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 The Low Income Comprehensive Tax Rebate (LICTR) gives rebates to low-income families; The Women, Infants, and Children Program (WIC) offers nutrition education during pre- and post-natal periods and promotes breast-feeding, serving 55,000 clients monthly; Families FIRST served 6,725 Medicaid-eligible pregnant women and children last year; The Regional Care Coordination Plan (RCCP) for mental health and substance abuse treated over 20,000 clients last year; New substance abuse prevention programs are being implemented; Even Start programs served 800 children or adults last year; About 2,800 children received before- and after-school enrichment activities last year.
Target efforts to streamline enrollment for Medicaid SALUD!; Target communities with the poorest health and social conditions for technical assistance; Make LICTR available to a larger part of the low-income population; Make WIC services available to more of the eligible population; Families FIRST: Raise the awareness of the importance of first trimester prenatal care and train case managers to provide smoking-cessation classes; Make more of the continuum of community-based services available in each region through the RCCPs; Make Even Start’s services available to unserved school districts; Make more before- and after-school programs available and raise the upper eligibility age from 9 to 11.
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 Public Health creates the environment in which good health can occur. Introduction(1) It is well documented that lower levels of education and income affect health. People with higher income and more education tend to have better access to health care, show healthier behaviors, and have lower rates of chronic diseases, such as coronary artery disease, obesity and diabetes. Appendix A demonstrates that this is true in New Mexico. Like other states, New Mexico has income support programs; other programs target at-risk children(2) and their parents to enable families to cope more effectively. The aim is to help them become contributors to communities rather than problems for them. ) Administered by the Human Services Department (HSD), Medicaid, the Food Stamp Program and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program directly assist eligible clients with medical care financing, food, income or employment assistance. The Children, Youth and Families Department also administers numerous programs that address early childhood development issues. The low Income Comprehensive Tax Rebate, administered by the Taxation and Revenue Department, provides a rebate to most low-income families.(3) Because of space limitations, we will review only a few programs of New Mexico’s Department of Health (DOH) and the State Department of Education (SDE), namely, those with income-based eligibility requirements or literacy goals. However, many other programs seek to mitigate the adverse health effects of poverty or illiteracy. For example, the County Maternal and Child Health Councils identify needed services, resources and service gaps and coordinate resources to meet the needs of childbearing women and their families.(4) The Primary Care/Rural Health Program provides access to basic primary health care services in underserved areas. Department of Health’s (DOH) Public Health Division Special Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) serves pregnant women, nursing mothers, infants, and children up to age 5.(5) To be eligible, income must be 185% of the poverty level or less. Clients must be at nutritional risk (i.e., abnormal weight gain during pregnancy, growth problems, iron-deficiency, or inadequate diet).(6) These criteria enable “those at greatest risk and most likely to benefit” to be identified.(7) WIC provides nutritious foods tailored to the dietary needs of infants, children and pregnant, postpartum and breast-feeding women. (The food package’s average cost is $31 per person per month.)(8) Through coordination, outreach and school-based clinics, WIC increases access to medical, health, and social services(9) and provides health care referrals for pregnant adolescents and adolescent mothers.(10) Families FIRST (Families and Infants Receive Services and Training) is a perinatal case management program that coordinates and monitors the medical and social services needed to improve the health status of Medicaid-eligible pregnant women and children from birth to age 3.(11) The program aims to improve prenatal care levels and birth outcomes, such as longer gestational periods and healthy birth weights. Case managers work with clients to enroll them in Medicaid. They assess their medical history, current pregnancy, alcohol, tobacco and other drug use, and their economic, social and familial resources. They create a plan of care and link them to needed services. After delivery, they ensure that the infant is obtaining services, e.g., Early Periodic Screening and Diagnostic Testing (EPSDT), immunizations and screening for early developmental delays. Department of Health’s Behavioral Health Services Division Regional Care Coordination Plan. RCCP aims to ensure mental health and substance abuse treatment for adults and families who are without behavioral health insurance, at or below 100%, 125%, or 150% of the federal poverty level and clinically in need.(12,13) Clients (including their children) who are suicidal, in acute need of stabilization, sexual assault victims, or homeless persons with a Severely Disabling Mental Illness are given automatic priority and treated immediately. Seven of 10 clients have had incomes at or below 100% of poverty or were automatic priority clients.(14) Substance Abuse Prevention Program.(15) Using a mix of prevention strategies, 23 programs across the state work to prevent children’s and adolescents’ use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. After several agencies provided such programs to middle school students in three southwestern counties (Grant, Luna, Catron), “60% [of the students] reported a decrease in the use of drugs or alcohol.”(16) State Department of Education (SDE): Curriculum, Instruction and Learning Technologies. Even Start Family Literacy Program seeks to reduce poverty and illiteracy by integrating several education and literacy programs into a unified family literacy program.(17,18) SDE administers competitive grants to partnerships of local school districts and community organizations. Building on existing community resources to create a range of services, these local entities implement cooperative Even Start projects for low-income families (birth to age 7 and parents)(19) who have educational needs. Parents participating in Even Start programs receive adult basic education, enabling them to gain literacy skills, a GED, etc.(20) They also receive parenting education and skills that aim to enhance parent-child relationships and help parents to understand and support their child’s growth and development. The children receive early childhood education that can include home-based programs for infants and toddlers, pre-school and school-age services.(21) A national evaluation of Even Start reports that:(22)
TANF School-Age Program. During 1999-2000, SDE awarded $2.1 million to 68 schools to provide services under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) appropriation.(23,24) This program aims to assure TANF parents who are preparing for or looking for employment that their children are in before- and after-school activities supervised by certified teachers. It is designed to enhance learning and decrease the development of problem behaviors.
New Mexico Department of Health, Behavioral Health Services Division
New Mexico State Department of Education:
Low Income Comprehensive Tax Rebate:
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