New Mexico ranks 49th in childhood well-being, a position that remains unchanged since last year, according to results from the NM Kids are Counting On Us Campaign.
The profile is compiled based on the national KIDS COUNT Data Book which organizes data by four domains; Economic Well-Being, Education, Health and Family and Community, which are then broken down into 16 sub-indicators found in local research.
Although most statistics are still well below the U.S. average, many indicators have improved since 2013.
The Family Development Program, a community-based outreach program of UNM’s College of Education, is addressing issues with practical solutions, one community at a time.
“Our center has been contracted by Children’s Youth and Family Department to develop the model for New Mexico of what is called early childhood investment zones,” FDP Director Lois Vermilya said.
The Early Childhood Investment Zones initiative is a concentrated strategy that has “highest risk communities” as its top priority.
Albuquerque is one of 13 communities receiving aid through federal funding, joining Gadsden, Deming, Gallup and others.
Through federal funding, the initial 13 communities receiving aid are: Deming, Tularosa, South Valley Albuquerque, Gallup, Gadsden, Hobbs, Espanola, Santa Rosa, Raton, Magdalena, Cuba, Grants, and Estancia.
“Early childhood investment zones are a commitment that our state agency takes,” Vermilya said. “Both the executive leadership and our legislatures try to understand how resources can best support some of the most resource poor communities in our state in terms of building a strong system and safety net for young children and their families starting with pregnancy, and through those first five critical years of life.”
These critical years can have the largest impact on a child and their future, she said.
“90 percent of a child’s brain pathways are set by the age of three, long before they enter school,” Vermilya said. “So what we’re doing to support (them is) talking to young children; creating meaningful experiences in those first years of life are critical ultimately to school success.”
Vermilya said what they notice in the investment zones is a lack of adequate prenatal care in some of the communities.
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As a result, she said, “they’re figuring out solutions so that a physician can come once a week in order to do well women checks while pregnant and adequate birthing.”
New Mexico is known to have a high rate of teen pregnancy, ranking 48th in the country under the Family and Community indicator.
“Young children, even before they can speak, are taking in all that’s happening in their environment,” Vermilya said. “So if the environment is violent, a high stress environment or if children are witnessing stressful interactions between adults, even if they can’t speak ... they have effects on a child’s growth that are not only impactful on those first five years of life, but in fact traumatic events in the earliest years of life have long term impacts on health and well-being into adulthood.”
Through the ECIZ initiative, Vermilya and her team aim to create a common language between parents and children, she said. This begins well before a child has left the womb.
“What we have to think as citizens, is that healthy child development begins in utero, when a mother is first pregnant,” Vermilya said. “If you’re hungry as a mother, or if there’s a lot of stressors in your life, because of unemployment or raising a child on your own, those can become harmful to healthy development.”
Community outreach is critical to creating lasting habits that parents can utilize, she said.
“Parenting a child is hard work—and it’s made more difficult if the parent is also still a child. Home visiting offers positive parenting role models and connects parents to important resources," Vermilya said. "In turn, these programs set children up to succeed in school, which lowers the chances that they will become teen parents themselves.”
Although the teen birth rate in New Mexico has dropped since 2013, the rate is still higher than the national average.
“The solutions lie in partnerships between health professionals and educational professionals coming together, even with scarce resources, to ensure that the first years of life create a very strong foundation for long term success,” she said.
According to policy solutions laid out in the KIDS COUNT campaign, teen mothers can experience long-term benefits through one-on-one home visits.
“Early childhood investment zone is getting national attention because it’s a powerful strategy that marries community-based solutions from parents and community early childhood leaders with state solutions,” Vermilya said. “Other states are really eager to learn more about this work and it’s coming right out of our own University of New Mexico.”
