With the exception of Art and Art History, these units have forged highly successful partnerships with local organizations and, in so doing, offer the community opportunities to experience music, theatre, film, dance, and visual art. Thousands of visitors, many of them school children, visit the campus for theatre, dance, and music performances, or to visit campus museums. Continue to support Arts in the Schools Program. Many social problems stem from poverty. The Environmental Scan takes note of the fact that New Mexico has a deep and persistent problem of poverty, ranking 48th among the states in per capita income and with the highest rate of poverty among the states.
Historical poverty does more than keep families economically unbalanced.
It also gives rise to a host of other problems that directly diminish New Mexico s quality of life. For example, expanding drug addiction presently infects rural northern New Mexico. Picturesque Hispanic villages are dealing with a veritable heroin epidemic. Native American reservations are sometimes set upon by the predatory activities of outside illegal syndicates. Alcoholism and its attendant problems, such as drunk driving, run rampant among the poor, its tragic consequences all too frequently evident in the news media.