NMiF looks at food and Housing Insecurity at NM Colleges

This week on New Mexico in Focus, Senior Producer Lou DiVizio speaks with two authors of a recent report that shows more than half of New Mexico college and university students struggle with food and housing insecurity.

Sarita Cargas, founder of UNM's Basic Needs Project, and Patricia Trujillo, deputy secretary of the state's Higher Education Department, tell Lou how systemic barriers can lead to these insecurities. Later in their discussion, DiVizio asks how New Mexico college campuses are helping students in need.

This month, Searchlight New Mexico journalist Joshua Bowling published a story detailing the political power of the state's horse racing industry.

In a one-on-one interview, Bowling tells DiVizio how hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions flow from New Mexico racetracks.

Earlier this year, Senior Producer Laura Paskus spoke with three Thoreau High School students opposed to a federal plan to bring uranium mining waste into their community. As most things are, it's a complicated situation, and the people of the Red Water Pond Road Community are looking for help cleaning up an area ravaged by decades of uranium mining. Even though the mines were shuttered in 1983, contamination remains, and as our guests explain, they seek justice for their community and a return home. And as Edith Hood points out, she wishes the leadership of the Navajo Nation could find solutions that don't pit Diné communities against one another.

NMiF airs on NMPBS 5.1 (KNME HD) on Friday, Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 29 at 7 a.m. and streaming on the PBS video app.

NMiF Segments

Half of NM College Students Struggle with Food and Housing Insecurity
and
How College Student Hunger in 2024 Differs from Previous Generations
Correspondent
Lou DiVizio

Guests
Sarita Cargas, Founder, UNM Basic Needs Project
Patricia Trujillo, Deputy Secretary, New Mexico Higher Education Department

Diné Community Seeks Justice
Correspondent
Laura Paskus

Guests
Edith Hood, Red Water Pond Road Community Association
Teracita Keyanna, Red Water Pond Road Community Association

The Political Power of NM's Horse Racing Industry
Correspondent
Lou DiVizio

Guest
Joshua Bowling, reporter, Searchlight New Mexico

New Mexico in Focus is the New Mexico PBS prime-time news magazine show covering the events, issues, and people shaping life in New Mexico and the Southwest. NMiF takes a multi-layered look at social, political, economic health, education, and art issues and explores them in-depth with a critical eye to give them context beyond the "news of the moment."

NMPBS Executive Producer, Public Affairs, is Jeff Proctor. New Mexico in Focus's senior producer for public affairs is Lou DiVizio. "Our Land" Senior Producer is Laura Paskus. The producer of New Mexico in Focus is Antonio Sanchez, and co-producer is Kathy Wimmer.

Funding for New Mexico in Focus is provided by the McCune Charitable Foundation and Viewers Like You.

Funding for the Your New Mexico Government Project comes from the Thornburg Foundation and New Mexico Local News Fund.

The Neeper Natural History Programming Fund for KNME-TV provides funding for Our Land: New Mexico's Environmental Past, Present & Future.

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