From the SouthWest Organizing Project SWOP's 2022 Chile Fiesta Was a Blast! News, Updates, and more!
News from
SouthWest Organizing Project

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Check out our upcoming events and find a place where you would want to engage!
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Friday, September 30th, 2022

42 Years of Love and Justice

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SWOP Chile Fiesta 2022!

We are so incredibly grateful to the community for showing up to our first in-person annual Chile Fiesta in years! We are so happy to have hosted another successful year of gathering for our traditional community event! We hosted a live art fight and auction, a raffle, and a "Hot Ones" panel discussion where the participants had to answer questions while eating HOT chile!

Congratulations to the winners of our Chile stew cook-off: 

MEAT
1st Place: Shamra Oldfield
Runner up: Three Sisters Kitchen

VEGETARIAN
1st Place: Stephanie Telles
Runner up: Stefany Olivas

ART FIGHT WINNER: 
Mayahuel "Pebblez" Aranda
 
 
SWOP Actions Around the State!

The SWOP crew went out to the 2022 State Fair!!!

Despite our shared hardships and constant work-related stress, we intend to celebrate the small wins and make time to be together as much as possible. Effective social justice work relies on our ability to function together cohesively as a team so that we may better serve our communities in need. We are so grateful to have such a powerful, growing cohort of dedicated organizers to join this fun-filled family event for our staff and friends!

Justice where we live,
Justice where we work,
Justice where we play!
 

Student workshop at Polk Elementary led by Travis McKenzie
 

We were able to meet with the Downwinders in La Luz to distribute Dixon apples and chile to the Tularosa Basin community! This has been a continued part of our work with the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium to help support the work they have been doing to advocate for compensation for the victims of radiation poisoning.

We are happy to keep this connection with the Downwinders going! Check out the last mutual aid trip we did in the previous member email HERE: https://swop.ourpowerbase.net/civicrm/mailing/view?id=1192&reset=1

Pictured above is our Executive Director, George, with Jose Luis
 
 
TULAROSA BASIN DOWNWINDERS
10th ANNUAL PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATION

WHAT: Tularosa Basin Downwinders 10th Annual Peaceful Demonstration
WHERE: Stallion Gate Entrance
WHEN: Saturday, October 15, 2022 - 9am to 2pm

Plan to meet at the Stallion Gate Entrance to the Trinity site East of San Antonio off highway 380. Plan to gather at 9:00 am and remain until 2:00 pm. Please bring your own poster, water, snacks, chair, sunscreen etc. The TBDC will be handing out important information about our work to bring justice to the people of New Mexico.  

The Trinity test site has always been a major tourist attraction.  Somewhere between 6-8 thousand people enter each time an open house is scheduled.  The US government has always maintained that the site was chosen because it is remote and uninhabited.  We greet visitors to tell them about our lived history as Downwinders.  

For more information, please contact Tina Cordova at tcordova@queston.net or at 505-897-6787
 
 
 
ArribaNM
 
GO VOTE
Early Voting Starts Oct. 11th 

Early Voting starts October 11! Go Vote!
 
VOTENM.org
 

Follow ArribaNM on social media for more updates: @ArribaNM https://www.instagram.com/arribanm/
LEARN MORE
 
 
NM Youth Justice Coalition
 

Follow NM Youth Justice Coalition on Facebook and Instagram @yjcnewmex for information and updates!
Visit their webpage here https://www.swop.net/youth-justice!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NMYouthJustice
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yjcnewmex/ 
 
 
Project Feed the Hood
Thank You for Donating!

We were able to raise over $2,000 for Project Feed the Hood with the support of our amazing community members! 

Thanks to all of you for your kindness and support with helping us replace our stolen tools! All excess donations will be utilized to support future programming for Project Feed the Hood, so anything you can donate will surely count! Please continue to share this among your networks! We truly appreciate the support
 
Project Feed the Hood

Big thank you to Yolanda Torres-Martinez, Jose B Martinez, and Franklin Gauna for representing the Albuquerque Chapter of the Brown Berets of NM with this generous donation to Project Feed the Hood! We deeply appreciate the continued support and love you have shown! Thank you
 

Check out the Project Feed the Hood Facebook Page, as we post constant updates HERE. And follow the Instagram page: @projectfeedthehood
 
 
NM Con Mujeres
 

This month we initiated a yearlong weekly collaboration with South Valley Prep. We have been and will be continuing to host middle school youth every Wednesday morning on SWOP Campus. We will rotate through the entire school where we will spend 4 weeks with each group of youth doing different activities and workshops to learn about community organizing and all the details that come with it.

The first group of youth were 8th graders. So far, we have done community mapping, having a conversation with them about the assets in their community but also the negative things they have to encounter in their everyday routine. We also explored the idea of community superheroes, visualizing if they had every possible resource available-- how would you use it to solve some of the problems in your community, and many of them had the idea of a Mexican superhero that destroys borders to reunite family. This evolved into a group conversation on immigration and how their families are directly affected by it.

We wanted to introduce these youth to things that may not be completely covered in school like consent-- not only being related to bodily autonomy when it comes to engaging in physical contact with other people, but bodily autonomy when accessing health care like birth control, abortions and other health related situations. This also relates to how it is needed to have a healthy relationship with people around you. We also covered identity and how to view the different aspects that make you part of the community.

Through a cooking demo we enforced the ideas of our cultural connection to food and the access of it. We learn to take care of ourselves by being able to cook and feed ourselves with whatever is around and accessible to us. Check out photos from the cooking demonstration above!

Contact Yahaira@swop.net for more information on the updates from NM Con Mujeres.

Check out the official NM Con Mujeres webpage here: https://www.swop.net/feminisms

Follow NM Con Mujeres on social media here:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nmconmujeres
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nmcmgj/
NM Con Mujeres
 
 
Pueblo Action Alliance
 

Subscribe to PAA's YouTube channel and tune in on their updated workshops, presentations, EJ updates, political education and popular education videos. Join us on this journey of community growth and education!


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Pueblo Action Alliance
 
 
SWOP Recommends
 

SWOP believes sustainability can only exist with grassroots leaders who will inevitability sustain much more than SWOP. SWOP’s work to sustain itself helps to build the economic power of our members, allies, and partners. Check out our fiscally sponsored groups and support by sharing the great work they are doing and donating via the links on our website or the directory below!

Pueblo Action Alliance
Tribal Entities Connect
Family+Indigenize+Thrive (F.I.T.)
The Transwoman Empowerment Initiative
Wildcat Blooms
Coffee+Creatives
Honor Native Land Tax
The Haven
 
LEARN MORE
 
 
Mutual Aid: Call for Peonies

Las Acequias are recruiting members of the Peones de San Isidro*, a mutual aid group to help acequias in need of workers!

Many acequias have flooded during the past monsoon season from burn scar flooding and flash flooding. The effort needed to sacar las acequias (dig out) is at its greatest level since our ancestors first built/dug the acequias many generations ago. If you are ready to work, let me know! We are starting work in October. We will start with some pilot projects with some small crews and then hopefully the project will grow. Ojala que el esfuerzo vaya creciendo! Fill out the form if you're interested. If you have any thoughts, ideas, or questions, feel free to email me. For now, this is by invitation only while we get through some initial pilot projects. If you have names to add to our list, let me know, please. Thank you for your understanding.

Join the Peones de San Isidro, a mutual aid group of workers created to support acequias in times of need: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdeZ5ZPpSahDiv-JlRD3607m4LsBpKn0lEU1KCVt1N8Y2ndCw/viewform
 
MORE INFO
 
 
La Familia Growers Market

WHAT: 4th Chile Ristra Harvest Festival
WHERE: Dolores Huerta Park, 100 Isleta Blvd SW
WHEN: September 30th at 4:30pm-7:30pm

Join La Familia Growers Market on September 30th from 4:30-7:30 pm at Dolores Huerta Gateway Park for their 4th Annual Chile Ristra Harvest Festival! They will have fresh fruits and vegetables from local farmers, live music by STR8 Shot, food and drinks from @themunchietruckabq, @bingtea.us and Aguas by A.D.D, and on-site COVID-19 vaccinations and booster shots will be available for ages 5 and up, a Chile Ristra making demonstration and Chile Roasting!

• Workshops: Learn how to make a Chile ristra, learn how to make atole powder, and other workshops TBA
• Chile roasting
• We will have fresh fruits and vegetables from local farmers
• Arts-n-craft vendors
• Live music by STR8 Shot
• Food and drinks from The Munchie Truck, Bing Tea, Estrada's Mexican Food Truck, and Aguas by A.D.D
• Dedication of the South Valley Memories: A Community-led History Project First 5 Historic Markers
• On-site COVID-19 vaccinations and booster shots will be available for ages 5
• This is a free and family friendly event
• Kids activities

Follow them on Facebook: 
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063632198172

Follow them on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/lafamiliagrowersmarket/
 

WHAT: La Familia Growers's Market
WHERE: Dolores Huerta Gateway Park (100 Isleta Blvd. SW 87105)
WHEN: Every Friday at 4:30pm until October 14th

Join La Familia Growers Market every Friday from 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm for Live Music/Performances, Children's Activities, Food Trucks, Farmers, Arts-n-Crafts Vendors!

Visit the event page on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/events/595614198648577/595614791981851/
 
RSVP
 
 
Join Medicine Drum Circle on Saturdays!

Medicine Drum Circle happens every Saturday at 1:30-3pm by the Rio Grande at the Tingley Beach Duck pond! 

Look for the clear trail that leads to the river to meet at the wooden deck where they will be gathering in prayer and healing.

Follow Medicine Drum Circle on social media here: 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/medicinedrumcircle/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/medicinedrumcircle/?hl=en
 
 
Tularosa Basin Downwinders Work to Pass RECA
War is NOT the answer. Militarization is NOT the solution.
 
On July 16, 1945, at 5:29AM the world’s first atomic bomb exploded at a test site in the NM desert. 77 years later, our own government is still suppressing and covering up the consequences for the residents of New Mexico and El Paso Texas.

The Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium has been working for 17 years to bring attention to the negative health effects suffered buy the people of NM who lived adjacent to the test site. According to Census data, there were approximately 15,000 people living within a 50 mile radius. The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act will allow those affected to receive partial restitution for the sacrifice and suffering that our communities have endured for so many years.

* Not-so-fun fact: The half-life of plutonium is 24,000 years, which was only one of several radioactive isotopes present in the test bomb.

Listen to the full podast episode featuring advocates Tina Cordova and Paul Pino of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium. "Before Hiroshima and Nagasaki, There was New Mexico":
https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-ezk7i-11bcc2d

RECA has recently passed in the Senate, but we need all of your support to ensure that it gets pushed through the House! The U.S. Senate has passed via Unanimous Consent a two-year extension of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. While this is an important first step, we must keep pushing for an expansion of the bill to include the victims of nuclear weapons production and testing who have been excluded. Ask your representatives to support S. 2798 and H.R. 5338.

Visit www.trinitydownwinders.com for more information.
 
LISTEN HERE
 
 
NM Substance Abuse and Addiction Resources

A group of medical professionals at Help.org held conversations with addiction experts across the US and found that the vast majority of people who need treatment for substance abuse disorders do not seek it. Though there are many barriers that discourage people from getting the help they need, cost is a significant factor. So we created a guide that provides comprehensive information on topics like, available care options, financial support, and free resources that are available in New Mexico.

This guide was created to help the many residents of New Mexico who are struggling with substance abuse and addiction to find affordable treatment that will put them on the path to recovery. It is also intended to inform the general public about the dangers of substance abuse in New Mexico.
 
You can learn more about our guide here: https://www.help.org/drug-and-alcohol-rehab-centers-in-new-mexico/
LEARN MORE
 
 
 

Check out our last membership newsletter HERE:

https://swop.ourpowerbase.net/civicrm/mailing/view?id=1192&reset=1

Visit us online at SWOP.net!

SouthWest Organizing Project

211 10th St SW
Albuquerque, NM 87102
United States

505-247-8832

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