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.
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.
Join Us
For those seeking to join our bold transformation, you can find your county’s 100% New Mexico initiative on our map. Join an existing county initiative or start one. You may also review our latest research brief, evaluating our work. For those wanting a more in-depth look into the initiative, you are welcome to enroll in our free self-guided course A Child’s Right to Survive and Thrive. We welcome those courageous New Mexicans who believe that every child should have access to the services for surviving and thriving.
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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.