New Mexico’s Children

We asked five national experts in child well-being, health, education and policy to write short essays in response to recent stories we have covered. Here’s what they had to say.

I discovered a core of human goodness in troubled places, and it struck me as one of the great ironies that such darkness persists amidst such a culture of deep-rooted familial strength.

How does a state climb off the bottom rung in measures of child well-being? Can New Mexico take a cue and move up a few notches itself, by next year?

Pensacola, Fla., became one of the country’s first cities to dub itself an “Early Learning City.” With leadership from the business community, it linked up with the University of Chicago’s Thirty Million Words project to educate new parents on how to build their child’s brain — a project that could hold lessons for New Mexico.

We asked the five land commissioner candidates how they would steward our public trust lands and use their office to improve conditions for New Mexico’s children. Two responded.

We asked the four gubernatorial candidates about their childhoods, to understand how their formative years shaped their thinking about what we regard as the most critical issue confronting New Mexico.

New Mexico Voices for Children awards ‘Raising New Mexico’ project.