Anna, Age Eight Day: Making Every Child in NM the #1 Priority
NMSU Cooperative Extension’s Anna, Age Eight Institute celebrates the third “Anna, Age Eight Day” at the state capital to share our progress with the 100% New Mexico initiative on January 29.
by Katherine Ortega Courtney, PhD
January 24, 2022
Our work to ensure ten vital services for our children and families has never been more important. Amid a collision of crises that include an ever-changing pandemic and disruption of education, jobs, healthcare and local economies, the Anna, Age Eight Institute’s 100% New Mexico initiative is providing counties with the framework for “building back better.” And “better” means that we are designing systems of medical care, behavioral health care, food security and housing security programs that are accessible to every child, student, youth, parent and caregiving grandparent.
NM state senator Bill Soules, PhD will host Anna, Age Eight Day in the Roundhouse for his colleagues in the senate and house, as well as for the public. Local 100% New Mexico initiative leaders and co-directors of the Anna, Age Eight Institute, Katherine Ortega Courtney, PhD and Dominic Cappello, will share their progress in the counties of Taos, Rio Arriba, San Miguel, Bernalillo, Santa Fe, Valencia, Socorro, Catron, Otero, Curry, Roosevelt, McKinley, San Juan and Doña Ana.
The Anna, Age Eight Day event is a time to recommit our resources to our children, making their health and education our number one priority. The event is Saturday, January 29, 10am to noon in the Roundhouse Senate Chambers. All local champions of families are invited to attend and learn how we build a New Mexico where 100% of our children thrive.
The event will showcase how local governments can take a leadership role in identifying barriers to vital services and commit to making family services, including fully-resourced community schools with health centers, a priority. The 100% New Mexico initiative is groundbreaking in that it is the nation’s first data-driven and collaborative plan to end adverse childhood experiences, family trauma and historical service disparities across ten sectors.
For those seeking to know more about the initiative and building back better with a focus on family, community and school health, download the strategic plan guiding the local work, 100% Community: Ensuring 10 vital services for surviving and thriving.
Those seeking to attend in person must follow state capitol Roundhouse guidelines that include mask-wearing, proof of vaccine or an exception detailed here: Admittance to the NM State Capitol.
Attend via the Roundhouse streaming: www.www.100nm.org/aaeday
Mission: The 100% New Mexico initiative is dedicated to ensuring that 100% of families can access ten vital services crucial for their overall health, resilience, and success. This university-sponsored endeavor necessitates the local implementation of evidence-based strategies encompassing both community and school-based service hubs, aiming to prevent the most pressing and costly public health and safety challenges, including adverse social determinants of health and adverse childhood experiences.
Dr. Katherine Ortega Courtney
Katherine Ortega Courtney, PhD. is a changemaker, psychologist, author, and life coach. Her work in child welfare advocacy has instilled change in data-driven trauma prevention in states across the country. She has worked in policy and research and has led community initiatives through her work at the Santa Fe Community Foundation and the New Mexico Early Childhood Development Partnership. As a psychologist and life coach, she coaches individuals and organizations on interrupting the cycles of trauma, addressing the burnout rate in government jobs and child welfare, and providing the tools and skills to achieve the work-life balance that will trickle down to better outcomes in prevention. Her doctorate work at Texas Christian University was in experimental psychology focused on substance abuse treatment and prevention.
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The 100% New Mexico initiative is a program of the Anna, Age Eight Institute at New Mexico State University, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, Cooperative Extension Service. Contact: annaageeight@nmsu.edu or visit annaageeight.nmsu.edu to learn more.
