Child wellness in New

Mexico
Jacob Lizewski

Abstract
This proposal outlines the problems New Mexico children face as the state slips
into the 50
th
slot in the national child wellness survey. The proposed plan of
action to solve the states rampant child wellness problems is to create a health
fund that will copay for parents who dont have the proper health insurance or
finances to seek health care for their children, create school required
extracurricular activities to keep student invested in school, and insure that there
will always be ways, such as the lottery scholarship, for students to pursue high
educations. Through this project, we plan to raise the standard of living for
children in New Mexico and give them opportunity to rise to even higher
standards.
2014
Jacob Lizewski
University of New Mexico
4/13/2014
Child Wellness
This proposal outlines a solution to the low education, health and economic security standards
that children of New Mexico receive. According to the National "Kids Count" list, New Mexico ranks as
one of the lowest in these standards in the country. With help from the Albuquerque public school
system, the New Mexico Department of Health and the community, we plan on raising these standards.
We intend to start the planning and organization of programs over the 2014-2015 school year and begin
implementation in the fall of 2015. We plan on keeping these programs in operation until they no
longer provide substantial help to students.
The Dire State of New Mexico's Children
As reported by WCSH 6 News, New Mexico currently occupies the 50th slot for overall child
wellness in the United States. New Mexico has one of the most diverse cultural demographics of any
state: 67% of the children are racial minorities; 51% are Hispanic, 12% are Native American, 2% are
African American and 2% are Asian while only 33% are
White non-Hispanic (NMVoices.com). One third of children
are living in poverty and 43% are living in single parent
families. By 2011, parental insurance enrollment in New
Mexico was down to 35% and 51% of childrens education
level didnt go beyond college. Around 33% of children in
New Mexico are living in immigrant families where there is
no secure parent employment. As shown on the map, New
Mexico is at the very bottom of the spectrum with Oregon
and Arizona following behind at 32%.
Poverty in New Mexico varies greatly with
ethnicities. As seen below, Non-Hispanic native American
occupy the top 25% of families with income below poverty,
Hispanic occupy 20%, Black-African American occupy 19%,
and Non-hispanic White occupy 7% (KCDC, 2013). Poverty level for a family of four is outlined by the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
as having an income of $23,550 or less a year
(ASPE, 2013). New Mexico is ranked second
worst in the country with 16% of small families
and 21.5% of single parent families living below
poverty (Scott, 2012).
In regards to education, only around
49% of graduating students pursued higher
educations. Only around 51% of New Mexicans
have high school diplomas.
There is a large number of children and parents without insurance in New Mexico. 47,000 children in
New Mexico do not have health insurance yet 45,000 are eligible for Medicaid yet are not receiving care
(Demarco, 2014).
What we can gather from all this information is that there is a large majority of children living in
poverty within Native American and Hispanic families. Living in these low income families does have an
effect on the childrens ability to pursue high education opportunities. Families in poverty have trouble
attaining health insurance as well as some dont realize they qualify for Medicaid. When families do slip
into poverty, education becomes less of a priority.

Goals
1) Offer health options for children in poverty
i) Parent can apply their children for programs at participating health providers to receive
regular yearly checkups
ii) Parent can also apply, based upon their yearly income, for programs that will co-pay for
procedures their children may need to have preformed
iii) Raise awareness about eligibility of Medicaid
2) Offer programs to keep children in school
i) This program will require students to join extracurricular clubs to keep them involved in
school.
3) Offer opportunities for children to continue education past high school
i) Insure that the lottery scholarship stays in effect for years to come
ii) Establish more scholarships for local schools for under privileged students with a focus on
children of Hispanic or Native American decent.
Plan of Action
The first step within goal one will call for establishing fund pools within the New Mexico
Department of Health and establishing tax incentives for businesses who participate in the program.
The program will allow parent who dont have health insurance but dont qualify for Medicaid the ability
to seek out affordable health care for their children. The fund pools will have to come from tax payer
dollars and donations from the community so we will need to appeal the project to the New Mexico
legislature.
Appeal to legislature - 6 months
Establishment of fund pool - 4 months
Implementation of program - 3 months +
The next step within goal one will call for the outlining of the requirements need to receive
access to the program. Applicants need to be below or at the poverty level or under an agreed upon
level of income. The applicant must not already have health insurance that covers an agreed upon
amount. These agreed upon amounts wouldn't be determined until after the proposal goes through the
legislature due to the fact that requirements might be deemed unneeded or some requirements might
be requested by the legislature to bring our project to fruition.
The last step to goal one would be to raise awareness of the program to parents. This will be
done through announcements to school administration as well as a TV commercial campaign. The
commercial with be locally produced and wont be longer than 30 seconds and will be run on local
channels. The commercial itself will announce the problems that New Mexico children face and will call
for the community to make donations to the child health fund pool and also give information on how to
receive benefits from the fund. A separate ad campaign will run to raise awareness for eligibility of
Medicaid. The ad will specify that Medicaid is available for anyone whose yearly income is less than
$29,700 and will also specify where and how you can sign up (Medicaid.gov, 2013).
Ad campaigns preparation 1 month
Ad campaign run time 4 months
For goal two, offering programs to keep children in school, we are going to need to work hand in
hand with Albuquerque Public Schools and the community to find a working model for the
extracurricular program. The proposed design would be for all students to be required to attend an
extracurricular club at least twice a week. The average drop out rate in the United States is about 10%.
(Casinger, 2011) Students who participate in extracurricular activities are less likely to drop out and
more likely to have higher academic achievement because they are engaged. Those students that are at
risk of failure appear to benefit even more from participation in extracurricular activities than those who
are normal achievers (Massoni, 2011). The proposed design would also give students the option to
establish their own club if they found members and a teacher or certified adult to supervise their
activities. Another fund pool would be needed to be raised to accommodate new club activities that are
formed. This fund pool will be substantially less than the health fund pool. Advertisement should not
be needed for this step if the school system makes announcements to the parents, through PTA
meetings and information sent home with students, about the new school policy.
For goal three, we need to ensure that the lottery scholarship does not go away. This will be
done by elevating the GPA requirement for getting and maintaining the scholarship. This will insure that
it is available for those who truly want the opportunity to go to college but also insure that it does not
run dry. We will also seek out sponsors for new scholarships targeted towards individuals under the
poverty line and individuals of Hispanic dissent. For sponsors, we will look towards successful
businesses within New Mexico.
Budget
The biggest cost that this project will incur will be the advertisement budget. This end of the
project will be funded by donations from the community. We will do it this way to insure that the
maximum amount of money will stays in the fund pool. The budget we need to set aside for the
advertisement campaigns for both Medicaid enrolment and health care aid should be $400 to $500
thousand. This budget will cover the TV campaign and print campaign for the health fund pool.
The health fund pool will contain $4 million dollars to begin with, but as awareness and or need
arise, the pool will expand. Projected grow would recommend that by 2018 the health fund pool should
be at $10 million.
The school activity fund pool should only be around $400 thousand. The fund will be divided up
among schools around the state where the amount received is proportional to the schools size.
Qualifications
I believe I am qualified to spearhead this project because of the leadership experience I have
allotted over the years. In 2013, I received the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scout after I planned,
fundraised and managed a project to build picnic benches for Grace Park up in the Manzano Mountains.
In 2010, I attended National Youth Leadership Training at Gorham Scout Ranch. I also work hard at
everything I do. I graduated High School in 2013 with a GPA of 3.75, an academic letter and an academic
bar. I am currently enrolled at the University of New Mexico with a current GPA of 3.92 majoring in
Electrical Engineering. I am also a resident of New Mexico and grew up within the states borders. Ive
been through its school system and seen its people, so I know New Mexicos problems first hand.
Although I have never experience any form of these problems myself, I am eager to solve them for the
sake of my state.
Conclusion
The fruition of this plan will create an increased standard of living for the children of New
Mexico. The health fund pool will allow children whose parent dont have health insures or dont have
the proper finances to seek the health care they need. The extracurricular requirement in schools will
keep students active at school and thus more involved in school. Higher student involvement in school
will lead to more students interested in pursuing higher education. Keeping the lottery and other
scholarship around will give underprivileged individuals the avenue to pursue this higher education.
Individuals who have higher educations can find higher paying job, and furthermore, find a higher
standard of living. This plan is intended to increase the standard of living for children in New Mexico,
but what it will also do is allow for individuals to break free of the cycle of poverty and find a better life.
This plan does call for a lot of public dollars, but what the community of New Mexico can accomplish
with it is in dire need. With a higher standard of living, the state will see less gang activity and violent in
youth as well as increased standardized test scores. With New Mexicos slip into last place in the
national child wellness standards, the time to act is now.

References
Casinger, J. "College Extracurricular Activities: The History of Activities." Article Dashboard. Article
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"Child Welfare in New Mexico." Race Matters (2007): 1-4. Web. 2 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.nmvoices.org/attachments/racemattersfactsheets/child_welfare_fact_sheet.pdf>.
"Create Your Custom Report." KIDS COUNT Data Center from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Kids
Count, 27 Feb. 2014. Web. 12 May 2014.
"Eligibility | Medicaid.gov." Eligibility | Medicaid.gov. Medicaid, 2013. Web. 12 May 2014.
Massoni, Erin. "New Mexico in Last Place for Child Well-Being." KUNM. KUNM, 1 Apr. 2011. Web.
12 May 2014.
Massoni, Erin. "Positive Effects of Extra Curricular Activities on Students." Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 Apr. 2011. Web. 18 Apr.
2014.
"New Mexico Has Second-worst Poverty Rate in U.S. - Albuquerque Business First." Albuquerque
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First."Albuquerque Business First. Albuquerque Business First, 2012. Web. 12 May 2014.