New Mexico population: 2,044,187

Number in poverty: 401,755

Minimum wage: $7.50

Unemployment: 6.2% Ranked 50th

Participation in federal programs

Adults and children receiving welfare (TANF) 28,006

Children receiving food stamps (SNAP) 206,000

Number of children enrolled in Medicaid CHIP 338,333

Average college graduate debt $21,314

Number of Hispanic children below 200% poverty 182,000

Percent of single-parent families with related children that are below poverty: 45%

Percent of children in immigrant families: 21%

Percent of children living in single-parent families: 42%

Children 27.0% Ranked 50th Percentage of children under 18 in related families who had incomes below the poverty line in 2017

Income inequality Ratio 17.3 Ranked 45th The ratio of the share of income going to the top 10 percent of households and the share of income going to the bottom 28 percent of households in 2017

“Every year, many schools and businesses across the country close on the second Monday in October to celebrate the Italian Christopher Columbus’s arrival in what are now called the Americas on October 12, 1492, or the “discovery” of America. Of course, Native Americans were already here. And Columbus, while remembered as a hero by many, was brutal to the native people. In his quest to find gold, he enslaved them, working thousands to death; brutalized them; and murdered them.

The native population was nearly wiped out. In “A People’s History of the United States,” Howard Zinn writes, “In two years, through murder, mutilation, or suicide, half of the 250,000 Indians on Haiti were dead.” Columbus’s efforts amounted to genocide. Native people “were worked at a ferocious pace, and died by the thousands,” Zinn writes. “By the year 1515, there were perhaps fifty thousand Indians left. By 1550, there were five hundred. A report of the year 1650 shows none of the original Arawaks [on the Bahamas] or their descendants left on the island.”

Native Americans in what is now the United States would continue to be killed by later settlers in enormous numbers, have their land stolen by the government, and see their rights trampled on. This is Columbus’s legacy, and the effects of his violent campaign and the decades of oppression afterward can still be seen today in the huge disparities between the Native American population and the population in general.

Poverty and Employment

In 2012, one in four American Indians and Alaska Natives lived in poverty, compared to a national rate of 14.5 percent. For those who identify these groups as their only race, their poverty rate was just over 29 percent. Poverty rates are even higher on big Indian reservations: Among the top ten largest, rates range from 20.2 percent for individuals to as much as 53.5 percent. And extreme poverty on these reservations is, on average, four times as high as the national rate.

On top of these high poverty rates, Native Americans experience far higher unemployment rates. The unemployment situation right now is four times worse among the Native American population than it was for the entire country during the recession. The employment rate for the native population in its prime working ages was less than 65 percent between 2009 and 2011, 13.4 points lower than for white workers. During the same time, the Native American unemployment rate averaged 14.6 percent, nearly 7 points higher than the 7.7 percent rate for white workers. Things have been bad for a while: Native Americans have suffered double-digit unemployment rates ever since 2008, with a current rate around 11 percent, compared to a national rate under 6 percent.”

“This arrangement required Pueblo Indians to provide basic provisions to the Spaniards such as food and blankets in exchange for Christian education and protection. This system puts a great deal of strain on the pueblos, especially during times of drought and because of the dwindling Indian population, due in part to diseases such as smallpox and influenza introduced by the Spanish …. By 1680, half of all Spanish households owned slaves, with many having multiple Indian servants.

“Sixteen-eighty was the year Po’pay, an Indian leader, warrior, and farmer gathered various tribes and led a successful revolt that forced 1,000 Spanish settlers to flee to El Paso. The settlers returned several years later and Santa Fe celebrates their return and ‘resettlement’ with a Fiesta.”

Lovato continues: “Perhaps the single event that did the most to change the nature of the territory was the coming of the railroad in 1880. New people arrived by the thousands. Between 1880 and 1900, the Anglo population of New Mexico quadrupled. By 1886 Spanish surnamed property ownership diminished by 48 percent.”

A new elite comprising Anglo lawyers and territorial government officials developed in Santa Fe. This informal coalition, which has been referred to as ‘The Santa Fe Ring,’ appropriated vast amounts of land during the late 1880s and early 1900s. By 1912, it had manipulated the judicial and legislative systems to such an extent that it controlled 80 percent of the former lands held by Mexican farmers and ranchers.”

“It is in times of crisis that our national motto – e pluribus unum; out of many, one – rings truer than ever. We are a collection of states – and cities, communities, and individuals – united under one democracy. We rise or fall as one. But the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed more starkly than ever a much less idealistic side of America: the chasm separating what John Edwards dubbed the “two Americas.” The haves and have-nots. Those who vacation and those who enable vacations by driving taxis, washing dishes, and changing bedsheets. We have fooled ourselves into believing that this economic divide is simply a quality-of-life matter, when it is, in fact, a life-and-death matter.”

While the middle-class can isolate with their broadband internet and streaming TV, those with fewer resources are getting sick and dying in disproportionate numbers. In true American fashion, this gulf extends beyond socio-economic lines into racial and ethnic lines. All across the nation, Native Americans, Hispanics, and Blacks are overrepresented among those who are suffering from and dying of COVID-19.

It is no accident that socio-economic classes and racial and ethnic categories align so completely. It was enshrined in the founding of this nation – driven by white colonialists (and their descendants), on land stolen from its original inhabitants (and their descendants), and built by the forced labor of people who were kidnapped and enslaved (and their descendants). And while the land theft is (mostly) over with, and the slavery has been (technically) ended, white America has worked diligently ever since to preserve that status quo and ensure that every public policy – from appropriations to laws – will benefit “us” while marginalizing “them.” That every one of our public systems – from school houses to jail houses – will provide opportunities for “us” and barriers for “them.”

While we have made some progress toward a more just society, the mechanism built for suppression continues to hum along. When one group manages to win some victories (voting rights, the end of Jim Crow laws), we find new ways to keep them down (mass incarceration, voter suppression).

This two-Americas system is engrained in our economy. Those who do the work that is the very bedrock of our economy – processing our food and our retail transactions, producing and moving our goods, keeping our offices and hospitals clean and functioning – are paid subsistence wages. Deemed ‘essential’ workers, they are further punished for their service by being denied health care and paid sick leave. And we allow companies with whom we would never do business – from money lenders to slumlords to purveyors of cheap and unhealthy food – to prey upon them. These predators extract wealth and they do it for the love of a buck.”

ALBUQUERQUE— “The income gap between New Mexico’s richest and poorest households is the widest in the nation, according to a new report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute. The average income of the top 20% of households is 9.9 times the average income of the bottom 20%.

“Inequality is strongly associated with poor health outcomes such as shortened life expectancy and teen pregnancy,” said Gerry Bradley, Research Director for New Mexico Voices for Children. “Extreme inequality is also associated with social ills such as low test scores and high dropout rates, violent crime, incarceration, and restricted social mobility. Looking at income inequality shines a light on why New Mexico performs so poorly by so many measures.”

A snapshot of how households at different income levels were doing in New Mexico as of the late 2000s (2008-2010, the most recent data available), provides a troubling picture of income inequality:

• The income of the richest fifth of households ($161,162, on average) was 9.9 times greater than that of the poorest (who earned $16,319, on average). For the nation as a whole, that number was 8.
• Income gaps between New Mexico’s high- and middle-income households are also the largest in the nation: 3.2 times.
• The gap between the very richest and the poor is even larger: the top 5% of New Mexico households had an average income 16.8 times that of the bottom 20%.

The report, Pulling Apart: A State-by-State Analysis of Income Trends, released in New Mexico in coordination with NM Voices for Children, finds that our low- and moderate-income families did not share in the most recent economic expansion. Over the course of the last economic cycle, from the late 1990s to the mid-2000s, the incomes of New Mexico’s richest fifth of households grew by 30.2% percent while those of New Mexico’s poorest fifth grew by just 7.4%.

“Underlying extreme inequality in New Mexico are serious problems in the state’s job market,” Bradley said. “New Mexico has an array of jobs: excellent jobs, good jobs, poor jobs, and no jobs. The excellent jobs are in the national labs and at Intel; the good jobs are in health care, manufacturing, and education; the bad jobs are the poverty-level jobs in hotels, restaurants and call centers; and the ‘no jobs’ are because the demand for labor in New Mexico is very weak for workers with low levels of education.

“New Mexico’s lawmakers need to enact policies that will narrow the income gap—such as raising the state’s minimum wage and indexing it to rise with inflation, and restoring unemployment insurance benefits,” Bradley said. “Fully implementing the Affordable Care Act—including the Medicaid expansion—will create much-needed jobs,” he added.

"State government agencies have delivered more than 5.4 million meals to children and youth, more than 293,000 meals to seniors and, separately, more than 400,000 pounds of food items to those communities most in need throughout New Mexico since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and the initial issuance of “stay at home” directives. The state has also increased the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) enrollments and benefits to families and has implemented innovative, collaborative efforts to deliver meals to tribal communities across the state.

“I am incredibly grateful to the state employees from every community across this state who have stepped up in this crisis to make sure New Mexicans have access to nutritional food and clean water,” Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said. “We are truly all in this together as one state government to serve the people of this state, from our tribal neighbors to the elderly to families in need and so many more.”

"Keeping New Mexicans fed and increasing food security for children, youth and seniors has been achieved through extensive collaboration between the Governor’s Office, the state’s Emergency Operations Center, the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management along with multiple state government agencies, tribal governments, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), New Mexico farmers, food banks, meal suppliers, local governments, corporate foundations and other funders. The New Mexico National Guard has been a critical partner in making food deliveries.

"The state Public Education Department and Children, Youth and Families Department continue to provide meals for children at school and community sites through federal United States Department of Agriculture waivers that made “grab and go” meals prepared in school cafeterias possible. More than 102,000 children and youth per day are receiving these meals, which they pick up at local schools or in other community locations.

"PED also worked with the new Early Childhood Education and Care Department to apply for the waivers and both agencies will follow through with uninterrupted meal provision through the regular NM Summer Meals Program, which was the model for the pandemic meals to go efforts.

"The state Indian Affairs Department and the CYFD are also working with the USDA to deliver meals to children and youth living in Tribal communities through a new Meals-2-You home delivery pilot program.

"To date, Meals-2-You, which is supported by PepsiCo’s Food for Good Foundation and Baylor University, has delivered more than 42,000 meals to children who live in tribal communities in New Mexico. In most cases, food for each child is delivered to the tribe, nation or pueblo’s emergency management team for distribution. Additional waivers granted by the USDA allowed for two weeks’ worth of nutritious breakfasts and lunches to be delivered at a time.

"Recognizing the impact of the closure of Gallup on food and water supply, state agencies sprung into action to make sure that marginalized New Mexicans do not go hungry.

"With a mission of “do right and feed everybody,” the USDA also has partnered with the New Mexico Aging and Long-Term Services Department to replicate this meal delivery program to provide meals to at-risk seniors both across New Mexico and on sovereign land. The ALTSD has provided more than 293,000 meals.

"All children, youth and families enrolled in the Federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program have also received the maximum available benefit for the months of March and April. The Human Services Department has worked to increase SNAP enrollment for eligible families state-wide, with a spike in applications by more than 40 percent in the month of April for this food support, enrolling an estimated 316,685 additional individuals. The department also provided an increased monthly stipend to households that did not receive the maximum SNAP benefits during the months of March and April with an average increase of $120 per household.

"New Mexico families will receive more than $97 million in additional food benefits – enough to feed about 245,000 vulnerable children — following federal approval of a Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer Program.

"New Mexico households with children who receive free or reduced-price meals will receive benefits of $5.70 per child, per day for the 70-day period from March 16, 2020 when public schools were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, through June 19, 2020. New Mexico households can receive Pandemic-EBT as well as continue to receive food distributions from their child’s school site. This will be deposited directly to existing EBT cards for families already receiving aid.

"The Pandemic-EBT program will also benefit families that did not previously qualify for free or reduced-price meals but may now qualify due to changes in their household’s circumstances as a result of the restrictions implemented for non-essential businesses because of the COVID-19 response. Those families should contact their school district food service office to apply for benefits. If determined eligible, their children will receive Pandemic-EBT, and the benefit will be issued for the month determined eligible through June.

"Families in need of free breakfasts and lunches for children under the age of 18, can find the closest meal distribution location here. Disabled adults or seniors in need of food assistance can call 800-432-2080. Tribal members should reach out to their local emergency operations center for information on food and water distribution on Tribal land.

“The Food Depot was a flurry of activity at Saturday’s food pickup.

"Staff and volunteers maneuvered around shopping carts full of honeydew melons while carrying sacks of potatoes. A constant shout for drivers to “pull up, all the way up” was broken by volunteers’ grunts as they struggled to open trunks or doors and heaved boxes in.

"The Food Depot served 3,029 people in two hours Saturday, according to the staff’s final count.

"Executive Director Sherry Hooper said The Food Depot, like food banks across the country, is seeing record numbers of people who need food during the COVID-19 pandemic — especially with unemployment soaring.

"She said the help of volunteers and police directing traffic drastically shortened food distribution wait times.

“This is the smoothest distribution yet,” Hooper said.

"At its longest, the line stretched a half-mile north up Siler Road and wrapped onto Agua Fría Street.

"Previous distributions at Capital High School resulted in lines spanning two miles with long waits and frayed tempers.

"Irene, who picked up food for her family and a neighbor’s, said she only had to wait 20 minutes or so to move through the line and receive her food.

“Nothing like the line at Capital,” she said. “This time I was just able to drive up.”

"Traffic and safety concerns after a man brandished an Airsoft gun during a recent meal pickup prompted The Food Depot to stop distributing food at Capital High on Saturdays.

"Angela, a mother of three who lives on Santa Fe’s south side, said in Spanish they had to travel farther to pick up the food but appreciated the shorter wait time.

"The line cleared just after 10 a.m., and for the next hour there was little to no wait and no need for the cones marking a third lane on Siler.

"The spring weather was the kind ideal for kids’ soccer games — sunny with a light breeze. All volunteers handling food wore gloves, masks and sleeves to prevent touching surfaces and jostled around tables to try to keep 6 feet apart.

"Despite the overarching stress, people smiled through masks and waved goodbye. Others yelled, “Take care,” and “God bless,” out of car windows.

"The new normal of COVID-19 is stretching resources thin at The Food Depot, Hooper said.

"She cited a larger individual need for food, continued demand at local food banks, a drop in donations from grocery stores and an inability to take personal food donations because of concerns over the virus being transmitted through packaging.

"She said The Food Depot in the past two months has spent what it usually spends in a year.

“We normally spend about $400,000 a year purchasing food, and we’ve spent that already since the pandemic hit,” Hooper said.

"She said while the nonprofit hasn’t received additional funds yet, there might be some relief for five food banks in the state from the Federal Emergency Management Agency coming soon.

“About 80 percent of funds coming in right now are used to assist us in purchasing food,” Hooper said.

“New Mexico's health status continues to evolve as demographics change and specific health issues become more or less prominent. For a state with a relatively small population, New Mexico's health status remains quite complex. This report aims to systematically review New Mexico's health status from various vantage points and allow certain key findings to emerge.

"One key vantage point is the comparison to the United States. Unfortunately, the U.S. life expectancy has decreased over the last two years, mainly due to drug overdose, suicide and Alzheimer's disease. New Mexico's life expectancy decreased even more than that of the U.S. in 2016 - a drop of 0.3 years - due to drug overdose, motor vehicle injuries, heart disease and infant mortality.

"For the three leading causes of death, New Mexico has lower death rates than those of the U.S. for heart disease and cancer, but much higher rates for unintentional injuries which includes drug overdose, motor vehicle injuries and older adult falls. New Mexico also has substantially higher death rates than those of the U.S. for suicide and for cirrhosis and chronic liver disease, which is primarily due to alcohol use.

"Disability-adjusted life years, or DALYs (chapter16), provide New Mexico with a broader health status measure by adding years lived with a disability to the picture. Among the top 10 causes of years of healthy life lost are three for which New Mexico has significantly higher rates than those found for the U.S. These are drug use disorders, motor vehicle injuries and self-harm (suicide). This finding confirms the developing picture that injury, substance use and mental illness are what sets New Mexico's health status apart from that of the U.S.

"Disparities in health status within New Mexico are also striking and emerge from this report. Poverty is relatively common in New Mexico and those who live in poverty generally have worse health status. American Indians and Alaska Natives in New Mexico are the racial group with the highest overall death rates and the shortest life expectancy, which are driven by alcohol-related disease and injury. Rural areas in New Mexico are on the wrong end of many health disparities in New Mexico and, overall, persons living there have a shorter life expectancy due in part to higher smoking rates and less access to care.

"New Mexico, like the U.S., is undergoing a crisis in that life expectancy is worsening due to substance use and injury. Public health and society as a whole have to become much more effective at dealing with these problems if these trends are to be reversed.”

"There is a vicious, self-reinforcing cycle of poverty associated with mental illness. You become poor. Sometimes through circumstances well beyond your control, such as losing your job, or perhaps because of a pre-existing mental illness or health concerns.

"So you seek out government assistance to help you through the tough times.

"But living in poverty for any significant length of time increases all sorts of risk factors for health and mental health problems. You are more stressed, worrying about money constantly, and how you’re going to pay the bills or have enough money to eat. You eat worse because bad, processed food is so often cheaper than nutritional food. If you can still afford to live on your own, you will likely do so in a neighborhood more prone to violence, exposing you to more trauma and risk for personal violence.

"It’s a vicious circle where both poverty seems linked to greater rates of mental illness, and in some cases, certain kinds of mental illness seem linked to a greater likelihood of living in poverty.

"The relationship between mental illness and poverty is a complex one. For instance, in a 2005 study, researcher Chris Hudson looked at the health records of 34,000 patients who have been hospitalized at least twice for mental illness over a period of 7 years.

“He looked at whether or not these patients had “drifted down” to less affluent ZIP codes following their first hospitalization,” according to the news account of the study.

"He found that poverty — acting through economic stressors such as unemployment and lack of affordable housing — is more likely to precede mental illness, except in patients with schizophrenia.

"Hudson says his data suggests that “poverty impacts mental illness both directly and indirectly.”

"And it’s not just a U.S. problem. Poverty and mental illness share a close, complex relationship throughout the world.

"Esther Entin, writing in The Atlantic, discussed the results of a recent Lancet study (2011) that looked at the relationship between mental illness and poverty in various regions through the world, including Africa, India, Mexico, Thailand, and China.

"Throwing money at people doesn’t seem to help much:

"Programs that primarily aimed at alleviating poverty had varied outcomes but generally were not markedly successful in decreasing the mental health problems of the target populations: “Unconditional cash transfer programs had no significant mental health effect and micro credit intervention had negative consequences increasing stress levels among recipients.”

"But actual mental health intervention programs seem to help:

"The researchers saw more improvement when they looked at the impact of intervention programs aimed at improving the mental health of people living in poverty. The interventions they reviewed varied from administration of psychiatric drugs, to community-based rehabilitation programs, to individual or group psychotherapy, to residential drug treatment, to family education. They also looked at the impact of mental health help on the rate and duration of employment and on family finances.

"Here they found financial situations improved as their mental health improved.

"There are no easy answers here, especially in times of economic decline or recession. Government money is less free-flowing, especially to such intervention programs, while individual welfare programs continue to be well-funded. Such funding priorities appear to directly contradict the latest research, where we should be emphasizing more treatment and recovery programs, rather than individual handouts.

"Once a person gets on SSI or SSDI in the U.S., getting off of it can be just as hard. Social workers and others often encourage a person to remain “disabled” or in poverty to continue receiving their full benefits. Perversely, the programs often discourage work or even looking for work, and punish them financially as soon as they do, with little transition time or a “weaning off” period.

"As more research is conducted in this area, perhaps the solutions will become more clear. And our policy makers can take the actual data and help craft funding that aligns with the data, rather than competes with it.

"Because being poor is not a life-long condition one has to be resigned to for the rest of their lives. Recovery from poverty and mental illness is not only possible, but should be everyone’s goal."

The "New Mexico 2019 Kids Count Profile Data Book", funded by The Annie E. Casey Foundation, provides information that shows New Mexico slowly improving, in several areas of child welfare, but still in urgent need of significant improvement in the three areas presented here.

Economic Well-Being -- Rank 49th

Health -- Rank 48th

Family and Community -- Rank 50th

"Alleviating Poverty Will Improve Education In New Mexico” A report by the NM Center on Law and Poverty January 2014 This report was made possible by funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Equal Access to Justice.

“From reading popular accounts and national reports about New Mexico’s education system, it is easy to conclude that New Mexico has some of the worst schools in the country. Indeed, newspapers have recently reported that New Mexican student’s rank 49th or 50th nationally on educational achievement tests – indicating that our children are worse at reading and math than almost all other children in the country. We also read that New Mexico’s high school graduation rates are extraordinarily low. These and other statistics have led many to believe that there is something terribly wrong with our schools and teachers.

"But a closer look reveals that rather than having bad schools and teachers, our schools and teachers have the extremely difficult challenge of educating a very large number of children who live in poverty. There is a large body of evidence showing that poverty directly impacts success in school. It is not coincidental that New Mexico ranks at the bottom of states both in terms of educational outcomes and in terms of the number of children living in poverty.

"In order to improve the educational outcomes in our schools, we must come to terms with the dynamics between poverty and learning. While New Mexico has demonstrated a commitment to equitably funding its schools, and while our teachers, according to both qualitative and quantitative analyses, are excellent, New Mexico has not addressed how our high rates of child poverty impact our education system. Hence, decades of attempts at education reform have yielded little success. Indeed, meeting the explicit needs of children living in poverty, and, at the same time, redoubling our efforts to reduce child poverty, are the best strategies for improving educational outcomes in New Mexico.”

"New Mexico has long had some of the highest rates of alcohol and drug abuse in the country, and the problem is getting worse. Since 2001, the combined rates of alcohol and drug related deaths in New Mexico rose by more than 60 percent. In 2018, 2,081 New Mexicans died due to alcohol or drug addiction, more than any previous year. In some counties such as McKinley, one in four deaths among working age adults is due to alcohol. Between 1990 and 2018, the state death toll was over 38 thousand, and by 2018 deaths due to substance abuse accounted for 11 percent of all deaths. Counting deaths is the standard way of estimating the scope of the problem, but we know many thousands more people, along with their children, families and communities, struggle with substance use on a daily basis. The problem is multi-generational and driven by com-plex underlying issues, such as poverty and trauma. In addition to the human toll, the social and economic costs rise every year: healthcare, domestic violence, child abuse, loss of productivity, incarceration and crime.

"In 2018, the New Mexico Human Services Department spent over $117 million in state and Medicaid funds to provide ser-vices to people with a substance use disorder (SUD) diagnosis –nearly double the $62 million the state spent in 2014. In addition the state received over $29 million in federal substance abuse grants. This brief will review the many ways this funding has improved access to critical SUD services. Medicaid expansion has brought more people into the behavioral healthcare sys-tem than ever before, and non-Medicaid SUD services have seen higher utilization as well. The state’s harm reduction effort targeting drug overdoses through the widespread availability and use of naloxone, a life-saving drug that reverses opioid overdoses, has been very successful.

"The counties have been active in addressing SUD as well, and this brief will explore important developments in three counties with high rates or numbers of substance-related deaths and injuries that have recently received an influx of public funds to tar-get the problem. Over the last five years, the state has funneled $5 million into Behavioral Health Investment Zones in McKinley and Rio Arriba counties, whose drug and alcohol-related death rates lead the state. Bernalillo county has collected over $89million through its behavioral health tax initiative. In all three counties the money has helped to build service capacity and to kick-start community-based initiatives targeting high-risk populations. But the strategy has also highlighted the slow nature of progress on these issues.

"Despite these gains, there are still critical gaps in the system that merit focused attention. Treatment and funding for alcohol dependence, the deadliest SUD in New Mexico, does not meet the scale of the problem, and though effective medications exist for alcohol, as for opioids, they are chronically underutilized. Evidence-based treatments are largely absent in New Mexico’s jails despite high rates of substance abuse in the incarcerated population. Similarly, hospital emergency departments are a potentially key intervention point, but nearly half of hospitals in New Mexico do not even stock the drugs used for medication assisted treatment in their pharmacies, and the state has an overall shortage of providers who are able and willing to prescribe these drugs.

"Effectively addressing substance abuse is difficult, in part, because it requires overcoming pervasive stigma. A wide body of research shows that SUD are best understood and treated as chronic illnesses. Yet too often they are instead viewed as symp-toms of moral failure. Stigma can prevent people from seeking help and providers from offering it, and it can dissuade the public and policymakers from pursuing bold solutions. Framing SUD as a moral failing does not allow us to make the critical connections between the disease and its origins in social determinants like poverty and childhood trauma, and creates ambivalence when action is needed. New Mexico will not get ahead of this crisis until we replace stigma with informed understanding and respond to SUD as the public health crisis it is.

“Children are organically connected. When a child asks about the nature of a snail, sees the beauty of a star-studded night’s sky, bucks convention unknowingly by taking up an unusual hobby, or gets lost in his imagination, he is naturally expressing the nature of his soul. But when adults fail to acknowledge children, these young souls suffer. A deep and unnecessary spiritual deficit can occur when these children are unsupported in exploring this healthy and natural wonder in the world.

"Tragically, our society often discourages youth from these types of expressions. As a result, their spiritual growth is stunted. In her book, The Soul of Education, nationally renowned educator and practitioner Rachel Kessler warns us what might lie ahead, imploring, “Do we need periodic reminders from sawed-off shotguns to show us that these young people feel … when schools systematically exclude heart and soul, students in growing numbers become depressed, attempt suicide, or succumb to eating disorders and substance abuse.”, describes the situation in detail, asserting:

“We modern day Americans have a spiritual problem… We who have succeeded so brilliantly in matters of economics, science, and technology have been less successful in matters of the heart and soul. This is evident in our manners and our morale; in our entertainment and our politics; in our preoccupation with sex and violence; in the ways we do our jobs and in the failure of our relationships; in our boredom and unhappiness in this, the richest of all societies."

"Educational leaders, parents, and students need not accept this reality. However, it is impossible to act effectively without clarity about the challenges around “spirituality”. It is a word whose definition is elusive. Even those consciously steeped in processes of spiritual discovery articulate different understandings of spirituality, but the ambiguity surrounding the definition of spirituality should not hinder one’s resolve to approach a solution. Kessler keeps reminding her readers that young people are in a constant search for purpose and meaning in their lives, and that they need outlets for such searching. Children are inherently inquisitive, constantly asking questions about why things are the way they are perceived. This fascination with the world, the experience of wonder and awe through the grand and the simple, is what Abraham Joshua Heschel calls radical amazement. Children are in a constant state of questing, searching for authentic ways to connect to themselves, others, nature, and God.

"The answer to this spiritual challenge remains the same for parents as it does for children: education. Engaging parents in personal spiritual identity formation is the first step to a multi-generational solution. The earlier parents engage in this growth process, the better! If parents are to help themselves and their children to develop spiritual identities and ways of expressing them, much like language development, the earlier one starts, the more likely they are to find success. Spiritual education in this way is an attempt to give parents the knowledge to formulate their own beliefs about spirituality and spiritual practice, the language to express those beliefs to each other and their children, and the confidence to do so in a culture that encourages them to do the opposite.

"Spiritual education is not a panacea for all the world’s ills. It is not likely to stop wars or mend the divides among humans. Moreover, it will not end risky behavior or answer every question about the unknown. Instead, good spiritual education can help a child see the humanity in others and empathize with his fellow. It can build self-esteem and feelings of self-worth, while simultaneously helping an individual see the beauty in what others consider mundane, and, if done effectively, it can reinforce the strong bond that links parent and child. Spiritual education may not be able to change the world, but it can transform the life of an individual. What more could one ask for?”

"People who experience homelessness in New Mexico include families with children, people who are working at low-wage jobs, people suffering from mental illness, those with substance abuse problems, migrant workers, runaway or throwaway teens, victims of domestic violence and veterans. In other words, people who experience homelessness are a diverse group of people with a variety of factors contributing to their homelessness.

"Based on the Coalition’s 2005 homeless count, we estimate that there are at least 17,000 people who experience homelessness in New Mexico over the course of a year.

"Homelessness is caused by poverty and lack of affordable housing. Homelessness has grown dramatically since the 1970s due primarily to the steady decrease in public benefits for people living in poverty including welfare payments and public housing. In part because of the decrease in spending for public housing, there has been a steady decline in affordable housing. According to the National Coalition to End Homelessness, between 1970 and 21995, the gap between the number of low-income renters and the amount of affordable housing units in the U.S. went from almost no gap in a shortage of 4,4 million affordable housing units.“

“Homelessness in New Mexico is a problem that can be solved using proven methods. There are a limited number of people affected in New Mexico compared to some other parts of the country, which makes the funding necessary well within the resources of the State. We estimate that about 6,548 people per year experience homelessness but do not receive adequate assistance to help them exit homelessness. We figured out how much it would cost to provide safe, and adequate housing for all 6,548 homeless individuals in New Mexico who are without the means to exit homelessness.

"Two evidence-based interventions have proven effective at helping people exit homelessness. These are:

• "Rapid rehousing – for people who are not disabled which helps 90% of households assisted exit homelessness within two years, according to 1018 New Mexico Dara.
• "Permanent supportive housing – primarily for people with disabilities.

"A system of rapid rehousing and permanent supportive housing will prevent much homelessness while assisting people experiencing homelessness to quickly get back into housing. The goal for those who become homeless is to rehouse them within 30 days of losing housing.

"Our analysis shows that it would cost about 61.3 million per year to provide these interventions on the scale necessary to help all 5,548 people not assisted through current resources. We suggest a five-year plan to phase the funding in and then decrease as possible as the backlog of people awaiting housing is cleared. In addition to the operating cost, a one-time investment of $48 million in state capital outlay funds would be necessary to build additional supportive housing.

"This would create a system where homelessness is brief, rare and non-recurring in New Mexico and would prevent the worst impacts of homelessness on the lives of those affected.”

“It is a cause because it can lead to job loss and reduced earnings, barriers to education and skills development, significant additional expenses, and many other challenges that can lead to economic hardship.

"It is also a consequence because poverty can limit access to health care and preventive services, and increase the likelihood that a person lives and works in an environment that may adversely affect health.

"Half of all working age adults who experience at least one year of poverty have a disability.

"The result? Poverty and disability go hand in hand. The poverty rate for working-age people with disabilities is nearly two and a half times higher than that for people without disabilities. Indeed, recent research finds that half of all working age adults who experience at least one year of poverty have a disability, and nearly two-thirds of those experiencing longer-term poverty have a disability. People with disabilities are also much more likely to experience material hardships—such as food insecurity; inability to pay rent, mortgage, and utilities; or not being able to get needed medical care—than people without disabilities at the same income levels. The same goes for families caring for a child with a disability.

"In addition to income poverty, individuals with disabilities are also nearly twice as likely to lack even modest precautionary savings in case of an unexpected expense or other financial shock. Fully 70 percent of individuals with disabilities responded that they “certainly” or “probably” could not come up with $2,000 to meet an unexpected expense, compared to 37 percent of individuals without disabilities.

“Yet the intersection of disability and poverty is too rarely discussed. In fact, until recently the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual report detailing income, poverty, and health insurance coverage didn’t even include poverty rates for people with disabilities. It does now, and the data released earlier this week put the poverty rate for working-age people with disabilities at 28.4 percent in 2013, compared to 12.4 percent for those without disabilities.

"Yesterday the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, chaired by Senator Tom Harkin, took up this issue in a hearing and a report based on 400 interviews with people with disabilities who are struggling on the brink.

"Toya, a woman in her thirties with Cerebral Palsy who was interviewed for the report, describes needing to buy new shoes each month because of her walking pattern. Another woman interviewed talks about having to purchase “special clothes because of my body distortions, and lots of day-to-day adaptive equipment that insurance doesn’t cover.” Anne, who is blind, relates that while she’d like to work a second job, the additional time it takes her to get ready for and take transportation to and from work makes it impossible.

"Many of the interviewees discuss a lack of reliable accessible transportation. A man in his 30s with a physical disability describes his struggles with para-transit: “My work is located outside my local zone which requires long wait times at transfer stops. To go to work it could take me 2 hours-plus to travel 9 miles and I have to call the day before to arrange this at 6:00 a.m.” The difficulty of finding affordable accessible housing is mentioned frequently as well. One woman describes her wait to obtain affordable housing through the “Section 8” program: “In order to find housing, you’re put on a list that is years long. I keep having to call them and see if somebody died and make sure my name stays on the list.”

"Interviewees also discuss restrictive and outdated asset limits in the Supplemental Security Income program, which provides modest income support to individuals with significant disabilities and very low incomes and assets. Individuals are prohibited from having more than $2,000 in assets—nearly unchanged from the original level set in 1972. Had the asset limit been indexed to inflation when the program was established, it would be more than $8,500 today. As one woman put it: “The requirements of SSI make it difficult to save money, such as for medical emergencies, internship experiences, or purchasing expensive equipment.

"It’s critical to note the progress that has been made in the past several decades. The Americans with Disabilities Act, enacted nearly 25 years ago, prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability and guarantees that people with disabilities have “equal opportunity” to participate in American life. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), enacted the same year, requires that students with disabilities be provided a “free, appropriate public education” just like all other students. The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act expands access for people with disabilities to education and training programs, programs for transition-age youth and young adults transitioning to adulthood, vocation rehabilitation, and more.

"But as Chairman Harkin noted at yesterday’s hearing, much work remains. In order to break the link between poverty and disability, it’s imperative that disability be expressly contemplated as part of a broader antipoverty agenda, not as a separate issue or afterthought.

"Policymakers have a number of policy solutions at their fingertips that could make a real difference today. Expanding Medicaid would make it possible for more low-income Americans to access preventive care, and reduce financial strain for low-income individuals with disabilities. Ensuring paid leave protection and paid sick days would benefit both workers with disabilities and workers who care for family members with disabilities. Raising the minimum wage would boost the incomes of many workers with disabilities, who are especially likely to work in low-wage jobs. Likewise, boosting the Earned Income Tax Credit for workers without dependent children would benefit many workers with disabilities, who are less likely to have children.

"In addition, investing in affordable, accessible housing would enable more people with disabilities to obtain safe and stable housing and live independently. And investing in accessible transportation would enable more people with disabilities to take jobs that they currently can’t get to and from without spending hours in transit. We also need to update the SSI asset limits and improve the program’s work rules so that beneficiaries can keep more of their earnings and save for the future. Similarly, simplifying the work rules in the Social Security Disability Insurance program would make it easier for beneficiaries to test their capacity to work.

"These are just first steps, but they would go a long way to ensuring that poverty and disability no longer go hand in hand."

“New Mexico has a sizable immigrant community, 70 percent of which hails from Mexico. Roughly 10 percent of the state’s population was born in another country, while 1 in 9 residents is a native-born U.S. citizen with at least one immigrant parent. Foreign-born residents are vital members of New Mexico’s labor force, with immigrants accounting for over 37 percent of the state’s fishers, farmers, and foresters, and 18 percent of employees in the construction industry. As workers, business owners, taxpayers, and neighbors, immigrants are an integral part of New Mexico’s diverse and thriving communities and make extensive contributions that benefit all.

"Nearly 1 in 10 New Mexico residents is an immigrant, while one in nine residents is a native-born U.S. citizen with at least one immigrant parent.

• In 2015, 196,955 immigrants (foreign-born individuals) comprised 9.4 percent of the state’s population.
• New Mexico was home to 92,227 women, 92,273 men, and 12,455 children who were immigrants.
• The top countries of origin for immigrants were Mexico (70 percent of immigrants), Germany (2 percent), China (2 percent), Vietnam (1.9 percent), and Canada (1.7 percent).
• In 2016, 225,959 people in New Mexico (11.1 percent of the state’s population) were native-born Americans who had at least one immigrant parent.

"More than a third of all immigrants in New Mexico are naturalized U.S. citizens.

• 71,581 immigrants (36.3 percent) had naturalized as of 2015, and 47,620 immigrants were eligible to become naturalized U.S. citizens in 2015.
• More than three in five immigrants (63 percent) reported speaking English “well” or “very well.”

"The greatest shares of immigrants in New Mexico have less than a high school diploma.

• Almost one in six adult immigrants had a college degree or more education in 2015, while nearly half had less than a high school diploma.

"More than 50,000 U.S. citizens in New Mexico live with at least one family member who is undocumented.

• 85,000 undocumented immigrants comprised 37 percent of the immigrant population and 4 percent of the total state population in 2014.
• 115,331 people in New Mexico, including 54,068 born in the United States, lived with at least one undocumented family member between 2010 and 2014.
• During the same period, 1 in 11 children in the state was a U.S. citizen living with at least one undocumented family member (44,653 children in total).

"Approximately 6,000 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients live in New Mexico.

• As of 2016, 73 percent of DACA-eligible immigrants in New Mexico, or 7,410 people, had applied for DACA.
• An additional 2,000 residents of the state satisfied all but the educational requirements for DACA, and another 3,000 would be eligible as they grew older.

"One in eight workers in New Mexico is an immigrant, together making up a vital part of the state’s labor force across industries.

• 119,556 immigrant workers comprised 12.7 percent of the labor force in 2015.
• Immigrant workers were most numerous in the following industries:

Analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2015 American Community Survey 1-year PUMS data by the American Immigration Council.

• The largest shares of immigrant workers were in the following industries:

Analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2015 American Community Survey 1-year PUMS data by the American Immigration Council.

"Immigrants are an integral part of the New Mexico workforce in a range of occupations.

• In 2015, immigrant workers were most numerous in the following occupation groups:

Analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2015 American Community Survey 1-year PUMS data by the American Immigration Council.

• The largest shares of immigrant workers were in the following occupation groups:

Analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2015 American Community Survey 1-year PUMS data by the American Immigration Council.

• Undocumented immigrants comprised 5.6 percent of the state’s workforce in 2014.

"Immigrants in New Mexico contribute over a billion dollars in yearly taxes.

• Immigrant-led households in the state paid $756.9 million in federal taxes and $394.3 million in state and local taxes in 2014.
• Undocumented immigrants in New Mexico paid an estimated $67.7 million in state and local taxes in 2014. Their contribution would rise to $75.8 million if they could receive legal status.
• DACA recipients in New Mexico paid an estimated $18.8 million in state and local taxes in 2016.

"As consumers, immigrants add billions of dollars to New Mexico’s economy.

• New Mexico residents in immigrant-led households had $3.4 billion in spending power (after-tax income) in 2014.

"Immigrant entrepreneurs represent more than one in seven business owners in New Mexico.

• 15,224 immigrant business owners accounted for 15 percent of all self-employed New Mexico residents in 2015 and generated $375.1 million in business income.”

“In many ways, the American dialogue about poverty remains the same as it was in the early 1960s, when poverty was first “discovered” as a national problem. Liberals want the government to do more for the poor — through expanded social programs or raising the minimum wage - while conservatives emphasize self-reliance over government assistance. Both sides seem to agree that there is an intergenerational “cycle of poverty,” leading children born in poverty into lifetimes of economic difficulty, and that ways must be found to interrupt this cycle.

"But many things have changed in the last 50 years, some of them so recently as to have gone largely unnoticed by pundits and policy makers. The poor, and especially poor people of color, have long been over-represented in the prison population. This used to be attributed to the fact that the poor are more likely to be tempted by criminal activities such as theft and drug dealing. Just in the last ten years, however, it has become apparent that being poor is in itself a crime in many cities and counties, and that it is a crime punished by further impoverishment. As Karen Dolan explains in this hard-hitting report, a simple traffic violation – such as a broken tail-light – can bring down a cascade of fees and fines, which mount quickly if not paid on time and can lead to incarceration.

"The mid-00s were a turning point in the criminal justice system’s treatment of misdemeanors. Local governments increased the fees, fines and court costs they levied for minor transgressions, and at the same time, increased the number of possible misdemeanors to include truancy (for which parents can be punished), driving with an expired license (as is the case in Washington, DC), putting one’s feet up on a subway seat (in New York City), and a variety of other minor infractions. The latter two are grounds for immediate arrest, leading to the imposition of fines and court costs. If the defendant cannot pay, he or she may be jailed and, in the ugliest twist of all – later charged for the cost of room and board, then re-jailed for failing to pay that. If the defendant is put on probation, he or she must pay for the probation officer and anything else required for monitoring, like an ankle bracelet.

"Ferguson, Missouri helped bring attention to the extent of “offender-funded” criminal justice services. The city was relying on fees, fines, and court costs for 20 percent of its budget, effectively turning it into an occupied territory, with a 95 percent white police force supporting itself by forcibly preying on a nearly 70 percent black population.

"Who benefits from this “criminalization of poverty”? In the short-term, municipalities and counties may appear to benefit, as well as the private companies that increasingly provide probation services and operate detention facilities and prisons. In addition, the increasing barriers, such as drug testing and criminal record searches, to social benefits like public housing, SNAP, and TANF may also temporarily help relieve cash-strapped local governments. But the overall effect is to perpetuate poverty and even expand the poverty population, to no possible good effect. Poor and indigent people cannot afford to pay for the means to coerce and incarcerate them, and nothing is gained by repeatedly jailing them. The criminalization of poverty – and increasing impoverishment of people judged to be criminals — amounts to a system of organized sadism.

"This is the real “cycle of poverty:” Poverty leads easily to criminal charges from unpaid debts, unrenewed licenses and the like. Criminal charges in turn lead to ever-mounting debt and, despite laws prohibiting debtors’ prisons, to incarceration. There is no mystery about where government needs to intervene — first, by stopping the persecution of people who are already struggling to get by, and second, by mitigating that struggle.”

“When we take a common-sense approach to criminal and juvenile justice reforms, we can strengthen our workforce, families, and communities. While incarceration was designed to help keep communities safe, mass incarceration without a proper focus on rehabilitation causes harm to families and makes the broader community even less safe. Communities of color have been disproportionately impacted by incarceration even though studies show they commit crimes at similar rates to whites. African Americans in New Mexico are more than six times likelier to be incarcerated as whites and Hispanics are about two times likelier. Women who are mothers are also disproportionately represented. The overall inequity in our justice system has dire consequences for the health and well-being of our families.

"Thankfully, criminal and juvenile justice reforms are at the forefront of national, bipartisan conversations. Lawmakers in New Mexico are also understanding that we can’t continue with a strategy of punitive incarceration, and they passed some reforms during the last legislative session that will have a positive impact on communities in New Mexico. While they weren’t approaching these reforms with a focus on equity, making progressive changes to our system has a profoundly positive impact on families of color.

"Children are bearing the burden in our justice system both through their parents’ incarceration and their own. About 12 percent of kids in New Mexico have had a parent incarcerated at one time in their childhood. Parental incarceration is categorized as an adverse childhood experience (referred to as an ACE), and can be as traumatic for a child as experiencing violence or abuse in the home. ACEs have also been linked to juvenile incarceration, and the likelihood to reoffend. Addressing criminal and juvenile justice reform can mean so many things, from reducing the cycle of recidivism (returning to prison or jail a second time) to implementing programs that can keep parents out of the system altogether. Regardless of the approach, progressive criminal justice reforms protect families and help prevent childhood trauma associated with incarceration.

"One of the measures that passed this legislative session was SB 96, commonly known as “ban the box,” which prohibits private employers from including a question about an applicant’s criminal record on the initial job application. This is a huge step in tackling employment discrimination for New Mexicans who have been incarcerated by helping them get to the interview stage, which helps them secure steady employment and ultimately keeps them out of the system. Similarly, the Criminal Records Expungement Act (HB 370) was passed, which allows arrests and certain criminal charges to be removed from public records. Removing barriers to employment for people who have been involved with the justice system is a monumental step forward to helping our families find economic security.

"Lawmakers also passed legislation banning the solitary confinement of juveniles and pregnant women (HB 364). The use of solitary confinement has dangerous impacts on physical and mental health, and has even been tied to youth suicide. Additionally, the legislature passed a measure requiring correctional facilities to implement accommodation policies for inmates who are breastfeeding (SB 124), and legislation giving judges discretion in sentencing inmates who are pregnant or lactating (SB 192). Such policies show that lawmakers are beginning to understand the impact of our justice system on children who, until now, have suffered invisibly.

"Child and family well-being has become a core component of criminal justice reform, and the evidence is in the policies the legislature implemented this year. In a state like New Mexico, where 75 percent of our children are kids of color, that will improve equity and help lead to better outcomes. Whether by directly tackling issues of parent and child health in correctional facilities, or implementing laws that help parents stay with their children, New Mexico is working towards a more equitable, common-sense criminal justice system. There is still much more work to be done in tackling inequalities in our correctional facilities. But policies that address the growing burden on children in the criminal justice system are certainly a step in the right direction.”