For KIDS to COUNT, Data Matters: Access to Info Powers Effective Change
By Samantha Anne Carrillo
Violence, including youth gun violence, is a serious public health issue and a deservedly frequent topic of conversation, here in the International District, throughout the Albuquerque metro and greater New Mexico.
From familial and peer influences to community context and sociocultural factors—including exposure to violent media, including movies, video games, and music—humans of all ages become acquainted with violence in a lot of ways. Environmental and social environments influence and predispose youth toward enacting and experiencing violence.
Fixing Systems Requires Knowing What's Wrong
To improve this situation, our elected officials, local governmental bodies, community-based org and others advocating for positive change need to know how things are going. Accurate child wellbeing data gives communities and policymakers a diagnostic test of sorts before proposing a remedy.
If you’re a regular UpLift Chronicles reader or you follow any local news publication or outlet, you’ve likely already heard about the annual New Mexico KIDS COUNT Data Book. It’s the research that’s cited across the state, starting each June, in discussions of how children in our state are faring in categories ranging from Economic Well-Being and Education to Health and Family and Community.
Turning Numbers Into Action
Funded by Annie E. Casey Foundation and managed by New Mexico Voices for Children, the annual New Mexico KIDS COUNT Data Book is a collaborative endeavor that provides a data-based status report on how the collective lives of New Mexico’s children are either improving or worsening in a range of areas.
Without both this national project this local initiative, data on child well-being would be prohibitively difficult for everyone—from local leaders, legislators, and governmental bodies to community-based orgs to grassroots activists—to access and leverage in creating positive change.
What 2025 Data Tells Us—and What’s Next
If you haven’t reviewed the 2025 New Mexico KIDS COUNT Data Book yet, explore it in its entirety at www.nmvoices.org/nm-kids-count.