Policy Brief Establishing New Mexico’s new Early Childhood Education and Care Department (ECECD) is a singular opportunity to provide the strong building blocks to success that can help ensure all New Mexico children can grow into their best possible selves. This policy brief includes recommendations for guiding principles and organizational and programmatic policies.
Fact Sheet Increasing the Working Families Tax Credit would put another $52 million back into the hands of New Mexico’s hard-working families – and the businesses where they will spend it. It also has been shown to improve school performance and health, among other outcomes.
Report Tax credits for low- and moderate-income working families are a common-sense way to spur economic activity by putting money into the hands of consumers who will spend it. They have also been shown to improve health outcomes. These are just some of the reasons New Mexico should increase its Working Families Tax Credit. (State-, county- and legislative district-level data on who claims the WFTC and how much they receive)
Fact Sheet Thanks to large budget cuts over the past decade, college tuition in New Mexico has risen sharply. At the same time, the state's main source of financial aid -- the Lottery Scholarship -- has failed to keep up with rising costs and now covers less than half of average tuition costs. This fact sheet covers the top points from the companion report, Improving College Affordability. (A Working Poor Families publication)
Report States that graduate more college students and ensure that their workers have the skills needed for 21st century jobs have stronger and more competitive economies, higher wages, lower unemployment rates, and lower poverty rates. But New Mexico has not been focused on improving access to post-secondary credentials for lower-income students and older adults that would help lead to a more broadly shared prosperity. Rather, the state is ignoring long-term economic demands, choosing, instead, to continue to be a low-wage state with the highest long-term unemployment rate, have the highest poverty rate among the employed, and have the second worst student loan default rate in the nation. (A Working Poor Families report; state-level data on state-funded financial aid and some characteristics of college students)
Fact Sheet A companion to the report The Cliff Effect: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back, this sums up the report's basic message about how the sudden loss of benefits like child care assistance - called the cliff effect - can act as a disincentive for hard-working families trying to lift themselves out of poverty. Also includes policy recommendations for mitigating the cliff effect. (State-level data on the child care assistance program)
NM KIDS COUNT Data Book After ten years of austerity, New Mexico has fallen to last in the nation in child well-being. The state also lost a lawsuit claiming that it is not meeting its constitutional obligation when it comes to public education. It's time to change course. This annual publication reports the latest data on child well-being in New Mexico to help us choose the path forward. (State-, county-, tribal-, and school district-level data on indicators of child well-being; data by race and ethnicity where available)
Report How can a $1 raise in pay throw families into poverty? When they are at the ceiling for child care assistance eligibility, a tiny raise can mean they go from paying 18 percent of their income on child care to 38 percent. Work supports like child care assistance should help families achieve economic stability. But the sudden loss of benefits - called the cliff effect - can have the opposite effect. (State-level data on the child care assistance program)
State Data Sheet New Mexico has fallen to 50th in the nation in child well-being after ranking 49th for the past four years. This state profile shows how our children are faring on the 16 indicators of child well-being used in the national KIDS COUNT rankings. (State-level data on indicators of child well-being)
Presentation Given at the NM Office of African American Affairs' Black Child Wellness Summit, it introduces our Well-Being of Black Children in New Mexico special KIDS COUNT report on how New Mexico's Black children are doing on some 20 indicators of child well-being.