This may be an excellent time to expose a myth about our nation. For decades, many Americans have believed that the president and federal government are the primary decision-makers regarding our health, safety, education, and opportunities for a meaningful life. However, our state lawmakers wield far more influence over these crucial aspects of our daily lives.

Consider the services that most directly impact your well-being: medical care, behavioral health care, affordable and safe housing, access to nutritious food, and education from preschool through higher ed. These are all services that state governments can choose to make readily available, affordable, user-friendly, and of high quality. Essentially, New Mexico’s leaders wield vast power over the quality of life of every resident. That power has resulted in a timely solution in an era and nation that feels chaotic and uncertain.

New Mexico has the power to solve problems.

In New Mexico, the state government funds a statewide initiative called 100% New Mexico, part of New Mexico State University. This initiative focuses on working in counties to ensure all families have access to ten vital services for surviving and thriving. The services are known in public health research as the social determinants of health. These determinants are the factors that drive or influence one’s quality of life across the entire lifespan, from newborn infants to elders.

The 100% New Mexico initiative partners with community leaders in counties to survey residents about their access to services and barriers encountered. Our surveys of family members have revealed a stark reality: a third to half of county residents struggle to access many of these vital services for surviving and thriving, including healthcare and affordable housing. This data underscores the urgent need for state-level action.

A Groundbreaking Strategy, Home Grown in New Mexico

From our 100% New Mexico assessments, state and local initiative leaders have researched solutions to service barriers, and four key strategies have emerged as one groundbreaking statewide project:

1. Launching a Statewide Service Development Center: Creating a statewide entity to oversee the development of ten vital services in each county, including assessing barriers, researching solutions, implementing solutions, and evaluating impact. This technical assistance center, guided by half a century of science focused on public health, education, safety, and workforce development, could become part of an existing state agency.
2. Establishing Family Resource Centers in each county: One-Stop Service Hubs can be designed to link visitors to services onsite, online, or through staff navigators. These hubs would both connect families to existing services and work on growing services, including “grow your own” programs to address workforce shortages in healthcare, education, and social work.
3. Schools-Based Service Strategies: Funding each public school to develop a family resource center, linking students and their families to healthcare and other vital services shown to increase student health and school engagement. This could address epidemic rates of adverse childhood experiences that lead to trauma and substance use disorders.
4. Evaluating Progress: Implementing an outside evaluation team using academic rigor to assess the continuous quality improvement process occurring statewide and generating a yearly report on progress for all state lawmakers and the public.

The Counter-argument: Why should a state ensure services?

Some may argue that it’s not the government’s job to ensure vital services. To that, we say: by not addressing service disparities, we incur costly public health, safety, and education problems. These include child maltreatment, substance use disorders, illness and injury, lack of school achievement and job readiness, and disconnected adults prone to antisocial behavior and violence. The cost of inaction far outweighs the investment in prevention and support.

The benefits are breathtaking

By having a state entity overseeing the growth of services and jobs, along with linking families to vital services in each county, New Mexico can create a seamless system of care and empowerment. This network of county hubs and school-based hubs also creates synergy and a sharing of solutions called diffusion of innovation. This includes the potential of public and private sector partnerships to push innovative and technologically enhanced service delivery systems.

Where once the state’s cities, towns, and unincorporated areas left residents to fend for themselves without vital services, now stand hubs for family support. Once angry and disillusioned, people can feel part of a caring community that has as its slogan “100% can thrive,” backed by sustainable funding for the services that determine the quality of life. The philosophy of the state can become “Everyone’s part of New Mexico’s family.”

Who’s in charge of New Mexico? New Mexicans!

If you’re feeling as though the nation won’t solve problems or, worse, may create new ones, know that the power to create a state where people succeed within family, school, community, and work life is here—today. Starting now, we have the framework, research, plans, and people to take charge of our destiny here in New Mexico.

The state of New Mexico has the potential to become a model for all states—a society of problem-solving, innovation, resilience, and action. With our vast cultural and financial assets, we can create a community of two million people that leaves no one behind. It’s time for New Mexico to lead the way in showing how state-level governance can truly transform the quality of life for all its residents.

Turning off Toxicity to Take Positive Local Action

It’s time to disconnect from the toxic streams of divisiveness flooding our phones and homes from mass and social media and redirect our energy towards the wellspring of genuine positive change—focused on strengthening our vibrant communities across the Land of Enchantment. By engaging in local initiatives and collaborative efforts, we can harness the power of collective impact to drive sustainable improvements in New Mexico’s cities, towns, and rural areas, fostering a brighter future for all residents. Meaningful and measurable change awaits every New Mexican community.

Remember, it’s not the president or federal government that decides the quality of life for New Mexicans—it’s New Mexicans themselves who hold that power. By engaging with our state government and supporting the visionary strategies presented in this article, we can shape a future where every New Mexican has the opportunity to thrive.

Please visit our research briefs and evaluation reports to learn more about our progress.