News Release
NM Native Vote
On July 8, NM Native Vote, a registered non-profit with a mission to build a Native American vote bloc that will actively promote a Native American agenda, formally announced their campaign to organize voters and encourage support for the Vote YES for Kids campaign.
NM Native Vote was joined in a virtual launch by Chairman Mark Mitchell of the All Pueblo Council of Governors. If approved, the November Vote YES for Kids ballot question would allocate roughly $150 million from the state’s Permanent School Fund every year to the Early Childhood Education and Care Department for early childhood education and about $100 million to the Public Education Department to improve educational outcomes for at-risk students, with a specific focus on low-wealth and Native American students in order to address the Yazzie and Martinez vs. New Mexico lawsuit.
“While we support the intentions of the fund and education, we must bring attention to the fact that the land from which we all benefit monetarily is ancestral land to our indigenous people, it is precious land. Our Pueblo handprint covers the entire state and region of the southwest. The Apache and Navajo people have also been divested of their traditional land holdings in the state. There is an equity and justice issue here that we must not only be aware of but act upon by exercising the principle of self-determination and create the education system that works for our people,” All Pueblo Council of Governors (APCG) Chairman Mark Mitchell said at the virtual launch.
“We have a chance to change history in this watershed moment to redefine education for our purposes for the first time in the last 150 years,” said Regis Pecos, Co-Director of Leadership Institute and NM Native Vote campaign steering committee member
“Including new provisions for Tribes to fulfill the principles of self determination by amending the current law is imperative to provide culturally appropriate strategies for our children where language and culture is at the heart of our new vision” he finished.
The Yazzie and Martinez vs. New Mexico lawsuit was focused around the state’s failure to provide an adequate education to low-wealth, Native American, English language learner (ELL), and students with disabilities. The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled in favor of Yazzie and Martinez and the families and school districts involved in the case and ordered the state to take action to correct these failures.
“NM Native Vote believes in being informed and impacting issues that affect our families and our communities. For indigenous kids, parents, and grandparents in New Mexico to receive the basic dignity of an equitable education, we must pass the Vote YES for Kids ballot question and bring these dollars into schools focused on thriving in our culture, our languages, and our ways of life,” Amber Carrillo, NM Native Vote Campaign Strategist added.
As part of the Vote YES for Kids campaign, NM Native Vote will organize support of voters living in our tribal communities and traditional Pueblo, Apache and Navajo lands, as well as in urban settings like Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Las Cruces.
There are 18 indigenous education focused charter schools in New Mexico which receive funding assistance from the state and could see increases in the amount of dollars received with the passage of the ballot question. The Walatowa Head Start in Jemez Pueblo and the Keres Children’s Learning Center in Cochiti will continue dialogue in support of NM Native Vote and Vote YES for Kids in the coming months to bring attention to their nationally recognized language and cultural preservation programs, as well as to the need for more support for these programs.
“The Walatowa Head Start Language Immersion Program has achieved more than we imagined. We knew that teaching our language would serve our students’ education, but we now have seen that generations of families have become closer because grandparents, even great-grandparents can communicate with the children as a result of our education program and that’s a positive community benefit,” said Lana Garcia, Early Childhood Program Manager. “Changing the state constitution and crafting public policy that comports to tribal self-determination and the desires of our tribal communities would be a welcome change and one that could drastically alter the state of education in New Mexico for the better. The Vote Yes For Kids campaign gives us an opportunity to envision the necessary policies that bring to fruition an educational system we truly believe in because it will be inclusive of our language and culture, something we’ve always strived for.”
“We urge our Pueblo tribal members and all Native Americans to register to vote and show your support at the polls for this campaign in November of 2022. Native voters have the opportunity to approve this ballot question and bring transformational change to our communities, and level the playing field to give all of our kids a fair shot.” All Pueblo Council of Governors Chairman Mitchell said concluding his remarks.
Click here to view the recording of the event.
This November, New Mexico voters have the opportunity to approve a ballot initiative that would bring transformational change and level the playing field for hardworking New Mexico families, giving all of our kids, regardless of family income, a fair shot at educational success.
Vote YES for Kids! is a New Mexico Political Action Committee organized to inform voters about the Permanent School Fund Constitutional Amendment that will appear on the November general election ballot. Learn more at www.voteyesforkidsnm.com.
