KIDS COUNT Report includes pandemic data
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —The 2020 New Mexico KIDS COUNT Data Book was the subject of a virtual press conference on its release date, Wednesday, February 3. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham speaks about her initiatives to improve outcomes for New Mexico’s children.
This annual accounting of child well-being in the state tracks several indicators across four domains: economic security, education, health, and family and community. Indicators include issues such as child poverty and food insecurity rates, parental employment and education levels, teen birth rates, and the like. The report is released at the start of the legislative session each year to give lawmakers an idea of the barriers to success facing the state’s children and families.
New this year was data specific to the COVID-19 pandemic and recession, from the U.S. Census Bureau’s ongoing surveys. This data tracks issues such as the inability to purchase enough food, pay the rent or mortgage, the loss of health insurance, and how COVID-19 infection rates are related to income levels.
While all the data remain available at the state level, several of the indicators (excluding the COVID-19-related data) include data on the county, tribal, and school district levels, and some is disaggregated by race and ethnicity.
Virtual program agenda
WHAT: Press conference for release of the New Mexico KIDS COUNT Data Book
WHEN: Wednesday, Feb. 3, at 9 a.m.
WHERE: Via Zoom (link was made available on Tuesday, Feb. 2)
WHO: Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, and New Mexico Voices for Children Executive Director James Jimenez, and New Mexico KIDS COUNT Coordinator and Policy Analyst Emily Wildau
New Mexico Voices for Children is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization advocating for policies to improve the health and well-being of New Mexico's children, families and communities.