Jun 11 2025

Advocacy group talks report ranking New Mexico last for child wellbeing

2025-06-12T18:19:25-06:00Economic Security News Coverage, Health News Coverage, Kids Count News Coverage, News Coverage, Racial and Ethnic Equity News Coverage, Tax and Budget News Coverage|

KOB--The 2025 National Kids Count is in, putting New Mexico at the bottom for child well-being. “A reminder that these numbers are from 2023, so we hadn’t fully implemented our almost universally free childcare and access to pre-K yet in 2023, it was just starting to roll out. That number we expect it to rise in coming years,” she said. Graduation rates are still trending upward, but stats that do raise some eyebrows are math and reading scores.

Jun 11 2025

Report: NM’s child well-being shows mixed momentum

2025-06-12T18:16:52-06:00Economic Security News Coverage, Health News Coverage, Kids Count News Coverage, News Coverage, Racial and Ethnic Equity News Coverage, Tax and Budget News Coverage|

Public News Service--A traditional marker used to measure child well-being in the U.S. shows New Mexico notched both improvements and declines in several areas. The Annie E. Casey Foundation's Kids Count Data Book historically shows New Mexico at or near the bottom of its report, which puts it at 50th in the nation. Emily Wildau, senior research and policy analyst at New Mexico Voices for Children, said it is important to remember the data was collected in 2023, when kids and families were experiencing severe inflation from the pandemic.

Jun 11 2025

Report: New Mexico ranks last in the nation for child well-being, again

2025-06-12T18:15:39-06:00Economic Security News Coverage, Health News Coverage, Kids Count News Coverage, News Coverage, Racial and Ethnic Equity News Coverage, Tax and Budget News Coverage|

Albuquerque Journal--New Mexico has once again been ranked the worst state in the country for child well-being, according to the newest annual Annie E. Casey Foundation Kids Count data book. Those results reflect a marked lack in progress over the five years since the state received a 2018 landmark ruling that its public education department was violating students’ constitutional rights with the quality of instruction provided — and a subsequent April ruling that it had not done enough to improve.

Jun 09 2025

Newest national rankings place New Mexico last for child well being

2025-06-11T14:57:23-06:00Economic Security News Coverage, Health News Coverage, Kids Count News Coverage, News Coverage, Racial and Ethnic Equity News Coverage, Tax and Budget News Coverage|

KUNM--Gabrielle Uballez, Executive Director for New Mexico Voices for Children says the state’s poor performance reflects remote learning during the pandemic and the subsequent learning loss during those two years of school closures, but the responsibility to improve education is multifaceted.

Jun 09 2025

Once again, N.M. ranks 50th for kids; this must change

2025-06-12T18:18:02-06:00Blog Posts, Economic Security Blog, Economic Security News Coverage, Education News Coverage, Health Blog, Health News Coverage, Kids Count Blog, Kids Count News Coverage, News Coverage, Racial and Ethnic Equity Blog, Racial and Ethnic Equity News Coverage, Tax and Budget Blog, Tax and Budget News Coverage|

Santa Fe New Mexican--New Mexicans are a people of strength, resilience and deep-rooted pride — shaped by our commitment to community and our dedication to the well-being of families. That’s why it’s painful to reconcile our values with the news in this week’s release of state rankings on child well-being from the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s annual Kids Count Data Book. Once again, New Mexico is ranked 50th. Two things are true: Progress takes time — and our children can’t afford to wait.

Sep 07 2024

‘I never had to compromise my values’: Longtime child welfare lobbyist retires

2024-09-09T12:18:48-06:00Economic Security News Coverage, Education News Coverage, Kids Count News Coverage, News Coverage, Tax and Budget News Coverage|

Santa Fe New Mexican--Jordan said his crowning achievements include the yearslong fight to draw more dollars from the state’s land grant permanent fund for early childhood programs and reforming New Mexico’s tax code to better serve children and families.

Jun 13 2024

Looking at the Whole Picture

2024-06-13T13:15:23-06:00Economic Security News Coverage, Education News Coverage, Health News Coverage, Kids Count News Coverage, News Coverage|

Santa Fe Reporter--“I think we can learn a lot from Kids Count’s individual data sets—for example, this year, the ranking says more kids are living in households with high housing costs of burden. That points to, ‘We need to fix housing in New Mexico, we need to do it expeditiously,’” Uballez says.

Jun 11 2024

New Mexico again ranks at the bottom for child wellbeing

2024-06-11T10:48:57-06:00Economic Security News Coverage, Education News Coverage, Health News Coverage, Kids Count News Coverage, News Coverage|

NM Political Report--“Although there’s still work to do, New Mexico’s official child poverty rate continues to improve but change takes time,” said Gabrielle Uballez, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children said. “And this measure of poverty only considers income. When we look instead at the supplemental poverty measure, which measures the impact of some of our best poverty-fighting policies, we see that New Mexico’s investments in families through refundable tax credits and income support programs have a real impact on lowering poverty rates and supporting family well-being.”

Jun 10 2024

Report: State retains last spot in child welfare, despite dip in child poverty rate

2024-06-11T10:37:08-06:00Economic Security News Coverage, Education News Coverage, Health News Coverage, Kids Count News Coverage, News Coverage|

Santa Fe New Mexican--“New Mexico’s ranking is not a reflection of who we are, but serves as a motivation to continue improving the systems in New Mexico that make it possible for kids and families to thrive,” said Gabrielle Uballez, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children.

Mar 24 2024

While depressing, data on child well-being has helped prompt great changes

2024-03-25T10:49:26-06:00Economic Security News Coverage, Education News Coverage, Health News Coverage, Kids Count News Coverage, News Coverage, Tax and Budget News Coverage|

Albuquerque Journal--The civil rights leader James Baldwin said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” In other words, we can’t solve a problem if we refuse to look at it. Looking helps us know the extent of the problem. The column “An optimist’s guide to depressing data” takes the “New Mexico KIDS COUNT Data Book” to task for citing bad-news data about child well-being. We understand. We, too, find it demoralizing that New Mexico has the highest rate of child poverty in the nation.

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