Thornburg Foundation, New Mexico Local News Fund will co-lead the initiative with goal of raising $3M over five years. 

February 21, 2024 – Press Forward New Mexico, a collaborative of local funders, has launched with the goal of catalyzing a local news renaissance in New Mexico that will reshape the local news landscape and re-center local journalism as a force for community cohesion, civic participation, and government accountability. The group’s aim is to raise $3 million over five years from local foundations and major donors, and potentially have that matched by the national Press Forward initiative. Press Forward NM is co-led by the Thornburg Foundation and the New Mexico Local News Fund at the Santa Fe Community Foundation. The Local News Fund has created a private-public partnership for local news with the support of the State Legislature.

Launched in 2023 by a coalition of 22 national funders and donors, Press Forward has a goal of raising unprecedented resources to revitalize local news, spur proven models and solutions to address the local news crisis, and close longstanding inequities in journalism coverage and practice. The national initiative has a commitment from funders to spend more than $500 million over five years to support local news.

In December, Press Forward announced a network of local chapters: affiliates of the national initiative that are anchored and driven by local funders. Today, funding leaders in New Mexico, Colorado, New Jersey, North Carolina, Mississippi, Wyoming, and Texas join the expanding network.

“The Thornburg Foundation strongly believes in the power of local journalism and its power to inform and educate the public, increase government accountability, and strengthen our democracy, said Allan Oliver, Executive Director of Thornburg Foundation. “We are excited to participate in a coalition of New Mexico funders in Press Forward, which will help bring national investment and help strengthen trusted news in communities around our state.”

“We are thrilled to help lead the new coalition of New Mexico funders in Press Forward,” said Allan Oliver, executive director of Thornburg Foundation. “We are a big believer in the power of local journalism to be a key watchdog of the government, helping keep elected officials honest and our democracy stronger. Press Forward is a powerful, collaborative way for us to help bring national dollars to the Land of Enchantment and strengthen trusted news in communities around the state.”

Press Forward New Mexico will offer philanthropic leaders, civic-minded individuals, and regional foundations the opportunity to pool their dollars to support a robust network of independent news outlets that are serving the information needs of New Mexico’s diverse communities. Press Forward philanthropic partners include the Albuquerque Community Foundation, Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico, McCune Charitable Foundation, New Mexico Foundation and Santa Fe Community Foundation.

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NM TECH NEWS RELEASE

A landmark report, developed by the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, has received a prestigious national award. The John C. Frye Memorial Award was presented to the Bureau by the Geological Society of America and the Association of American State Geologists at its mid-year meeting held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 15.

The paper, Bulletin 164 — Climate Change in New Mexico Over the Next 50 Years: Impacts on Water Resources, provides a scientific foundation for efforts to mitigate negative effects of changes to the state’s climate and impacts on water resources over the next 50 years. 

Three of the report’s co-authors were on hand to accept the award. Dr. Nelia W. Dunbar, director and state geologist, New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources; Dr. Fred M. Phillips, emeritus professor of hydrology at New Mexico Tech; and Anne C. Tillery, surface systems specialist at the U.S. Geological Survey New Mexico Water Science Center in Albuquerque. The three represented the publication’s authors and contributors, all leading experts in climate and weather science. 

Along with Dunbar and Phillips, the publication’s editors include Dr. David Gutzler, Kristin Pearthree and Dr. Paul Bauer. Besides Tillery, other contributing authors include Dr. Craig Allen, Dr. David DuBois, Mike Harvey, Dr. J. Phillip King, Dr. Leslie McFadden and Dr. Bruce Thomson.

The John C. Frye Award is given each year to a nominated environmental geology publication published in the current year or one of the three preceding calendar years either by GSA or by a state geological survey. The award was established in 1989 in memory of John C. Frye, a glacial geologist by training who served as the director of the Kansas Geological Survey (1945-1954), the chief of the Illinois State Geological Survey (1954-1974), and the executive director of the GSA (1974-1982). Frye’s work is considered influential in the growth of environmental geology as a field of study.

In his nomination letter, Dr. J. Michael Timmons, deputy director of the Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, lauded the publication for its examination of different facets of the state’s water budget, which he said “comprehensively provides critical data and analysis of climate impacts in each area. The combined effort is compelling and the results are stark.”

Patrick D. McCarthy, water policy officer with the Santa Fe-based Thornburg Foundation, said in his nomination letter that water managers, water users and policymakers need the best available scientific information for planning and management.

“This authoritative and well-edited publication offers information about climate impacts on water resources that is well-supported, stark, and challenging – a straightforward approach that was welcomed by New Mexico water users, community leaders, journalists, and conservation professionals alike,” he said.

John Fleck, professor of practice in water policy and governance at the UNM Department of Economics and writer in residence at the Utton Transboundary Resources Center at the UNM School of Law, praised the exceptional work of the report’s authors and its lasting impact on water resource management and climate change policy in New Mexico.

This report serves as a prime example of the critical role that scientific boundary work plays in providing a strong foundation for good government policy,” he said in his nomination letter.

The report is available publicly on the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources website at:  

https://geoinfo.nmt.edu/publications/monographs/bulletins/164/home.cfm

The New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources is located on the campus of New Mexico Tech in Socorro, New Mexico.

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SANTA FE – New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness announces two newly created critical positions for achieving functional zero homelessness in Santa Fe County. The Thornburg Foundation, Anchorum St. Vincent, Community Solutions and Santa Fe Community Foundation provided a three year funding commitment for the two positions with the goal of Santa Fe County achieving functional zero homelessness by 2026.

“The new positions will significantly help our organization be even more equipped to respond to the needs of those experiencing homelessness,” said Monet Silva, Executive Director of the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness. “The increased capacity is essential for us to achieve functional zero here in Santa Fe.”

“Communities across the US have achieved functional zero by creating by-name lists of homeless populations and carefully coordinating efforts among critical providers,” said Allan Oliver, Executive Director of Thornburg Foundation. “We’re learning from other communities and through a philanthropic partnership, we can help NMCEH create the key roles it will take to make Santa Fe the first functional zero community in New Mexico.”

The two new positions, System Improvement Lead and the Community Data Manager, will specifically address the known problems in the system of homelessness services in Santa Fe County and New Mexico by coordinating among service providers and stakeholders and improving data quality in collecting homelessness services data.

Jerry Jones, President & CEO of Anchorum St. Vincent said, “Building capacity for our nonprofits is core to our mission. We believe this funding for the two positions will dramatically improve our community’s success towards achieving functional zero in the next three years.”

Functional Zero is a nationally recognized measure of addressing homelessness with the goal of ensuring homelessness is rare and brief. “It ensures the number of people experiencing homelessness at any given time never exceeds the community’s capacity to ensure a positive exit,” stated Rosanne Haggerty, President & CEO of Community Solutions. 

“These roles at NMCEH will help ensure there are ample resources and coordinated efforts across sectors to alleviate housing insecurity and support our region’s most vulnerable individuals and families,” noted Christopher Goett, President & CEO of the Santa Fe Community Foundation.

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The New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness works with over 80 agencies and partner providers around the state to offer comprehensive services, housing options, resources, funding and advocacy to support individuals and families that experience homelessness. They are a core partner of the S3 Santa Fe Housing Initiative, which is funded in part by the Thornburg Foundation, Anchorum St. Vincent, Community Solutions, and Santa Fe Community Foundation.

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The Water Desk is excited to announce the recipients of new grants to support water journalism connected to New Mexico and the Rio Grande Basin.

From the Rocky Mountains to the U.S.-Mexico border, the grantees will be reporting on a range of critical water issues facing the region, including climate change, public health, pollution, equity, funding, wildfires, infrastructure and more.

The nine awards, totaling $48,430, are being funded thanks to support from the Thornburg Foundation and Santa Fe Community Foundation. The recipients of the grants (in alphabetical order):

• Jeremy Miller, 1843 magazine from The Economist
• Megan Myscofski, KUNM
• Danielle Prokop and Diana Cervantes, Source NM
• Martha Pskowski, Inside Climate News and Omar Ornelas, El Paso Times
• Sara Van Note, Santa Fe Reporter
• Christian von Preysing-Barry, independent
• Jeremy Wade Shockley, independent
• Jerd Smith, Fresh Water News
• Brett Walton, Circle of Blue

We’re grateful to the Thornburg Foundation and Santa Fe Community Foundation for their support of this program. The Water Desk maintains strict editorial independence from its funders and the University of Colorado. Funders of The Water Desk have no right to review or to otherwise influence stories or other journalistic content that is produced with the support of these grants. For more about our editorial independence, please see our funding page.

Congratulations and best of luck to our grantees. We’re excited to see the water journalism they produce!

The Water Desk’s mission is to increase the volume, depth and power of journalism connected to Western water issues. We’re an initiative of the Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder. The Water Desk launched in April 2019 with support from the Walton Family Foundation. We maintain a strict editorial firewall between our funders and our journalism.

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“High-quality preparation is key to attracting and retaining diverse candidates into the teaching profession. Districts, schools, and most importantly our students benefit from the ATRP program,” said Dr. Ellen Bernstein, president of the Albuquerque Teachers Federation. “ATRP’s design ensures that theory is purposefully linked to practice with the help of carefully chosen co-teachers. The strong and enduring partnership between the APS, UNM’s College of Education and the union has made this lofty idea a reality.”

ATRP is a collaboration between the Albuquerque Teachers Federation (ATF), the University of New Mexico College of Education and Human Sciences (UNM), and Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) with the purpose of recruiting teacher residency candidates to experience an academic year with intensive coaching with a co-teacher in an APS classroom, while earning a teaching license.

“Programs like the Albuquerque Teacher Residency Partnership are essential to improving outcomes for students while reducing teacher turnover,” said Allan Oliver, Executive Director at the Thornburg Foundation. “Albuquerque’s teacher residency program effectively helps to equip diverse, well-prepared, and dedicated teachers who are ready to teach in New Mexico.”

In 2021, ATRP and the Thornburg Foundation commissioned an evaluation of the program that highlighted its effectiveness and benefits. The evaluation from the National Center for Teacher Residencies (NCTR) included: 

• 100% of ATRP graduates are more effective teachers than their non-ATRP counterparts during their first year in the classroom.
• Nationally, while 50% of all teachers leave high-needs schools within three years, 88% of residency graduates are still teaching after three years.
• ATRP’s affordability and deliberate recruiting efforts respond to the Yazzie/Martinez court order by increasing teacher diversity as well as student performance. 

In the summer prior to the clinical placement, residents begin coursework and participate in professional development about community schools. All residents receive a stipend to support their studies. All ATRP Residents who successfully complete the program are guaranteed a job as a Level I teacher in APS and agree to teach for APS for at least three years.

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The University of New Mexico School of Architecture + Planning and the Thornburg Foundation wish to congratulate the winners of the 2023 Jeff Harnar Awards. The ceremony took place at the School of Architecture + Planning’s George Pearl Hall on April 14, 2023, which included a lecture by renowned landscape architect, Ted Flato of Lake Flato Architects.

The top prize, Contemporary Architecture in the Southwest, was awarded to FORMATIVE architecture PC, for their project, USFWS Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Stephen Teeters of FORMATIVE architecture PC described how “the refuge balances healthy natural habitat management with opportunities for education, visitor engagement, youth employment, community involvement and stewardship. Our design team collaborated with refuge staff, community members, tribal members, and local artists to develop a comprehensive visitor experience aligned with the needs of the wildlife, people, and the refuge’s vision”.

The Jeff Harnar Awards initiated a new category this year: the Social & Environmental Justice Award. All projects submitted to the 2023 competition were considered for this award, which recognizes an architecture or landscape architecture project that aspires to utilize design as a vehicle for social justice. The jury selected Emerging Objects: Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello for their project, Casa Covida, as the first recipient of this award. Emerging Objects described their design as “a house for co-habitation in the time of COVID, is an experiment in combining 3D printing with indigenous and traditional building materials, methods with employing new and ancient ways of living”.

The award for Unbuilt Architecture was given to assemblageSTUDIO’s design, Parowan, which was “inspired by the deep-rooted resiliency of the native aspen trees, mirrored by the client’s deep-rooted connection to this land, the design builds out from the existing home using circulation spines to connect the new enclosures to the original”.

This year, the First Prize Student Award in the Architecture was given to Thomas Bejcek, representing the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, for their project, Silver City Recreation Center. Andrya Mojena Cutié, a student at the University of Nevada Las Vegas was awarded second prize for their submission, Desert Senses.

Hollis Moore, a student at the University of New Mexico, was selected for the First Prize Student Award in the Landscape Architecture for their project, How to Love a Mesquite. Second place was awarded to Lia Griesser of the University of New Mexico for their design, Valley of the Mills: ReCommoning Land Along the Upper Rio Mora.

Congratulations to all of this year’s winners of the Jeff Harnar Awards! Applications for the 2024 cycle will open next spring.

To read the original award announcement and learn more about the Jeff Harnar Awards, visit jeffharnaraward.com.

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The University of New Mexico School of Architecture + Planning, in partnership with the Thornburg Foundation, announces its annual Jeff Harnar Awards Friday, April 14 at 5:30 p.m. in the Garcia Honda Auditorium located in George Pearl Hall. The event will also be virtually accessible on Zoom. The meeting ID is 974 2385 6140.

Best of Show submissions will be selected for a digital exhibition following the awards ceremony. The awards announcement will be preceded by a lecture presented by Ted Flato of Lake Flato Architects.

Since founding Lake Flato with David Lake in 1984, Flato has received a reputation for his straightforward regional designs that leverage each unique site and connect people to the natural environment. By employing sustainable strategies in a wide variety of building types and scales, Flato seeks to conserve energy and natural resources while creating healthy built environments.

His recent focus has been on residential, higher education and eco-conservation projects, including the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) Top Ten Award-winning ASU Polytechnic Academic Campus in Mesa, Ariz.; the new Midtown Arts & Theater Center (MATCH) in Houston, Texas; and the Naples Botanical Garden Visitor Center in Florida.

Prior to Friday’s event, a Panel Discussion featuring the Jeff Harnar Award Jury Roundtable will be held Thursday, April 13 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the New Mexico School for the Arts located at 500 Montezuma Ave. (brick building entrance) in Santa Fe. The event is also available via Zoom at https://unm.zoom.us/j/92558153082.

Panelists include Ted Flato, Aleksandra Jaeschke, Reed Kroloff, Jennifer Siegal, Carlos Jimenez, Gabriel Diaz Montemayor, Rene Davids, Mary Hardin and Frederick Steiner.

The jurors will discuss the competition review process, in addition to discussing recurring themes and ideologies amongst applicants. 

The Jeff Harnar Awards are entering their 16th year. Created in 2007 by Garrett Thornburg, the awards honor the memory of Jeff Harnar and help continue his groundbreaking work in the area of contemporary design in the Southwest. In 2018, the award program was expanded to include Unbuilt Work and Landscape Architecture. In 2020-21, the program was further expanded to include the following six categories:

• Contemporary Architecture in the Southwest
• An Outstanding New Mexico Designer
• Unbuilt Architecture
• Unbuilt Landscape Architecture
• Student Architecture Award
• Student Landscape Architecture Award

Five of the six Jeff Harnar Awards are open to submissions for work designed for the Four Corners states (Ariz., Colo., N.M. and Utah). The Outstanding New Mexico Designer is reserved for firms of architecture and landscape architecture in New Mexico.

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Safe, Stable, and Supportive Housing

Residents of the City Different face a housing squeeze that has become the norm across America. The ingredients are familiar: record median home prices, a limited housing stock, and a rising population. 

The result is a knotty problem with cascading consequences: as home ownership falls further out of reach for the middle class, more families are renting. As rentals become less affordable and less available, more Santa Feans are at risk of homelessness. 

This is just one facet of Santa Fe’s homelessness challenge — a complex and interrelated set of economic and social issues decades in the making.

Thankfully, the S3 Santa Fe Housing Initiative — a partnership between Santa Fe Community Foundation, Thornburg Foundation, McCune Charitable Foundation, Anchorum St. Vincent, the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness, the City of Santa Fe, and Santa Fe County — is working to address this challenge. 

The consortium offers funding and investment solutions to address Santa Fe’s immediate affordable housing needs — while simultaneously developing policy and organizational resources to tackle the roots of the problem. In just a few short years, S3 has already achieved meaningful progress in expanding Santa Feans’ access to safe, stable, and supportive housing — and is developing a blueprint for more in the years to come.

More Than One Kind of Homelessness

The most obvious signs of Santa Fe’s homelessness challenge are hard to miss — people seeking help on medians around the city, living in parks and arroyos, and congregating outside nonprofit shelters and service providers.

But the region’s actual homelessness challenge is broader and more complicated. Experts on homelessness in the government, nonprofit, and academic spheres typically describe multiple tiers of homelessness. While their terms differ, it is useful to consider these categories: 

Economic Homelessness

This is what happens when people encounter a major life event — including a job loss, illness, or divorce — that leads to the loss of stable housing for a short period. Because of Santa Fe’s housing shortage, a rising number of stably-employed individuals and families are at risk of economic (or “transitional”) homelessness. 

In this situation, people may be lucky to land a place in one of the city’s few transitional housing or shelter programs. They may also “couch-surf” at the homes of relatives, friends, or strangers (what is sometimes referred to as “hidden homelessness”) or sleep in their cars or in unsheltered public spaces.

Episodic Homelessness

A person or family experiencing episodic homelessness undergoes multiple periods without housing in under a year. Many of the Santa Feans facing episodic homelessness also grapple with challenges such as disability, substance use issues, or mental illness. Some episodically homeless people are able to maintain jobs; without community support, however, episodic homelessness can evolve into chronic homelessness.

Chronic Homelessness

When people think of homelessness, this is often what they picture: a person or family experiencing long-term homelessness without clear prospects for stable housing or employment. Chronically homeless people often live in places that are unsafe and grapple with long-term health challenges.

While this is certainly the most visible type of homelessness in Santa Fe, data from the National Alliance to End Homelessness suggests that it is probably a small fraction of the total.

The S3 Response

The work of S3 focuses on six goals to stabilize housing and provide supportive services for vulnerable individuals and families in Santa Fe.

In particular, efforts that focus on mapping the existing homeless response system, identifying gaps, and developing cooperative strategies to fill those gaps will help define the city’s need for affordable housing in precise and actionable terms. 

Ideally, that effort will inform goal area three — expanding Santa Fe’s shortage of affordable housing stock. And as more housing gets built, converted, or otherwise made available, goal area one will focus consortium members’ efforts on the need to ensure support services for the newly and precariously housed. This may include efforts to mitigate housing insecurity caused by rising rents — and revisit the negative impacts of a state law barring municipalities from advancing rent stabilization ordinances that support working families.

The Lamplighter Initiative: Showing the Way Forward

In May of 2022, a series of partners finalized negotiations to transform the former Lamplighter Inn at 2405 Cerrillos Road into 58 units of affordable housing. Known as the Lamplighter Initiative, the project is funded by many of the same organizations that comprise S3.

The effort was also supported by Project Moxie, a community development organization with deep experience across the Western United States. According to Project Moxie’s Matt Lynn, “we viewed this project as an opportunity to quickly add affordable housing units to the community while repurposing an existing structure that is close to public transportation, shopping, and social services.”

When redevelopment is completed at the Lamplighter Inn later this year, leases will be made available to Santa Feans earning 80 percent of the area median income or less. In addition, one-fourth of the units will be made available to residents who require additional supportive services that will be provided by The Life Link, located nearby. The units will rent for $725 to $825 per month. 

The Initiative is a prime example of what can happen when creative, committed teams combine forces to address our city’s affordable housing issues.

“The Lamplighter Initiative was a hugely collaborative effort. Local governments, nonprofit organizations, housing experts, and a mission-driven developer worked in tandem to purchase the hotel and ensure that the property will serve the community for many years to come,” says Lynn.

Of course, S3 recognizes that one hotel conversion — or even a handful — will not replace the need for comprehensive, long-term strategy. Consortium members agree: genuine solutions to Santa Fe’s affordable housing challenge will include the construction of covenanted, dedicated low-income housing — including units large enough to accommodate growing families — as well as a sustained, cross-agency system for monitoring and responding to changing conditions over time.

Early signs from S3 are cause for optimism.

Support S3 

Please consider supporting affordable housing in our community with a gift to the S3 Santa Fe Housing Initiative today. Your support and partnership help us fund our strategies to end homelessness and help improve the quality of life for all Santa Fe residents.

View the original article here.

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Event Recap

On Monday, February 6, local policymakers, philanthropic leaders, and city, county, and state officials convened to discuss reducing housing insecurity in Santa Fe. 

Hosted by the Thornburg Foundation, the luncheon featured a Q&A discussion with guest speaker Rosanne Haggerty, CEO of Community Solutions. Christopher Goett, President & CEO of the Santa Fe Community Foundation, facilitated the discussion.

The discussion focused on the intersection of systemic racism and housing affordability, the spectrum of housing insecurity between the unhoused and first-time home buyers, and support of nonprofit real estate developers. While the challenges that lead to housing insecurity across the nation and in Santa Fe are intersected and complex, yesterday’s convening made clear that a long-term, integrated approach between philanthropy, nonprofit, and government is essential.

About Rosanne Haggerty

Rosanne Haggerty is an internationally recognized leader in developing innovative strategies to end homelessness and strengthen communities. She is a is a MacArthur Foundation Fellow, an Ashoka Senior Fellow, a Hunt Alternative Fund Prime Mover and Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur. She is a recipient of the National Design Award (Cooper-Hewitt/Smithsonian); the John Gardner Leadership Award (Independent Sector), and the Jane Jacobs Medal for new ideas and activism (Rockefeller Foundation). She is a Life Trustee of Amherst College.

About Community Solutions

Community Solutions assists communities throughout the U.S. and internationally in solving the complex housing problems facing their most vulnerable residents. Their large-scale change initiatives include the 100,000 Homes and Built for Zero, a national movement of more than 80 cities and counties that includes Santa Fe. These initiatives are committed to measurably ending homelessness and lifting up neighborhood partnerships that bring together residents and institutions to change the conditions that produce homelessness. 

About the S3 Santa Fe Housing Initiative

The S3 Santa Fe Housing Initiative is a partnership between Santa Fe Community Foundation, Thornburg Foundation, McCune Charitable Foundation, Anchorum St. Vincent, the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness, the City of Santa Fe, and Santa Fe County that works to protect and provide safe, secure housing for Santa Fe’s most vulnerable residents, as well as affordable, stable housing for all community members. Community Solutions helped create the Santa Fe Suites, a project of S3.

Read the original post here.

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