What Does “A Child’s Right to Survive and Thrive” Mean?
Do the children of New Mexico have the right to survive? Should all infants, children, and students have the right to thrive? Rights to services? Moral rights? Our new course explores these vital questions.
by Dominic Cappello
May 29, 2023
Should New Mexico guarantee that 100% of our children can access healthcare, nutritious food, and safe housing with caring families? What about the right to a fully-resourced community school that addresses students’ diverse cultures, races, and languages? Are we talking about legal rights or moral rights? These are questions we explore in our new community course A Child’s Right to Survive and Thrive.
Our young people are navigating a traumatized and traumatizing society. Children and students endure adverse childhood experiences, family trauma, and social adversity in the form of racism, classism, and barriers to ten vital services for surviving and thriving.
Our mission with NMSU’s 100% New Mexico initiative is to ensure that each community reflects the positive social determinants of health, which are represented by services such as healthcare and food security programs and detailed in the book 100% Community: Ensuring 10 vital services for surviving and thriving. The question of children’s rights has led to powerful conversations within the government, including discussions about a Child’s Bill of Rights. A fundamental question for all New Mexicans is, “Should we punish children because their parents cannot access vital services to care for them?”
The lessons housed within A Child’s Right to Survive and Thrive provide an urgently needed course correction, steering society from apathy and anger toward problem-solving and altruism. Participating in the course can provide you with the insights, skills, and resources to fully engage with the 100% New Mexico initiative committed to every child’s health, education, and quality of life. We welcome you to the nation’s first course to provide participants with the skills and resources to ensure all infants, children, and students can thrive in fully-resourced and caring families, schools, and communities.
The course is self-guided and completely free of charge. Not only will you learn something new at your own pace in an easy-to-use environment, you will have plenty of opportunity for dialogue with other course participants. Register now and join the debate over the future of our children.
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.
