New Mexico
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History
In the early 1980s, the Gallup-based National Indian Youth Leadership Project began to offer training for native young people to engage as community leaders. Service-learning was an essential component. As service-learning emerged statewide, the NIYLP contributed its experience to national resources, including the 1994 National Service-Learning Conference. This event prompted a statewide service-learning study and funding for teacher support.
In 1994, New Mexico received its first funds from the Learn and Serve America program. The New Mexico Public Education Department allocates Learn and Serve funds to school district demonstration projects. Students in the Gadsden Independent School District in southeastern New Mexico monitor water quality in Mexico and the United States for the International Boundary Commission. In the southwest, students in Silver City Consolidated School District aid archaeological research and help interpret the Fort Bayard National Historical Monument. Both districts mentor other school districts in service-learning. New Mexico’s public charter schools are also pioneering new approaches to school-wide service-learning.
In 1995, Siete del Norte received the state’s first AmeriCorps award, supporting community-based service-learning projects in 12 northern New Mexico communities. This initial project heralded a dozen subsequent state- and federal-funded programs statewide. Rocky Mountain Youth Corps, Court Youth Center in Las Cruces, and the University of New Mexico Service Corps became some of the largest programs.
Also in 1995, a coalition of community educators formed the Centers for Service-Learning, a nonprofit organization that provides training, technical assistance, and state-level leadership for service-learning policies and programs. VISTA and other AmeriCorps members provide critical support.
Networks of Support
In October 2005, the New Mexico Forum for Youth in Community assumed responsibility for the Centers. The Forum promotes healthy youth development by supporting youth-serving organizations and staff. The Forum aligns state policy, creates new initiatives, and upholds quality. Forum projects include the New Mexico Youth Alliance, and the Out-of-School Time Network. The Forum’s “regional point organizations” and the Centers for Service-Learning together maintain a powerful network of volunteer centers, institutes of higher education, school districts, and nonprofit organizations. Ten regional support centers offer training, technical support, facilitated community gatherings, and networking. The centers share ideas and resources among themselves and with other statewide partners.
One center, San Juan College in Farmington, has mobilized AmeriCorps members to support school-based service-learning. The college is also reaching out to create a service-learning center at the University of New Mexico at Taos. Meanwhile, the Albuquerque Center is working with State Farm Insurance to help schools develop service-learning curricula for Make a Difference Day and National Youth Service Day. All of the centers work with New Mexico’s Out-of-School Time Network and its member organizations to link in-school and out-of-school service-learning programs. The centers also recognize exemplary service through programs such as Santa Fe’s Teen Treasures, honoring young people who contribute even as they master personal challenges.
The Centers for Service-Learning and the New Mexico Public Education Department are building a flexible and cost-effective web-based system for this growing statewide service-learning network. New Mexico convenes service-learning practitioners through an annual conference and regular regional trainings. Graduate and undergraduate programs at New Mexico State University and the University of New Mexico are developing service-learning courses for teachers.
The Governor’s Commission for Community Volunteerism leads the state in shaping the view of service and volunteerism in the public and private sectors. Commission support for service and volunteerism goes well beyond AmeriCorps to playing a key role in securing state funding for service-learning. The Cadre Project places VISTA members across the state through the New Mexico Forum for Youth in Community. Finally, the commission hosts an annual Governor’s Conference on Volunteerism where service-learning is highlighted. In 2007, the Commission co-hosted The National Service-Learning Conference in Albuquerque.
Convening and Celebrating
New Mexico has hosted the National Service-Learning Conference twice, in 1994 and 2007, both times in Albuquerque.
The Governor's Youth Service Award is awarded to youth who have completed an outstanding service or service-learning project. 2008 winner, Bianca Olivas of South Valley Academy, was in charge of a service-learning project on peer pressure.
Policy Support
The New Mexico State Legislature passed in HB 212 the inclusion of an elective required to be offered in high schools although not required to be taken as part of a student’s graduation program.
Close collaboration on state-level advocacy has raised the visibility of service-learning as a strategy for school improvement. Under the leadership of Lieutenant Governor Diane D. Denish, the New Mexico Children’s Cabinet established five priority areas, including, “All children and youth will be valued contributors and active participants in their communities.” With leadership from State Senator Cynthia Nava, the 2005 New Mexico Legislature appropriated $70,000 for service-learning training and technical assistance to be administered by the New Mexico Public Education Department and the Governor’s Commission on Community Volunteerism. In addition, in 2005, several state and regional partners joined forces to secure state funding for the Next Generation Fund, a permanent endowment supporting service-learning and other positive youth development programs statewide. The fund policy stresses positive youth development principles and the promotion of community service, leadership and citizenship.
The New Mexico Forum for Youth in Community coordinates efforts to advance local, state, and national policies that support positive youth development. An annual conference allows youth practitioners to share promising practices and policies. Service-learning is a featured track. Each quarter, the New Mexico Youth Alliance brings the governor or lieutenant governor together with youth representatives from every state legislative district to discuss current issues and recommend policy.
New Mexico Civic Engagement, a statewide youth participation project of the University of New Mexico’s Office for Community Learning and Public Service, has organized youth legislative actions since 1997. NMCE helps young people articulate concerns about a variety of youth issues through local youth councils and statewide Youth Town Halls on public radio.
The New Mexico PTA features service-learning in a statewide parent involvement initiative. Service-learning has become a featured part of the discussion of assets-based education spearheaded by Minneapolis-based Search Institute, as well as new initiatives to promote community schools.
Both at the state and regional level, partners work toward common goals. According to Wendy Wintermute of the Centers for Service-Learning, “Our most effective strategy has been to bring everyone into the same room together. What we can’t do alone, we can do together.”
The state does fund service-learning beyond CNCS grants, through its support for professional development. Funds are channeled from the Public Education Department to the Children, Youth, and Families Department via the Commission on Community Volunteerism.
The New Mexico Blueprint for Civic Engagement
In 2006, New Mexico released the New Mexico Blueprint for Civic Engagement, which can serve as a policy model for other states. The Blueprint provides the framework for a statewide civic engagement agenda for the next several years. It offers policy recommendations designed to strengthen and expand opportunities for the citizens of New Mexico to engage in their communities, identifies characteristics of effective civic engagement programs, and catalogs current opportunities for involvement across the state. The Blueprint is offered here as a model for other states to consider as they look to promote greater civic engagement among their own citizens.
With backing from Governor Bill Richardson and Lieutenant Governor Diane D. Denish, the New Mexico Commission for Community Volunteerism led a grassroots effort to bring stakeholders from many different sectors — service-learning, national and community service, volunteerism, philanthropy, and more — into the planning process. They held town meetings and collected input from state and national leaders, with financial support from the New Mexico Community Foundation and the Messengers of the Healing Winds Foundation.
The Blueprint that has resulted from this process reflects a multiyear plan that can help New Mexico citizens make a case to their legislature for funding policies that will create a coherent, comprehensive vision of civic engagement in the state.[1]
Learn and Serve
New Mexico receives three Learn and Serve grants: a school-based grant to the New Mexico Public Education Department, a community-based grant to the National Indian Youth Leadership Project, and a higher education grant to Central New Mexico Community College.
The $130,340 school-based grant is managed by Patricia Concannon, who serves as SEA, at the New Mexico Public Education Department. In 2008, that grant involved 4,171 participants in eight subgrantees. Central New Mexico Community College's $257,514 higher education grant supports 1,658 at five subgrantee sites. And, the NIYLP's $100,000 grant supports the programs managed directly by the organization across the state.
Youth Contributions
The New Mexico Youth Alliance is a statewide advisory group comprised of youth representatives; up to one from each legislative district. The Alliance, established in 2003 by Youth Council Act, enables state lawmakers and administrators to create and refine youth policies with the benefit of feedback and recommendations from a statewide cross-section of informed New Mexico youth. It is also a tool for ensuring that youth have a meaningful voice in the state's political process.
Examples of Quality Service-Learning
References
- ^ Webb, Greg. "The New Mexico Blueprint for Civic Engagement." In Growing to Greatness 2007, Kielsmier, J., Neal, M., and Schultz, N. (eds). St. Paul:National Youth Leadership Council.
- Cairn, Rich, Neal, Marybeth, and Crossley, Alison. 2006. "State Profiles" in Growing to Greatness 2006. St. Paul: National Youth Leadership Council.
External Links
- Learn and Serve America in New Mexico
- National Service in New Mexico (Corporation for National and Community Service)
- New Mexico Commission for Volunteerism
- New Mexico Blueprint for Civic Engagement (pdf)
- New Mexico Forum for Youth in Community
- National Indian Youth Leadership Project
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