January 16th, 2018
Familiar Faces in New Roles
Executive Director, Deputy Director, Chief Financial Officer, Mass Base Organizer, and new Board Members
Chief Financial Officer Marisol Archuleta, Deputy Director Juan Reynosa, and Executive Director George Luján at the SWOP Office in Albuquerque, NM.
Dear ,
The staff and board of SouthWest Organizing Project are proud to announce upgrades to our team, including exciting new promotions, hires, and additions for the new year. You will recognize the names and faces, as they have all been at the center of SWOP's work for years after joining the organization at a young age.
Last week, the SWOP Board of Directors voted to promote staff member George Luján to the position of Executive Director, after serving as the organization's Communications Organizer since 2008. This decision follows the recommendation of Mike Brown, who has served for the last 6 months as SWOP's Interim Director, tasked by the board to evaluate the organization and make a recommendation for an Executive Director. The new leadership structure is filled out by Juan Reynosa as Deputy Director and Marisol Archuleta as Chief Financial Officer. Marisol also joined the SWOP staff in 2008, originally as our grassroots fundraiser, and recently serving in the role of Development Coordinator. For the last seven years, Juan has served as SWOP's Environmental Justice Organizer.
These promotions are cause for celebration for the SWOP family, including all of our members, as they are a testament to the organization's ability to develop community members into powerful agents of change- from our members, to our staff, to our board, to our interns and volunteers. Together we are a unique organization that gets stronger every year, and many of you have worked hard to put us into the favorable position of promoting from within with confidence.
The SWOP staff is also joined by new hire Joseph Stacey, a longtime contributor to the organization who will now serve as our Mass Base Organizer. Joseph has extensive organizing experience (see below), and has been coordinating many of our canvass and field operations for the past several years, while also contributing his cultural organizing expertise. The position of Mass Base Organizer had been vacant for a few years, and this hire is a major victory for the organization.
SWOP and our members have made a deep commitment to leadership development throughout the organization, which has strengthened our operation from top to bottom. Every year, talented young people join the organization, steadily increase their responsibilities, receive training and skills development, and share their knowledge with others. SWOP is now reaping the benefits of that investment, and capitalizing on the experience that our staff has gained through their work here. This staff has the skills, expertise, insight, and emotional intelligence to stay true to SWOP's historic vision while bringing it into a new era.
These new staff members and positions are also joined this year by new members on our Board of Directors. Last week saw the first board meeting of the year, where the newest board members were sworn in and began their term to represent our membership. Last November, our members voted for Alexandria Lyons, Janelle Astorga Ramos, Ingrid Ordóñez-Campos and Karlos Gauna Schmieder to join the Board, where they will oversee the Executive Director and help ensure the financial health of our organization. These four members join existing members Samia Assed, Eric Griego, and Ilsa Garduño, which means that all of our campaigns have active members represented on the board. We'd like to also thank outgoing board members for their excellent service to SWOP: Michael Montoya, Victoria Padilla, and Divana Olivas. Please give them a 'thank you' or a fist bump when you see them!
The board also elected new officers, which are:
SWOP's members are at the forefront of everything we do, and we will need your support to make 2018 a big year for SWOP and our new-look team! Please contact us with any questions, either over email or phone, or by visiting our office. We look forward to honoring the legacy of SWOP and realizing our vision for a bright future for New Mexico families.
Continue reading for more about the new people and new roles at SWOP...
New Leadership
George Luján joined the staff in 2008 having been a life-long member of SWOP. Before joining the staff, George worked on community garden and youth projects, and also contributed artwork for Voces Unidas magazine. George was introduced to the social justice practices and values of SWOP at an early age by his father, Joaquín Luján, a longtime organizer and one of the founders of Project Feed The Hood, among other SWOP campaigns. George studied Media and Fine Arts at the Universidad de Nuevo México and has spent the past ten years building SWOP’s media platforms and working with organizers to advance campaign strategies. George has been a regular presence in all of SWOP's work areas during his time here, and has steadily learned new roles and responsibilities, including work as the organization's primary grant writer for the past several years. George has learned a great deal from SWOP members, leaders and organizers over the years, and has shown the dedication and work ethic necessary to keep SWOP at the forefront of the movement for justice in New Mexico. George enjoys spending his free time with his wife Bridget and daughter Lorena, walking his dog along the bosque, watching samurai movies, and kicking it in Los Duranes.
Email George at george@swop.net; Call George at (505)247-8832 ext. 122
Juan Reynosa is a Chicano and proud New Mexican. His hometown is Hobbs, New Mexico, which is the epicenter of the oil and gas industry in southeastern New Mexico. Growing up in an oil and gas town that has a lot of racism issues, Juan experienced many social justice issues on a firsthand basis. For the past seven years, Juan has been the Environmental Justice Organizer with SWOP, assisting environmental justice communities their fights for self-determination to achieve clean air and water. Before joining SWOP, Juan was the New Mexico Beyond Coal organizer for Sierra Club, an organizer with New Mexico Youth Organized, and a Green for All fellow. Juan has also helped run field for political campaigns and has led many youth leadership programs. Beyond his professional experience, he has a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science from the University of New Mexico. Juan is a young man who brings a wealth of knowledge about the issues facing communities subject to polluting industry, and a strong skill set in organizing. Juan is one of the foremost Environmental Justice organizers in the state, who is as comfortable testifying in front of elected bodies as he is dishing out Frito pies at one of our fundraisers. He is an excellent choice to lead SWOP's organizing strategies as our Deputy Director.
Email Juan at juan@swop.net; Call Juan at (505)247-8832 ext. 115
Marisol Archuleta is a native Burqueña with a deep love for New Mexico. Marisol joined SWOP in 2008 as the Development Coordinator where she initiated many of SWOP's grassroots fundraising programs, implemented SWOP's online database, and manages the organization's grant portfolio. Marisol has been trained in bookkeeping and grants management at SWOP and in her time as Development Coordinator has more than tripled SWOP's grassroots fundraising annual totals. Marisol also proudly serves on the Advisory Board of the Three Sisters Kitchen. Marisol graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of New Mexico with BAs in Latin American Studies and Political Science. Along with her husband Mark, Marisol has two daughters, 5-year-old Adelita and 3-year-old Rosie. Her family is Marisol's foundation and her daughters keep her motivated and inspired to make her community better. Marisol is proud to follow in a long line of powerful women in her family, as her grandma, Antonia Padilla, was the first ever female Vice-President of a bank in New Mexico.
Email Marisol at marisol@swop.net; Call Marisol at (505)247-8832 ext. 126
Joseph Stacey joins the staff after contributing his time and skills to a number of SWOP campaigns, from canvass operations, to mural painting, to catering community events. Joseph has been involved with community organizing from a young age, and is a skilled and inspirational trainer, having developed dozens of community members for SWOP canvass teams and others across the state. Joseph's civic engagement campaign experience ranges from phone banking for the Native American Voters Alliance, to walking door to door at the Pueblos for Diane Denish, to coordinating campaigns for Healthy Workforce Albuquerque, APD Forward, and Medicaid. He also has experience as a tribal liaison, and has worked with young people to preserve Hopi culture. Between campaigns, he continues to work on different community issues, from agriculture to legislative policy. Joseph has been a huge asset to SWOP over the years, from getting out the vote for school board elections, to educating people about the Kirtland Air Force Base fuel spill, to leading community art projects, to entering our green chile stew cook-off, and we’re elated to finally have him on our full-time staff.
Email Joseph at joseph@swop.net; Call Joseph at (505)247-8832 ext.119
New Board Members
Janelle Astorga Ramos has been one of our most active youth members, helping to coordinate the Youth Employment Summer Institute, the Student Bill of Rights campaign, weekly youth meetings, and coordinate our work with Families United for Education and Albuquerque Public Schools. She also recently served as a coordinator for ArribaNM, and has been active with Con Mujeres and Project Feed The Hood.
Pictured: Janelle receives the Amy Biehl Youth Spirit Award from New Mexico Voices for Children.
Alexandria Lyons became involved with SWOP through our food justice campaign Project Feed The Hood, and has been one of our most engaged members over the past few years, including this last summer when she coordinated SWOP’s Youth Employment Summer Institute interns.
Pictured: Alex represents SWOP, Con Mujeres, and Grassroots Global Justice at the Women’s March in Washington, DC.
Ingrid Ordóñez-Campos is a youth representative on the board, and is another active SWOP member, having participated in this summer’s Youth Employment Summer Institute, and is engaged locally and nationally with immigration issues, including direct actions with the NM Dream Team.
Pictured: Ingrid collects signatures as part of her YES! internship with El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos.
Karlos Gauna Schmieder has been a SWOP stalwart for most of his life, as his parents, founder Jeanne Gauna and Eric Schmieder, were cornerstones of the organization. Karlos was active in our youth group in the 90s, served on our staff in a Communications role in the 00s, and is now facilitating the ArribaNM project, which works with talented local people to create mobile engagement tools to spur community vision.
Pictured: Karlos has contributed communications and strategy expertise to social justice organizations across the country.
Thank you again to our members for your powerful, informed, visionary support of SWOP! This organization is built to represent our membership, our families, and our communities. If there's anything we can do better, and any way you can help us do it, please let us know!
We're going to have a great year together.
Sinceramente,
Your friends at SouthWest Organizing Project
One more bonus photo before we go: Feminisms Organizer Beva Sánchez-Padilla, board secretary Janelle Astorga Ramos, Deputy Director Juan Reynosa, and board treasurer Ilsa Garduño at the 2015 Indigenous People's Day March.
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