With election results in, it’s time to get to work. A new governor in office signals change on the horizon for New Mexico. We urge our new Governor, and our new and returning policymakers, to prioritize our hard-working families and their kids when they meet in January, 2019. Our Roadmap to a Stronger New Mexico outlines changes that are vital to improving child well-being in our state.
“Taxes are the way we accomplish great things for our state – build our schools and infrastructure, provide health care and public safety, and more,” said James Jimenez, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, which partnered with ITEP on the report release. “These systems and services underpin our economy and improve our quality of life. We all need to do our part to support them, but our current state tax system ensures that those who can afford to pay the most actually pay the least.”
“Pushing the cost of a college education onto students and their families will not make our state stronger,” said James Jimenez, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children. “Only by adequately investing in higher education will we be able to create a New Mexico in which everyone has the opportunity to succeed.”
“To grow up healthy, kids need a clean, beautiful, and accessible outdoors where they can spend time with family, play, and discover the amazing world around them,” said James Jimenez, Executive Director of New Mexico Voices for Children. “Without the Land and Water Conservation Fund, New Mexico will be severely hindered in our efforts to provide and protect such vital outdoor places for our families, including historically and socially significant outdoor areas.”
New Casey Foundation report illuminates needs and barriers facing New Mexico’s young parents and their children PRESS RELEASE September 25, 2018 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Sharon Kayne | skayne@nmvoices.org | 505-361-1288 (direct); 505-401-8709 (cell) ALBUQUERQUE, [...]
“A big drop in poverty for our youngest children is very good news, as poverty is most harmful to children when they are young. This is the time when critical brain development is happening and not only do kids living in poverty have fewer resources for enrichment, the stress caused by financial hardship can do real damage,” said James Jimenez, executive director for New Mexico Voices for Children, a child advocacy group.
“We are appalled that the Trump Administration has taken another step away from simple human decency by trying to subvert the Flores Settlement Agreement. The number one priority of the Flores agreement is that children not be incarcerated. This foundational principle recognizes that the best way to ensure a child’s well-being is to keep them out of jail. These standards of protection have been in place for decades and there is no reason they should be discarded."
“Food, utilities, rent, and basics like diapers, have all gotten more expensive in the last nine years, but our minimum wage has stagnated. That $7.50 does not buy what it bought in 2009,” said James Jimenez, executive director of NM Voices. “Given our rate of child poverty, which is the highest in the nation, it’s unconscionable that we haven’t raised the minimum wage to help New Mexico’s hard-working families and our economy.”
“Elections are foundational to our democracy, so we wanted to get candidate positions on a variety of topics,” said Brian Etheridge, MD, FAAP, president of the NM Pediatric Society. “We asked about a range of issues – from child health and well-being to education funding, the economy, the 2020 Census, public land use, and more.”
“Across the nation, children of color and children from low-resource families are much more likely to face barriers to success in school and beyond. These children are more likely than their white peers to go to schools that are underfunded and that struggle to attract the best teachers. These children are more likely to be behind even before they enter the schoolhouse doors.