and rental rates is an important step to making sure the oil and gas industry pays its fair share.”
NM Political Report--Divya Shiv, research and policy analyst for New Mexico Voices for Children, called the disenrollment “really scary.” She said that during the pandemic, when families were able to stay on Medicaid regardless of whether they recertified or provided documentation proving eligibility, many families experienced economic stability and were protected from the high cost of medical care.
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.