“We are pleased with the funding levels for Medicaid and child care assistance in the both of the recently released budget requests. These two programs are not only critical for the well-being of New Mexico’s children and hard-working families, but they are also important to the state’s economy.

ALBUQUERQUE, NM—Amber Wallin, who has been with New Mexico Voices for Children since 2012, has been promoted to deputy director of the child advocacy organization. She’ll be serving directly under the executive director James Jimenez and helping to oversee the group’s research, analysis, and advocacy work. “Amber is known around here colloquially as a ‘rock star,’” said Jimenez.

ALBUQUERQUE, NM — New Mexico’s children — in all racial and ethnic groups except African American — lag behind their demographic cohorts across the nation when it comes to meeting key milestones that will help them achieve their unique potential. That’s according to data in the 2017 Race for Results: Building a Path to Opportunity for All Children report, released today by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

The just-released Trump tax plan would largely benefit those who earn the most money, with 72 percent of the tax cuts going to the top 20 percent of New Mexico’s taxpayers. In addition, the tax cuts would impact how much tax revenue New Mexico collects, further reducing the amount of money the state has to invest in education, health care, and public safety.

All our state’s children, no matter where they were born, deserve the opportunity to learn, grow and thrive. When every individual is able to reach their full potential, we all reap the benefits of a stronger more forward society. The investments we make today in our children are investments in our collective future.

ALBUQUERQUE, NM—Average New Mexicans would not benefit much from President Trump’s tax reform proposal, which would give the biggest tax breaks to New Mexico’s millionaires. That’s according to a report released recently by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). “We should be very clear: what the President and Republican leaders in Congress are proposing is not tax reform,” said James Jimenez, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, which works with ITEP on fiscal policies.

ALBUQUERQUE – A new Affordable Care Act (ACA) repeal bill would cut New Mexico’s federal funding for health coverage by nearly $1.3 billion by 2026, according to a new report by the Washington D.C.-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Congressional efforts to repeal the ACA have failed in recent months in large part because a majority of Americans oppose taking coverage from millions of people, raising costs for millions more, gutting Medicaid, and undermining consumer protections.

ALBUQUERQUE—New Mexico’s state funding for higher education is 33 percent less now than it was before the recession, when looking at inflation-adjusted state spending per student. Looking at the dollar investment, the state is spending $4,509 less in 2017 than it did in 2008 on a per-student, inflation-adjusted basis. Only Louisiana has made deeper cuts over that time period.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A new report released by advocates for criminal, racial and family justice shows that people of color are overrepresented in drug arrests and bookings into the Metropolitan Detention Center relative to their respective shares in the Bernalillo County population. In contrast, White people are booked for drug violations at significantly lower rates than their share of the county population.

ALBUQUERQUE—By slashing Medicaid and making marketplace coverage unaffordable, the U.S. Senate Republican health bill would have devastating consequences for New Mexico’s American Indians. The uninsured rate among Native Americans in New Mexico would jump an estimated 232 percent under the bill, according to a new report from the Washington, DC-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “The Senate Republican health bill would be devastating to Native American people living in New Mexico,” said James Jimenez, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children.