Jessica Benavidez, CYFD Family Outreach Supervisor
The Higher Education Department’s Children, Youth, and Families Department (CYFD) Worker Loan Repayment Program has eased student debt shouldered by case workers, juvenile detention officers, and counselors throughout New Mexico. The program is not only allowing CYFD staff to focus on their cases without worrying about student loan payments – it’s helping to recruit and retain dedicated individuals who face the most troubling events that life can bring.
Jessica Benavidez is a family outreach supervisor at CYFD. Now, she explains, the CYFD Loan Repayment Program is assisting with her $90,000 loan debt at the rate of $400 per month, covering more than eight months of the year and leaving just over three months’ payments on her plate. “It’s changed my life,” Jessica says, “and it has allowed me to continue working at CYFD.”
After graduating from Freedom High School in Albuquerque, Jessica earned both her bachelor’s degree in psychology and a continuing education certificate in substance abuse counseling from the University of New Mexico Continuing Education. She originally had plans to work as a counselor, “but death struck too close to home,” Jessica explains, and she decided to shift focus.
The Children, Youth, and Families Department appealed to her as several of her family members had gone through the CYFD system. She decided to pursue a career there beginning in 2014, starting as a permanency planning worker while studying criminal justice through the University of Phoenix and finishing her master’s in social work at New Mexico Highlands University in May of 2023.
Jessica says she was honored to testify before the New Mexico Legislature in 2015 when the CYFD Loan Repayment Program was first introduced to explain how deeply student loan debt affects people’s lives and how valuable relief would be to ordinary people. Before the program, Jessica had $50 left every month after paying down her loans, rent and bills. “Now,” she says, “I can actually live my life. All my other debts are paid and I have a nest egg.” It’s not only personal, Jessica emphasizes. As a result of the loan assistance, “a less stressed-out version of myself can show up to help my case families.” And it isn‘t just about the money, she adds. “It’s an incentive to stay with CYFD and continue to pay back, with my emotional energy.”
To learn more about the New Mexico Higher Education Department’s Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD) Worker Loan Repayment Program, visit hed.nm.gov.