A new survey suggested New Mexico is making progress in reducing child poverty and improving child well-being after a series of state investments in families and early childhood programs.

Last year, New Mexico became the first state in the nation to offer no-cost, universal child care for working families. The state also has invested in early childhood education, increased child and family tax credits, and boosted funding for food security — changes reflected in this year’s Kids Count Data Book.

Emily Wildau, director of policy at New Mexico Voices for Children, said the state saw some improvement in health data and now has a lower rate of children without health insurance than other states.

“Our rate of children in poverty was down to 22%,” Wildau reported. “That's still, of course, far too high. There's still a lot of work to be done, but that is the lowest rate of poverty we've seen in the state in at least 16 years.”

Wildau added the COVID-19 pandemic showed how vulnerable children’s issues are to outside threats, and New Mexico lawmakers responded. But she cautioned federal policy changes already in the works could reverse the progress.

New Mexico ranks 49th overall in this year’s survey, up from 50th place last year. The results compare 2024 with 2019 and show it has been difficult to maintain forward momentum for the nation’s 73 million children. Three of four education indicators have declined since the pandemic.

Leslie Boissiere, vice president of external affairs for the Annie E. Casey Foundation, said seven of the report’s 16 indicators improved, seven worsened and two held steady.

“The indicators that declined include fourth grade reading scores, eighth grade math scores, and the number of three and four-year-olds who are entering early childhood education programs,” Boissiere outlined.

Nationwide, 13 states fell behind on children’s economic well-being. Wildau noted New Mexico was not among them, joining Delaware and New Hampshire in gaining ground.

“We actually saw that New Mexico's economic well-being domain showed the biggest improvement in score of all of the states,” Wildau emphasized. “We are doing things that are making a difference.”

Source: Public News Service