Creating new opportunities for families, individuals and businesses to succeed

The New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD) is a state agency that provides an array of prevention, intervention, rehabilitative and after-care services to New Mexico children and their families. One beneficiary is Reed Pike, who spent an extensive amount of time in need of such services in his youth. As highlighted by the Albuquerque Journal, he’s now enrolled in the WKKF-funded EMS Corps a program being offered by CYFD which targets underserved and underrepresented young people in New Mexico, including those from rural and tribal areas. Reed plans to use his Basic EMT certification as a stepping stone to a career as a firefighter. 

The U.S. federal government awarded $52 million to Detroit Regional Partnership (DRP), a WKKF grantee, to create and retain more than 10,000 jobs in the transportation industry in southeast Michigan. DRP will create a network of universities, researchers, automakers, suppliers and others to help build the future of mobility. This will be achieved by funding technologically advanced businesses and providing training to the advanced manufacturing workforce.   

In other news about Detroit: The city may be positioning itself to become the Silicon Valley of apparel manufacturing. In fact, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows it has already risen to fourth in the U.S. in payroll in that field. WKKF grantee the Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center provides training from beginners through those with advanced skill sets, to support and build the growing apparel manufacturing workforce in the region. “One nod is good, two nods is very good.” (Name that movie, anyone?) We give this two nods. 
 
An article in sinembargo.mx describes the first Encuentro Nacional de Mujeres Afromexicanas (National Meeting of Afro-Mexican Women), which was organized by WKKF grantee Instituto de Liderazgo Simone de Beauvoir (ILSB) with Colectiva de Mujeres Afromexicanas en Movimiento. There, organization members spoke out about conditions faced by communities with large Afro-Mexican or Afro-descendant populations, such as greater food insecurity and less access to education, running water and employment. Toward the end of the gathering, participants presented an “Anti-Racist Agenda” to the government officials in attendance. WKKF supports ILSB’s network organizing and civic engagement to advance Indigenous and Afro-Mexican women’s health and their participation in decision-making in Mexico.  

If we want to boost the economy, help workers and support vulnerable families, we have to care more about care — child care, that is. Leaders from the Committee for Economic Development of The Conference Board, a WKKF grantee, recently penned a commentary in U.S. News & World Report spotlighting the difficulties facing families, and women in particular, because of a lack of quality child care and early learning options. Policies to boost women’s labor force participation would yield significant returns, with just a 1% increase in women at work leading to $73 billion in new personal income, according to the CED’s analysis.  

WKKF grantee, Propeller, has coordinated multi-year research to improve healthy food access and consumption for New Orleans public school children. The most recent research uncovered a number of school policies and operations that have significant impacts on students eating healthy school food. These findings led to recommendations such as scheduling recess or physical activity before the lunch meal to increase students’ healthy food consumption and not implementing punitive lunchroom practices, such as silent lunch, which has a direct negative impact on meal-eating levels. Read a summary of their more than 10 years of research and their most recent findings.