The recent election tells us a great deal about how committed New Mexicans are to our children and their families. New Mexico voters have spoken loud and clear — and they want the highest quality early care and education programs fully supported and available to all.
“In a very concrete way by improving teacher salaries and resources for all the wrap-around services, this amendment will help support and it’s a really important step forward in a bigger sense because New Mexico voters are showing up for teachers and communities,” Wallin told NM Political Report.
Amber Wallin, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, said issues in education funding go beyond any one election, and officials and New Mexicans need to think about how they can best set up future generations. “We have massive needs in our state and in our schools, in our families that are really generational problems to solve. They’re not election-cycle problems to solve.”
“We know learning begins at birth. Why not expand the idea of education from kindergarten down to birth? And use the Land Grant Permanent Fund as the source of funding for early childcare funding? That was the original intent,” he said.
“New Mexico is ranked near the bottom for childhood poverty and childhood well-being. That benefit was really a lifeline for families. It’s really important what that money means for families. They’re better able to feed children so they go to school with a full belly. Parents are able to drop a third job, they’re better able to afford housing. They are big-picture impacts, what that money can do for a family,” she said.
“This type of relief is really crucial right now,” says Amber Wallin, executive director of the nonpartisan advocacy group New Mexico Voices for Children. She anticipates the money will be especially significant for women, families with children, and people of color who have been particularly affected by recent economic challenges, including the pandemic and the highest inflation in decades.
Advocates welcomed the initiative at a time when families are still recovering from the economic fallout of the pandemic and are grappling with rising prices. “It is hard to overstate the impacts of ensuring that all families can afford great child care,” said Amber Wallin, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, an advocacy group. “It helps our families. It helps our workforce. It helps our businesses. It’s such an important step forward for New Mexico, and it comes at a time when families are in real need of any economic relief.”
By Amber Wallin, Santa Fe New Mexican April 18, 2022 After more than two years of a pandemic and its related recession, it’s hard to remember life in 2019, let alone what great things were [...]
“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.
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.