Searchlight New Mexico
Our goal is to influence the political cycle of the 2018 elections by making child well-being the single most important issue. Continue Reading →
Raising New Mexico: Something must be done for our children. The time is now
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An enduring crisis: Decades after warnings, New Mexico’s children are still in jeopardy
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Thirty years ago, the plight of New Mexico’s children was exposed. So why has nothing changed? Continue Reading →
Funding issues put pre-K providers at odds while young children miss out on early education
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Instead of cooperating, state and federal programs are competing. Continue Reading →
Suffer the children: The devastating lifelong impacts of childhood trauma
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A growing legion of experts regard childhood trauma as one of the most profound and urgent public health challenges in the country. Continue Reading →
New Mexico is 49th in child well-being, but that’s not the full story
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Why is it that even when the state makes improvements in education, health care or the economy, we barely budge? Continue Reading →
Investing in success: Good education leads to a strong economy, experts say
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There is emerging consensus around the country and the world that economic development and early childhood education go hand in hand. Continue Reading →
Child-related proposals fail early, often in the Legislature
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An analysis by Searchlight New Mexico of 15 years of proposed legislation involving children shows a consistent pattern of proposals failing at their earliest stages, often without a hearing. Continue Reading →
Bill by bill: How legislators have fought for NM’s kids
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Wonder what the state’s lawmakers are doing about New Mexico’s poor ranking? We looked at 2,586 legislative ideas on kids and families so you don’t have to. Continue Reading →
The gatekeeper: Senate finance chair holds sway over child-related funding
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Family tragedy shaped John Arthur Smith’s boyhood and set in motion a personal mantra that would inform every decision he makes. Continue Reading →
The teacher: Childhood trauma informed senator’s legislative success
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Mimi Stewart says everything she needed to know about politics she learned in that haunted house with the man her mother brought home when she was 5. Continue Reading →
Children in one ABQ neighborhood face onslaught of risk factors
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New Mexico is one of the toughest states to be a child. Within the state, the so-called International District is among the toughest neighborhoods. Continue Reading →
In tiny NM village, ‘brilliant’ 7-year-old is one of school’s 40 students
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Kate lives in the least populated place in New Mexico – fewer than 700 people spread across 2,100 square miles in Harding County. Continue Reading →
In Chimayó, 7-year-old thrives amid lowriders
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Heaven Chacon has been “cruising El Norte” as a passenger since she was an infant. Continue Reading →
Boys learn ropes on family ranch between nearly 2-hour trek to and from school
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The Hurt boys have been riding horses, handling pocket knives, shooting guns and driving machinery for so long they can’t remember the first time they did any of those things. Continue Reading →
Time to take NM’s early education accomplishments to next level
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The State of New Mexico should be very proud of its accomplishments in early education. Now it is time to take these accomplishments to a new level. Continue Reading →
Plight of New Mexico’s children is true doomsday scenario
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Adverse childhood experiences are at epidemic proportions in New Mexico. Continue Reading →
NM’s child poverty traces back to federal land-takings, spotted owl
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There is a virus in New Mexico’s programming. Continue Reading →
Aiming high: Organizing our communities around children
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We need to get serious about mobilizing the private, public and nonprofit sectors to improve the work they are already doing. Continue Reading →
Education efforts must build on strengths of tribal communities
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Early childhood efforts in New Mexico must be done with tribes, not for tribes. Continue Reading →
To finally improve child well-being, collaboration is key
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Working together more effectively to support families in need may be the action that finally moves the needle on child well-being. Continue Reading →
Early investments in children can prevent costly lifetime of effects from damage
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Without exaggeration, the future of the individual and society at large depends upon those first crucial years. Continue Reading →
Then and Now: Years after childhood immigration, she dreams of stability
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Cinthia doesn’t remember crossing la frontera at age 3, but that twist of fate thrust her into a legal bind from which she hasn’t yet managed to extricate herself. Continue Reading →
Then and Now: Two decades later, preschooler is a mom with deep love of New Mexico
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Don Usner first photographed Sophia Salazar in 1997, when she was attending Conjunto Preschool in Española. Continue Reading →
Dysfunctional computer system cuts off needy New Mexicans from help
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Expensive, bug-riddled software has resulted in needy families being improperly denied benefits throughout the state. Continue Reading →
Who will lead New Mexico’s Public Education Department?
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In the coming days, governor-elect Michelle Lujan Grisham will take the first major step to fulfill her sweeping campaign promises on education. Continue Reading →
Funding cuts, health-care shortage harm NM’s autistic children
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Though the rate of autism has soared since 2007, state funding for autism programs was simultaneously cut by about half by Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration. Continue Reading →
Hospital competition leaves kids in the lurch
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Now, Presbyterian and UNM leaders are quietly mapping a collaborative relationship that could benefit New Mexico kids. Continue Reading →
Our earliest experiences — good and bad — can be our most important, experts say
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New Mexico’s infant mental heath pioneers aim to eradicate ‘the myth’ that babies cannot remember what they see or hear. Continue Reading →
Oh Susana! How the governor’s popularity eroded
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Gov. Susana Martinez will leave office as one of the nation’s least-popular governors, polls indicate. Continue Reading →
Understaffing driven by Martinez keeps NM’s kids at risk
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The governor can truthfully say she has kept state government lean. So lean, in fact, that state agencies across the board now struggle to deliver basic services, the director of the Legislative Finance Committee says. Continue Reading →