Experts are “cautiously optimistic” that child poverty rates in New Mexico will continue to decline • Source New Mexico

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Annual Supplemental Poverty Measurement released in September, programs like refundable tax credits play an important role in lifting New Mexico children out of poverty.

The Supplemental Poverty Measurement is released each September at the state and national levels. When determining the poverty rate, poverty reduction programs are taken into account, in contrast to the official poverty measurement, which only takes wage-dependent income into account.

“If you look at the supplemental poverty measure, it actually measures the impact of a lot of really strong anti-poverty programs like our tax credits and SNAP programs, and even school lunches are included in that measure. And it gives us a better sense of what a household basically has in terms of resources,” said Emily Wildau, Senior Research & Policy Analyst/KIDS COUNT Coordinator for New Mexico Voices for Children.

New Mexico ranks 50th in child welfare and shows both improvements and declines in several areas

Wildau said the supplemental measure takes into account local cost of living as well as supplemental nutrition assistance programs and both state and national tax credits. She said refundable tax credits have been proven to have the greatest impact on “lifting children out of poverty.”

This year, the office also released a supplemental state-level child poverty measure. an average of data collected between 2021 and 2023.

According to census data, New Mexico’s three-year child poverty rate according to the official poverty measure is 27.4%, ranking the state last in the nation. Under the supplemental poverty measure, the rate drops to 8.9%, moving New Mexico up to 22nd in the country. The national average of additional measures is 10.4%.

“This information is critical for lawmakers because it shows how anti-poverty policies improve the daily lives of children by providing essential resources that increase well-being and lead to better long-term outcomes for families,” said Gabrielle Uballez, Executive Director of NM Voices for Children. “It is equally exciting to note that this data does not even take into account one of the state’s newest anti-poverty measures – the child tax credit.”

Wildau said the state child tax credit recently took effect for the 2023 tax year and will show up in the data starting next September. This year’s data set also includes years when federal COVID-19 pandemic guidelines were still in effect.

She said this new data could influence policies unveiled during New Mexico’s upcoming legislative session in early 2025.

“Our federal child tax credit is still relatively new, but we could do more with it. We could increase it specifically for families with small children under 6 years old,” said Wildau. “It can also be really helpful to really fund and support improvements to program implementation and really address existing barriers to enrollment.”

Barriers include limited transportation options or physical access to offices where program applications can be submitted. Expanded internet connections could solve some of these problems for people in rural communities, Wildau said. The staffing of the agencies offering these programs is also important.

She added that the big change that would reduce poverty in the state is raising the minimum wage. Wildau cited “strong support” of early childhood education through higher education as other long-term solutions to improve outcomes for the next generations.

“We know that poverty is a political choice,” Uballez said. “We are building on our success by continuing to implement policies that benefit our children and families to increase access to benefits while exploring new opportunities to build wealth, raise wages and end the generational cycle of poverty break through.”

Wildau said that while the data shows improvement for New Mexicans, she remains “cautiously optimistic” about the future as programs are discontinued and others take their place.