OUR WORK IN PROGRESS: “1,2,3 Eyes on Me”
Proposed Intervention Addressing Physical and Social-emotional Needs During the Pandemic

The Need
One of the amazing things about New Mexico Appleseed is that we are able to be nimble when needed. As the schools closed down in March 2020, we realized that a humanitarian disaster was looming. Unfortunately, that seems to be prescient. The Public Education Department is reporting that over 12,000 children cannot even be found right now during this shutdown. Child maltreatment reports have taken a nosedive, in part because there are fewer eyes on children.

While the focus on mitigating COVID-19 risks is critical, we must also account for the equally dangerous risks of education loss, food insecurity, heightened abuse, and mental and physical health struggles. Assuming that the teachers and districts are unlikely to return to in person learning during the 2020-2021 school year, we must work around this fact to create a responsive and tightly-woven safety net for these children.

As the state focused on mitigation of the virus, Appleseed is addressing some of the out-of-school needs of children. Out of whole cloth, Appleseed conceived of and is proposing interventions that can be replicated and scaled in nearly any context. In 2021 we spearheaded the following:

“1,2,3 Eyes on Me”
“1,2,3 Eyes on Me” is a flexible intervention that seeks to mitigate some of the damage being done to children who are disconnected from school and all that it offers. For each identified issue children face, this intervention seeks to find a reasonable solution while maintaining safety from COVID-19 exposure.

“1,2,3 Eyes on Me” seeks to create a model that could scale up or down depending upon viral spread, but with certain consistent offerings (drive-thru food and health screenings and referrals) with added features (peer interaction, exercise, academic support) as viral spread goes down. It is worth noting that this may be a possible vehicle to ensure that New Mexicans get both COVID-19 vaccinations when they become available.

OUR 2021 IMPACT REPORT

Want to learn more about this initiative? Interested in partnering with New Mexico Appleseed?

Please contact Daniel Valverde, Director of Community Outreach.