NM Voices in the News
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Advocacy group talks report ranking New Mexico last for child wellbeing
KOB--The 2025 National Kids Count is in, putting New Mexico at the bottom for child well-being. “A reminder that these numbers are from 2023, so we hadn’t fully implemented our almost universally free childcare and access to pre-K yet in 2023, it was just starting to roll out. That number we expect it to rise in coming years,” she said. Graduation rates are still trending upward, but stats that do raise some eyebrows are math and reading scores.
Report: NM’s child well-being shows mixed momentum
Public News Service--A traditional marker used to measure child well-being in the U.S. shows New Mexico notched both improvements and declines in several areas. The Annie E. Casey Foundation's Kids Count Data Book historically shows New Mexico at or near the bottom of its report, which puts it at 50th in the nation. Emily Wildau, senior research and policy analyst at New Mexico Voices for Children, said it is important to remember the data was collected in 2023, when kids and families were experiencing severe inflation from the pandemic.
Report: New Mexico ranks last in the nation for child well-being, again
Albuquerque Journal--New Mexico has once again been ranked the worst state in the country for child well-being, according to the newest annual Annie E. Casey Foundation Kids Count data book. Those results reflect a marked lack in progress over the five years since the state received a 2018 landmark ruling that its public education department was violating students’ constitutional rights with the quality of instruction provided — and a subsequent April ruling that it had not done enough to improve.
Newest national rankings place New Mexico last for child well being
KUNM--Gabrielle Uballez, Executive Director for New Mexico Voices for Children says the state’s poor performance reflects remote learning during the pandemic and the subsequent learning loss during those two years of school closures, but the responsibility to improve education is multifaceted.
Once again, N.M. ranks 50th for kids; this must change
Santa Fe New Mexican--New Mexicans are a people of strength, resilience and deep-rooted pride — shaped by our commitment to community and our dedication to the well-being of families. That’s why it’s painful to reconcile our values with the news in this week’s release of state rankings on child well-being from the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s annual Kids Count Data Book. Once again, New Mexico is ranked 50th. Two things are true: Progress takes time — and our children can’t afford to wait.
Let’s Use Childcare Assistance to Lift the Workers Out of Poverty Too
El Semanario--While it’s great to know that the expansion of universal child care has such a dramatic effect on lowering poverty in New Mexico for the children and families who receive the program, there is one significant way in which the CA program falls short: wages for child care and other early care and education (ECE) workers remain unacceptably low. If we can use our CA program to lift kids and families out of poverty, why don’t we use it to lift the people who provide that care out of poverty as well?
‘Not only draconian… immoral’: NM legislators, advocates talk Trump deportation plans
NM Political Report--Chavero cited the report “Essential but Excluded” that was completed during the pandemic by New Mexico Voices for Children and other advocacy groups. “We have a robust immigrants’ rights movement in New Mexico,” Chavero said. “Bigger and stronger than we were eight years ago during the first Trump administration.”
Head Start could be threatened under Trump
NM Political Report--Jacob Vigil, deputy policy director for New Mexico Voices for Children, told NM Political Report that Head Start is “crucial” to enabling many women in New Mexico to stay in the workforce. “It’s one of the most effective anti-poverty programs for the most vulnerable kids in our country. Head Start continues to be a huge part of the rural childcare system,” Vigil said.
House speaker, advocates plot pushback on Trump deportation plans
Santa Fe New Mexican--“New Mexico is home to an estimated 60,000 undocumented immigrants,” said Zulema Chavero, citizenship coordinator for Somos Un Pueblo Unido. She said they “pay more than $67.7 million annually in state and local taxes,” citing a 2020 report from New Mexico Voices for Children.
New Mexico ranks 17th in nation for child poverty, according to one ranking
NM Political Report--“We haven’t done enough and we could be doing way more but [the recent policy changes] do have positive impact. We have to push harder to improve those programs,” Wildau said.