KRWG Public Media is covering the New Mexico State Representative race for district 32. Early voting opens October 6th. Democratic candidate Laura Parra spoke to Noah Raess.
Noah Raess:
Just start off, can you tell us about yourself and why you were running for office?
Laura Parra:
I am the oldest daughter and proud daughter of immigrants. And I've been in this community for way too long where I have seen so many things that we can improve in our community. I believe that rural communities should be represented and heard at the local state and federal level. And sometimes I kind of feel like the majority of us and because of the work that I've been doing at the doors, I feel like that's not necessarily the case. And I've been hearing from a lot of constituents and also and voters that are really worried about our communities and they feel like their voices are not being highlighted. So that is definitely one of the main reasons I feel like our communities, especially in rural areas, need to be heard. And I am making sure that that is my priority. I want to bring in different perspectives. And also I would definitely, if I were to be elected, I would be the first Hispanic Latina, elected to this district, to represent district 32. To me, it's a huge deal because the majority of our population is from the Hispanic community. And that tells me a lot of how one of the main changes can be included into this.
Noah Raess:
And what are some of the top issues in your district and how would you address those issues?
Laura Parra:
There's just also so many like in all of our state right. But in our communities right now we are facing major issues with our health care and behavioral health care I would say specifically. I have noticed that, for so many years, we just need to start investing into getting things done the right way. Our communities right now suffer from homelessness. There's so much people that need assistance, for example. One of the biggest issues is also transportation when it comes to being able to get the services that we can provide in our communities. People are faced with how am I going to get to an appointment that is an hour away from where I live, right? Right now we have, obviously, mentioning, rural, health care, a lot of shortage when it comes to our doctors. We're experiencing that, where we cannot retain. So we really need to, you know, recruit and retain providers and make sure that, the investments that we're making at the state level, they actually reach our communities. And so I really want to push forward for that. So obviously when we talk also about housing and homelessness, throughout our district, people are struggling, not just to find affordable housing, but also like if they experience being homeless at some point in their lives, there's not a place where they can shelter themselves and say, for example, I can spend the night here. And, and that to me is an issue that we have to really find a solution to, and start looking at the entire picture. Because sometimes people tend to blame homelessness, just one specific thing. And sometimes that includes the substance use and that is not the whole case. I can tell you, as a social worker, I have seen multiple times different cases of people that just kind of end up in this situation because they can't afford their home or they had a home, and then all of a sudden they just can't afford it anymore. The reality is that things are super expensive right now and times are changing in a way where people that could own a home back in the day are no longer the case. For the majority of us, especially, you know, the youth that are graduating and they have to face the, the economy and like, the way that the world is right now, especially in our, in our country and our state. So, yeah, I feel like those are some of the main issues that we have, obviously. Infrastructure is always one of them. Education, economic opportunities, for people to be able to actually stay in our communities next to their families. I know that a lot of people, especially, you know, our students, once they graduate high school, the first thing they do is leave our communities. And unfortunately we can't keep families together because there needs to be better opportunities at home so that we can retain our people and keep our communities together.
Noah Raess:
And data centers have been a major topic of debate in southern New Mexico and around the country really. What role do you think the state should play in new data centers and how do you think data centers should be handled in the future?
Laura Parra:
Honestly, I do feel like we need to do our homework first, right? I think the major issues that have happened, have been because there hasn't been a lot of information. So I think, we definitely have to be more careful of what's actually being approved and asked about us and make sure that whatever is being asked to approve is the actual truth, and they're not changing it up. You know, we've heard from our neighbors Project Jupiter, they have changed so many of whatever they came in with at the beginning. And then now we have seen the effects of it and how the community was not included. To me, to create that mistrust, in anything when you do things behind, the people that trusted you to be in that position in the first place. So I definitely feel like data centers are obviously part of our lives. And they have been for so long. But honestly, like growing up, I never really heard of them. You know, I would hear about them being in bigger cities like San Francisco or just huge communities. That was just the norm. And now, I think being in a very rural community is really hard to envision something like that. And not knowing the true effects. I am all about economic development and what can help support our community since we're struggling so much but definitely have to look into everything and how it would be affecting us. I will say that as a council member in my community, I was really proud to support a moratorium on our water rights and that it was something that we were all in favor for in our community to be able to at least protect our water and have more of a freedom to look into anything that really wants to come and take an effect and we'll just have some more time to be able to look into what is the effects that it will have on our communities. So, yeah, I definitely feel like doing our homework and really knowing and educating the people, not doing things behind doors where people feel left out and are not able to participate. And at the end, there's the ones suffering the consequences.
Noah Raess:
CYFD has been in hot water for a while, but recently, the recent attorney general investigation and reporting showing that CYFD dropped a child off at the US-Mexico border has kind of brought those concerns back into the light. What do you see as the best path forward for this department?
Laura Parra:
Honestly, right now I feel like honestly, I feel like maybe CYFD needs a whole rebranding. There's definitely been a lot of conversations in our community of how this has affected a lot of our community members in a way where there's just not a lot of information with what is actually happening behind doors and I think that is a problem. When we're seeing the decisions that are being made. Hearing about the case of this child being dropped off it's a major red flag. I feel to just be dropping people off at the border with no guarantee that's the best decision that they're going to be safe. And I would like to know more of like how that decision was made but definitely in our communities I feel like CYFD growing up was one of those programs that I saw as something good that helped all these kids that were being in homes that were just kind of not livable or just opportunities that they wouldn't have had. But then I realized and started seeing that there was just not a lot of support. So I would say like maybe they needed to have more people working for them. But actually, the leadership from the beginning I always feel like it starts from the top. And when the leadership or whoever is managing the whole system is not really firm and it keeps changing, it also makes things kind of bad for everybody else because then you're confused and then that just creates a bigger problem for everyone. But I do think that our state really needs to have the resources, the staffing and training. And the accountability necessary to do their job. But, yeah, I also feel like the crisis right now has been the effects that we're not investing in all of our rural behavioral health, facilities, treatments and affordable health care and housing, all of these things. I feel like are some of the major problems that we have. And I think if we're able to kind of like target all of those, we can have even a better opportunity to prevent students and children from entering this place in the first place or the system so I think that is not just fully going away with the program, but also making sure that we're finding ways to prevent children to have to go into that. So we're taking care of all of the basic needs or investing into everything else. You know, that could be something that can definitely help, take away from having to put all of these kids into these programs.
Noah Raess:
New Mexico has been ranked near the bottom in terms of education for many years. What do you think needs to be done to turn this around?
Laura Parra:
Honestly, when it comes to education, I have noticed that there is a lot. I had the opportunity that when I graduated as a social worker, we go back to the lack of jobs and opportunities in our communities, there was not a lot of funding, that we just talked about CYFD because those were the only jobs that were offered to me as a social worker locally. And honestly I felt like Child Protective Services was not my thing at that moment. So I decided to opt out and I was offered a job as a teacher. And this was right after Covid, and I remember how there were there's this class that just has kind of been abandoned because they have gone through, like, multiple teachers and nobody wants to stay. So it kind of seems like that was one of the main issues. There were not enough teachers, and the subs just wouldn't last either, you know? So, I think one of the things is that our teachers our students are being taught by but by subs, multiple subs that are in some classes, right. At least in my case, when I came in, they were, you know, they had already seen 3 or 4 teachers all in one year. So and if we're talking about Covid times, there was just a lot of things that I was able to notice in the classroom. And then also, a lot of things haven't changed since I was in school, since I was a student. So I feel like with time, we're not really evolving in the education system. Like, a lot of things have continued to stay the same. And, we need to really invest into training our teachers in a way where they get with the times that we are living. But we need to be thinking I feel like students right now are I feel like the one of the main issues that I noticed was that there was just a lot of testing all the time and it was that type of testing that is for the state to be able to get funding. Right, which is really important. But I can talk from experience after Covid testing kids, so often just instead of helping was affecting them, when a lot of them needed to just be focused on re-learning a lot of the things that they missed, for the couple of years that they weren't there. But yeah, I think we have incredible people that are giving everything that they can to educating our communities. I mean, I'm a proud product of public schools, and, but I do think that we do need to change the way that things have been for so long and probably create different opportunities so that teachers are also feeling supported and get to the bottom of why we're still for so many years. So I believe that we should start looking into bother states that are doing way better than we are and start seeing, like, what works for them and hopefully learn a little like that shouldn't be, you know, a problem if we're able to to start learning from others, then getting ideas and and I'm pretty sure that is something that we just need to start applying more.
Noah Raess:
Finally, what else do you think is important for voters to know about you or your campaign?
Laura Parra:
I think it's important to know that I want to be a voice for everyone. I think it's important that I don't believe that I am or would be like, a politician. I see myself as a public servant. I always have, even without titles, I've always served my community. And I think it's important to know that my type of leadership includes the people. I am there to represent. And I want to have people at the decision table. So that means being able to include more of my community when it comes to passing a bill and really looking into what will be affecting also welcoming the community to come to the spaces that have been given to us and have them feel like included because at the end of the day, it's the people's house, not the elected officials house. So I really believe that can be really important. I also want to really push for my Hispanic communities to go out and vote and know that their voice and their vote is very powerful. And they can create a lot of changes when we come together with our community as a whole. I feel like voting is sometimes overlooked and how much it can have an impact. And honestly, it can definitely create a lot of changes for communities. So yeah, I really hope that people are ready to vote and vote early starting October 6th. You know, it opens up and, why wait? I'm encouraging people to go out and vote as soon as they can. That way we're not waiting for the actual day when anything could come up, and then we miss the deadline. Thank you so much for having me.
