{"id":173967,"date":"2016-08-07T18:28:29","date_gmt":"2016-08-08T00:28:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=173967"},"modified":"2016-08-07T18:32:37","modified_gmt":"2016-08-08T00:32:37","slug":"lets-rise-to-the-challenge-new-mexico-49ers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/08\/lets-rise-to-the-challenge-new-mexico-49ers\/","title":{"rendered":"Let’s rise to the challenge, New Mexico 49ers"},"content":{"rendered":"

COMMENTARY:\u00a0<\/strong>If you happen to work in the economic or community development arena, you are probably aware that the State of New Mexico is considered an economically-depressed area by most national standards. Just as an example, the Annie E. Casey Foundation\u2019s KIDS COUNT Data Book has New Mexico ranked 49th<\/a> in the nation across four\u00a0child well-being issue areas (economic well-being, education, health and family\/community).<\/p>\n

\"Rodolfo

Courtesy photo<\/p>

Rodolfo Acosta-P\u00e9rez<\/p><\/div>\n

Thus, if we go strictly by this ranking, it could be inferred that New Mexico is one of the worst places to be born or live in the United States due to poor health prospects\/outcomes, lack of affordable\/safe housing, limited educational opportunities, and virtually no access to high-paying jobs or business-creation opportunities.<\/p>\n

However, New Mexico is a nice place to live and do business because it has natural and man-made amenities that show the uniqueness of the \u201cLand of Enchantment.\u201d Let\u2019s not forget the warmth and kindness of its people, which make New Mexico a vibrant state.<\/p>\n

New Mexico obviously lacks some of the amenities found in large cities, but the absence of such amenities helps people spend time with one another and nurture the much-needed relationships that individuals in large urban centers desperately crave.<\/p>\n

I do not know what the future holds for me and where life will take me, but in the meantime, I am happy to call Southern New Mexico home and live in a region that is at the heart of three cities, three states and two countries — and is considered one of the largest binational communities in the world.<\/p>\n

New Mexico is a state that was \u201cbuilt in the middle of the desert\u201d and, because of this, its residents are no strangers to adverse conditions.<\/p>\n

Thus, the New Mexico 49ers have nowhere to go but up. Let\u2019s rise to the challenge. When it comes to community development, everyone should try to make a difference.<\/p>\n

Rodolfo Acosta P\u00e9rez is director of family empowerment for a nonprofit organization in Las Cruces and a former research assistant at the Arrowhead Center for Economic Development.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When it comes to community development, everyone should try to make a difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":172269,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,16],"tags":[234,107],"class_list":["post-173967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-guest-columns","tag-children","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}