FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAY 3, 2017
For more information, contact:
Sarah Ghiorse, Program Director of NewMexicoWomen.Org
505-820-6860 Ext. 11
sarahg@nmcf.org
Santa Fe, NM – NewMexicoWomen.Org (NMW.O), a program of New Mexico Community Foundation, awarded $96,000 to 13 organizations across New Mexico in support of their gender justice and healing work. NMW.O received over $600,000 in funding requests from communities across the state, which is a testament to just how great the needs are in New Mexico. In a time when national and local leaders are actively defunding many of the social service programs that benefit women and communities most impacted by structural inequities, NMW.O is committed to supporting critical social change work. NMW.O’s grant making focus on gender justice and healing is based on a research and community engagement project NMW.O undertook in 2016. Through this process, communities emphasized that root causes such as historical trauma and colonization, patriarchy, and structural racism have a significant bearing upon the health and well-being of women and communities in New Mexico.
Grants were made to the following organizations: Breath of My Heart Birthplace, Changing Woman Initiative, Encuentro, Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute, Healing Circle Drop In Center, New Mexico Asian Family Center, Northern New Mexico College Office of Equity and Diversity, Southern New Mexico Wellness Alliance, SouthWest Organizing Project, Tewa Women United, Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico, Tri County Family Justice Center, and Youth Research & Resource Center (see below for full descriptions of their work). Sarah Ghiorse, Program Director for NewMexicoWomen.Org stated, “The Southern New Mexico Wellness Alliance, one of the awardees, provides Sexual Assault and Nurse Examiner (SANE) services to a geographical area of nearly 12,000 square miles across two counties with a budget under $100,000. This kind of extreme lack of services in rural and low income communities and communities of color accentuates structural inequities while speaking volumes about what and who we value as a society and state.”
The 13 grants made will serve the following counties: Bernalillo, Doña Ana, Guadalupe, Lincoln, Los Alamos, McKinley, Mora, Otero, Rio Arriba, Sandoval, San Juan, San Miguel, Santa Fe, and Taos. The grants will also serve the following Pueblos and Tribes: Nambé, Navajo Nation, Ohkay Owingeh, Picuris, Pojoaque, San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, Taos, and Tesuque. Most of the organizations receiving grants specifically serve rural communities, women of color, low income communities, and intergenerational age groups. Additionally, grants will support immigrant women, the transgender community, and programs engaging men in conversations about misogyny and patriarchy. Nearly all of the organizations work to address root causes, structures, and narratives that perpetuate structural inequities.