Bernalillo County Champions Want 100% to Thrive
The 100% New Mexico initiative is now fully engaged in Bernalillo County, the largest county in the state, which represents almost a third of the population.
by Dominic Cappello
November 16, 2021
NMSU Cooperative Extension’s 100% New Mexico Initiative partners with Bernalillo County stakeholders to launch the 100% Bernalillo initiative to strengthen family services for surviving and thriving.
New Mexico State Representative Meredith Dixon, along with leaders from education, higher education and family-service agencies, started the initiative by sponsoring a book club reading 100% Community: Ensuring 10 vital services for surviving and thriving, the blueprint for the county-based initiative. The next book club focused on reading Anna, Age Eight: The data-driven prevention of childhood maltreatment and trauma.
State Representative Dixon shared at a convening of local leaders in downtown Albuquerque, “In the 100% New Mexico initiative, I immediately saw a powerful framework for change and the opportunity to address the costly challenges that have hurt our children and families.”
Local stakeholders immediately saw the need to mobilize around creating trauma-free childhoods by ensuring vital services for families. Next the core 100% Bernalillo leadership team began the 100% New Mexico countywide survey to assess parent’s and youth’s access to vital service coined “the survival services” that include: medical care, behavioral health care, food security programs, housing security programs and transportation. Parents and caregiving grandparents are also asked about their access to Bernalillo County’s “thriving services” that include parent supports, early childhood learning programs, fully-resourced community schools with health centers, youth mentor programs and job training.
With survey data that can illustrate gaps in services and barriers, the new 100% will work to address the reasons residents can’t easily access services which may include cost, service hours, lack of transport to services, or inability to qualify for help.
The initiative addresses the root causes of poverty and is guided by decades of research focused on the social determinants of health.
100% Bernalillo joins other 100% initiatives in the counties of Doña Ana, San Miguel, Rio Arriba, Socorro, Valencia, Otero, Catron, Curry, Roosevelt, Santa Fe and Taos (in partnership with Taos Pueblo). Katherine Ortega Courtney, PhD, co-developer of the initiative shares, “Bernalillo County stakeholders bring a wealth of expertise to the statewide initiative.”
To learn more about getting involved with the groundbreaking 100% Bernalillo County focused on preventing childhood trauma and social adversity, please visit their new website.
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.
Dominic Cappello
Cappello is a New York Times bestselling author and TEDx Conference curator with decades of experience advocating for health, safety and education. He has a Master of Arts in Liberal studies with an emphasis on Language and Communication from Regis University. He worked for the New Mexico Department of Health Epidemiology and Response Division and the New Mexico Child Protective Services Research, Assessment and Data Bureau, where he co-developed the Data Leader for Child Welfare program, which he implemented in New York City, Connecticut and New Mexico.
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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.
