Santa Fe New Mexican--“We know there are families having trouble buying food, having trouble making the next rental payment. If the state can give more money to those people making a lower income, that would be great,” she said.
NM Political Report--With the moratorium ending on evictions for tenants with unpaid rent, this could lead to a crisis of unhoused families in New Mexico, Shiv said. “Evictions are really harmful and it’s incredibly destabilizing for families and children,” she said.
Carlsbad Current Argus--As proud New Mexicans, we know our state has the best scenery and natural beauty in the nation. While we want to keep it that way, that’s hard to when our landscape is dotted with old, pollution-spewing orphaned oil wells. Here's how to fix this problem.
Albuquerque Journal--“We think this policy is really crucial right now because we know that so many of our families with kids are still struggling,” said Amber Wallin, the executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, a nonprofit group that supports the proposed tax credit.
Fast Company--Amber Wallin of New Mexico Voices for Children added during a press call that Hispanic New Mexican parents were more than twice as likely as white parents in the state to have lost wages since the pandemic began, and more than three times as likely to be unsure about whether or not they can make their next housing payment.
Santa Fe Reporter--Undocumented immigrants paid almost $68 million in state and local taxes, according to a 2020 report from New Mexico Voices for Children. Still, 60,000 undocumented immigrants are often excluded from benefits provided during emergencies, including unemployment insurance and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP.
Albuquerque Journal--New Mexico’s leaders have taken many actions to protect and support children and families through this uncertainty, including hunger relief funding, emergency economic relief for those left out of federal stimulus payments, a new paid-sick-leave policy, and an increase and expansion of the Working Families Tax Credit, which will put money in the hands of families who will spend it quickly and locally to provide for their children’s basic needs.
Carlsbad Current Argus--Students that do not graduate on time are more likely to drop out of school and less likely to attend college, according to the data book. Adults without a high school diploma are also more likely to have low-paying jobs, not have benefits and have higher unemployment rates.
Santa Fe Reporter--While the number of households receiving SNAP benefits provides one view of the state’s need to address hunger, Emily Wildau, a research and policy analyst with Voices for Children, says it’s important to “look at poverty, unemployment, homeownership, and…a cost of food index,” to understand how hunger affects youths in the state. These factors, Wildau says, outline the parameters of those experiencing “food insecurity.”
Santa Fe New Mexican--A New Mexico Voices for Children report from August says “New Mexicans who speak languages other than English, particularly immigrants and refugees, are excluded because of systemic inequities in language access. The inadequacy of our state’s multilingual interpretation and translation services causes significant hardship in many New Mexico communities because language access is critical for both good health and financial security.”