SWOP News - Healing Fair, Legislative Days, New Board Members

The New Mexico Women’s March and Rally at Civic Plaza in Albuquerque on Sunday, January 21^st gathered thousands as over fifty presenters spoke of economic, racial, gender, climate injustice and addressed issues such as the killing machines fueling wars for profit. This Women-led demonstration prompted all to register to vote, vote and run for office AND also to make accountable those in power and to dismantle patriarchy. Those of intergenerational Indigenous, Immigrant, Muslim, African and African American and the LGBTQ communities led this New Mexico event. The Unified Opening Blessing included representatives from many religious groups, over 20 women healers and healing organizations, three indigenous danza groups and the Medicine Drum Circle.

Read the article covering the Women's March featured in the Albuquerque Journal here:

A big thank you to Beva, Samia, Peaches, and all parties involved in helping bring this incredibly empowering event to a success. Also, many thanks to the impactful speeches given by our local and guest speakers! And a big thank you to all who attended and shared space with all of these wonderful people. It was through the power of communal support and kindness that this march was a huge success.

Check out more photos from the event by clicking this link to the Facebook event page. Also feel free to like their official Facebook page here

This year's Food and Farms Day was a great success. This was also Anti-Racism Day as well as the 3rd Annual Local Food and Farm to School Awards Ceremony.

Congratulations to Travis McKenzie on being awarded Teacher of the Year! Check out his acceptance speech here

There was an incredible turnout at Food and Farms Day, New Mexico School Nutrition Day, and the 3rd Annual Local Food and Farm to School Awards! To continue supporting our efforts to bring more to the table for environmental awareness and food justice, please consider this call to action:

HB 62 -- NM Grown Fresh Fruits and Vegetables for School Meals passed the Agriculture Committee today with flying stars because of everyone's support this week. Thank you to everyone who came to support and participate in a robust discussion.

NOW we need your help! Please call by Monday!
Please ask the House Appropriations Committee to "support restoration of $400,000 for the NM Grown Fresh Fruits and Vegetables for School Meals in the budget." Click here for the list of Committee members and their contacts. It is most helpful to call your Representative, the Chairwoman, Representative Lundstrom and Vice Chair Representative Dodge to request their support.

Action Alert - SB 92, NM Grown Produce for Senior Centers, sponsored by Liz Stefanics, will be heard:

Meeting Scheduled: Please join us for our upcoming NM Food & Ag Policy Council Legislative Round Table Sharing

Please join us for a round table sharing and discussion about food and agriculture legislation currently introduced. We welcome all to participate to help build support for introduced legislation.

SWOP staff and members went to Santa Fe in support of the NMAA and their Acequia Day March. People from all around New Mexico came in support of water rights, environmental justice, cultural strength, and the historical significance of our land. Read this article by Santa Fe New Mexican about the legislative roundup:

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/legislature/legislative-roundup-jan/article_6f01aa83-1db7-52ef-b423-c81ee8209dec.html

On Feb.10th, SWOP and NM Con Mujeres will be assisting (Un)Occupy Albuquerque and Kapulli Izkalli in putting on an all day healing fair.

There will be healing treatments, workshops, a healthy food kitchen, a children’s space, and more.

"We hope to empower each other with awareness about health justice and our inherent right to heal and be cared for during times of illness and transition. This event is intended to be part of a movement to change the model of health care provided in our community. In a capitalist system, there is little value in healing. We will be serving those who live in fear of limited or no access to healthcare, as well as those who have had no success with the health care provided to them. We will make knowledge available and exposure to many forms of health care available within our community. By providing exposure and education to many paths of wellness, we wish to freely share what we believe is innately human: a right to heal! We believe that all seekers of wellness, mind, body, and spirit may find empowerment and freedom."

The ceremony is set to begin at 10:30AM and treatments are from 12PM-4PM

This month SWOP supported the fight in attempt to pass the DREAM Act. We dropped a banner in solidarity with NM Dream Team and our undocumented communities. This was seen on the bridge near Carlisle and Gibson.

http://krqe.com/2017/12/01/albuquerque-teen-shot-killed-sunday-was-active-community-member/

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

SWOP has lent out the translation equipment within the past couple of months and we haven't seen it since. If you have any knowledge of the wherabouts of said equipment, please let a member of SWOP know as soon as you can. Thank you community!

SWOP Recommends:

Health Leadership High School Student Exhibition Invitation

Greetings Community Partners,

Health Leadership High School invites you to participate as a judge for any of the upcoming student exhibitions. Students will be presenting information on a variety of health topics. Please see attached exhibition schedule.

If you are unable to participate for the entire two hour block due to your schedule; judges are welcome to attend for 30 minutes or more based on their availability.

Additionally, we encourage you to invite your colleagues to participate as a judge.

Thank you in advance for sharing with your networks. See link below for more details.

2nd Trimester Student Exhibition Schedule

Sign the No PNM Bailout Petition!

Public Service Company, PNM, a privately held electric monopoly, has made hundreds of millions of dollars off their aging polluting San Juan coal plant and now wants $350 more million to close the plant “early.” Even though PNM will literally produce no electricity from the plant, it claims it is still entitled to the profit it hoped to get from ratepayers. Senate Bill 47, PNM's "Energy Redevelopment Bonding Act” will force ratepayers to pay the $350 million to Wall St. bondholders (who have paid PNM up front) from a monthly increase on everyone's electric bill. It’s time to hold PNM accountable, to protect ratepayers from PNM’s greed, and deny PNM a bailout resulting from their utility management malpractice!

Sign the petition by clicking this link:

https://petitions.moveon.org/sign/protect-ratepayers-from?source=c.em&r_by=19573723

Job Opportunities with NESRI, BAJI, Free Press, and the Center for Media Justice

The National Economic & Social Rights Initiative (NESRI) is hiring a FT Communications Director. NESRI seeks a deeply committed and creative communications strategist to develop and implement an organization-wide communications plan. This is a new position, which means it entails significant responsiblity as well as an exciting opportunity to shape their communications strategy while working with incredible grassroots organizations in the country.

While they would love to have someone working from their NYC office they are open to having someone work remotely. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis, with interviews beginning in early February. Full details on how to apply can be found HERE.

Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) is hiring a FT National Coordinator/Campaigner for their Freedom Cities project. Freedom Cities is an emerging intersectional movement to advance human rights, protect all those facing oppression, and make entire campuses, cities, towns and communities safe. The Freedom Cities coordinator will advance policies and campaigns that center and protect the most vulnerable, create a broad, inclusive narrative that elevates the stories of all marginalized communities, and will build the capacity of grassroots organizations. Full details on how to apply can be found HERE.

Free Press is hiring for an organizer, campaign manager, finance manager and an operations manager to join their amazing team. The finance manager needs to be based in one of their offices (Florence, Mass. or Washington, D.C. offices). The other positions can be remote from other locations. Full details on each of the positions and how to apply can be found HERE.

Center for Media Justice (CMJ) is looking for a Communications Director that can amplify theirr work and take it to the next level. Is this you or someone amazing you know?

Whether its leading racial justice framing and messaging to defend an open Internet, implementing national presswork against high-tech surveillance, or coordinating digital tactics to promote tech-based criminal justice reform, the new Communications Director will have the opportunity to flex multiple skill sets in the service of one of the most important civil rights movements of our time. Full details for the position can be found HERE. The deadline to apply is February 9th. Please note this national position is based in Oakland but remote work is possible for the right candidate.

Article from NM Political Report on Social Justice Issues in ABQ featuring Ingrid Ordoñez

Excerpt: "Other speakers included Peaches Blackbird (Oglala Sioux/Pueblo of Zia) of Power Through Peace and Ingrid Ordonez, a board member of the Southwest Organizing Project and seventh grade special education teacher. Ordonez came to the U.S. with her family from Chihuahua in 2007. Her father, a police officer, refused to cooperate with the cartels, she explained, and they fled to the U.S. just one month after the cutoff for DACA."

Read the article in full here:

http://nmpoliticalreport.com/797938/albuquerque-protesters-rally-around-a-suite-of-issues-from-womens-rights-and-daca-to-economic-justice/

Supporting Chicanx Studies at UNM

Representative Patricia Royal Caballero introduced HB 114 and Senator Howie Morales has co-signed the bill. The Bill is titled Pathway to College Transformational Initiative and will bring new funding to Chicana and Chicano Studies to expand high school outreach and college predatory curriculum. Please see the attached Bill.

I ask that we work collectively as a team in Chicana and Chicano Studies to request that the Appropriations Committee include this bill (House Bill 114) in House Bill 2. This is the most direct path to success.

Members of our legislative community outreach team including Levi Romero, Francisco LeFebre and Victor Padilla have made initial contact and we have received some positive responses from select committee members. The team also attended a legislative downhill and spoke with other legislators.

We have been recieving updates about the fight to include this bill and will continue to show support in searching for more funding for Chicana and Chicano Studies at UNM.

The stories you could tell... if only they listened... Well on Saturday, February 3, 2018 the New Mexico House and Senate Education Committees will hold an open joint hearing just so they can listen to what you have to tell them!

The formal hearing time is 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., but you will want to come early to sign in to speak. NEA-NM members will be at the Roundhouse to direct you to the exact meeting room where this event will take place. It is tentatively scheduled for the chambers of the House of Representatives, but legislative business may take precedence, so we'll make sure that if you come on time to the Roundhouse, you'll be informed you know where it will happen.

All our members are encouraged to come speak about their experiences with the student opportunities which are lost daily in the schools because your classroom and school lacks the resources to meet all our student's needs. Even this year, the budgets proposed both by the Democratic legislature and the Republican Governor, propose what are essentially flat budgets. Their 1.9% and 2.7% suggested increases are so small they won't even make up for the increased costs of energy and health insurance, etc.

NEA-NM members are invited to join us at 9 a.m. at the Rotunda for a press conference by our leaders, legislative guests and our special guest: George Sheridan, of the NEA (national) Executive Committee.

Check nea-nm.org for details!!! Thanks for all you do! See also our Facebook page "@NEANM1886" and follow us on Twitter @NEANewMexico.

Humans of NM Documentary Screening

There will be a screening of a small two-part documentary project on Humans of New Mexico Project this Sunday, Jan. 28th at The Guild Cinema from 1-3pm. Admission is FREE - $5 suggested donation.

We would be really happy to have you at the event as we will be highlighting CCS for helping and contributing to our project. One of the things that we will be highlighting is the collectivity and community orientation of our project, and we couldn't of achieved this without your help and support. Look forward to seeing you at the event!

Event Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/1558459327575520/

Free Trainings led by the New Mexico Direct Caregivers Coalition

I hope 2018 is off to a great start! The New Mexico Direct Caregivers
Coalition will be holding FREE trainings in Albuquerque during the
upcoming months. If you or anyone you know would like to attend, all are
invited.

A Health and Safety Training for Caregivers will be offered on Friday,
February 16th from 9:30 – 1:30. (REGISTRATION DEADLINE FOR THIS TRAINING
IS THIS FRIDAY, JANUARY 26.)

A Customized Training for Caregivers will be offered on Thursday, March
22nd from 9:30 – 3:30.

And a Business Institute: Leadership Training for Caregivers will be
offered on Friday, March 23rd from 9:30 – 1:30.

All trainings are FREE and can be utilized for yearly continuing
education hours for many agencies. CHW CEUs are approved by DOH-OCHW.
If taken together, Customized Training for Caregivers and Business
Institute: Leadership Training for Caregivers also qualify caregivers to
apply for a position through the “Heart is Home” Cooperative.

Spots are filling up and close 3 weeks before each training, so please
sign-up soon! Registration and documentation is required. Register today or learn more by calling or
emailing Brittany at (505) 867-6046 or brittany@nmdcc.org.

https://swop.ourpowerbase.net/civicrm/mailing/view?reset=1&id=651