Welcome to the Impact 2022 Grant Request Catalog!

We invite you to join us in grantmaking to support the organizations selected for funding by our Core Grants Committee, published in this catalog for fundholders.

Your participation will allow us to significantly increase our grantmaking through this cycle, and this year, more than ever, we are hoping for your partnership in supporting these organizations though a grant from your fund. All contributing Funds will be individually recognized in the grantee award letter.

In this catalog you will see a summary of the applicant organizations’ proposals listed in order of selection by the Grants Committee. Tier 2 lists all other applications received in this cycle. Please contact Helen at hforte@taoscf.org to learn more about any given proposal or to make a grant request.

Remember, you can now make a grant request using your Fund Portal. If you haven’t yet set up your portal, send an email to Traci at tmcadams@taoscf.org or call her at 575-737-9300 for login information.

Scroll down to see the Impact 2022 Catalog.

*Unless Otherwise Indicated, Grant Requests are for Core Operating Support.

HEALTH

1. Veterans Offgrid- Taos Collaboration for a Case Management, Service, and Housing Manager

Veterans Off-Grid is seeking to restore a sense of purpose, community, sustainability, and peace to veterans in need. Our goal is to provide housing opportunities for homeless veterans, prevent veteran suicide, and help veterans reintegrate with society. We believe that being good stewards of the Earth through sustainable living is an important healing tool for veterans experiencing the visible and invisible wounds of war. VOG provides shelter for homeless veterans, offers sustainable building courses through UNM-Taos, provides opportunities to learn and work with off grid sustainable agriculture systems, and helps veterans access traditional and holistic resources they need to heal.
Providing a Community Case Manager/Navigator will help provide the one-on-one support that individuals and families in crisis need to help them re-stabilize. VOG is located in Carson, NM on a 50-acre property that borders Carson National Forest. Veterans Off Grid will be the fiscal sponsor and administrative lead on this collaborative funding request for a Community Case Manager to assist people in Taos County who need housing and housing stability. This will be a full-time position with an office at Not Forgotten Outreach, at their centrally located facility on Paseo del Pueblo Norte in Taos.
This is an effort between multiple agencies serving adults and families experiencing homelessness, including: Not Forgotten Outreach, HEART of Taos, Veterans Upward Bound (UNM), and Veterans Off-Grid. The collaborative will also reach out for community referrals to other agencies addressing housing displacement.

2. Holy Cross Hospital Cancer Support Services

Clients are served from early in their diagnosis up to a year after their last treatment. CSS helps with transportation and lodging for treatments; funds for massage, acupuncture and other alternative therapies, grief and loss counseling, and individual and/or group support. To meet the need of an expanding client base, CSS has applied the guiding principle of collaboration with other non-profits as a sustainability strategy along with a grant plan to supplement its fundraising activities.
This year’s work will be to provide the client’s self-described need within our services, which include support group, gas cards, lodging, food cards, case management, and complementary therapies to relieve pain, stress and anxiety and promote healing. Due to significantly rising gas and food costs, most are requesting gas cards for the many trips to get medical care. Radiation is often 5 days a week for a duration of 6 weeks. Chemotherapy is often weekly for a varied number of weeks. Lodging requests have increased, so we are glad to be able to provide some reduced costs with our partners in Santa Fe and Albuquerque. We are currently limited to $500 per client per year, but hope to be able to increase that amount to better support the needs of the people in our community. Acupuncture, massage, grief and loss counseling, as well as cancer support group or one on one telephone support are part of our services to reduce stress and relieve pain thereby improving the quality of life for those with cancer and those caring for them.

3. Golden Willow Retreat

Golden Willow Retreat (GWR), works within the Taos community to guide people through trauma and loss, and assist with normalizing the grieving process. Through one on one meetings, work in schools, five weekly Zoom grief groups, businesses, and community organizations, GWR staff strive to ensure individuals experiencing loss and trauma, know grief is acceptable and a natural way to heal and that there are resources available to help them through their difficult times. Also, GWR organizes providers across many disciplines, from addiction counselors to suicide prevention organizations to work together and cooperate in order to maximize the effectiveness of all these organizations within the community, to promote the best outcome for people in need of help.

GWR will use the funds to provide scholarships for local, lower-income individuals and families, who cannot afford to attend the workshops or the many healing services we offer to clients. The grant will also allow our staff to continue going out into the community when there is traumatic loss, such as the death of a student at a local school. It will allow us to continue to offer weekly Zoom grief groups and facilitate our work with families and communities dealing with loss during this challenging time.

4. Mountain Home Healthcare

MHHC serves over 775 patients directly in Taos, Rio Arriba, and Colfax Counties, and Taos and Picuris Pueblos every year. Additional informal caregiver counseling, education and support from our team serves nearly 4000 people. We provide full attendant services in a continuum of care, whether involving a short evaluation period of supportive and instructive care, an indefinite period for chronic maintenance care, or terminal care to those wishing to die at home. Our compassionate and dignified approach to health care respects cultural diversity and promotes quality of life for the people of Northern New Mexico. We provide Indigent Care services to anyone in need, and work with hospitals, clinics, and local organizations serving our clients between Taos and Albuquerque. Our agency will continue bringing compassionate, patient-driven home health, palliative, and hospice care to people in our service area, providing equitable health care services for low-income, isolated, and indigent care clients. We also will continue to ensure a model of care that respects multi-generational families, culture and tradition.

We plan to expand partnerships with medical facilities from Taos to Albuquerque. We will continue strengthening our services through collaborative programming with physicians and clinics in Taos, Rio Arriba, Colfax counties and Taos and Picuris Pueblos. Our palliative care service (launched with a part-time nurse) has already reached capacity, and we plan to expand this program to our full-service area with a second palliative care NP.
Clinical staff who make in-home visits are able to spend more time with patients while seeing what people need beyond what is evident during an office visit. They can promote health awareness for clients and their families and support self-determination and advocacy for their health.

5. Help Outreach Taos Project – HOT Suicide Awareness training, Event and Walk

HOT has been supporting suicide intervention projects and bring in trainings/resources to the Taos community since its inception in 2016. HOT was formed in response to Taos county consistently being ranked in the top ten counties for deaths by suicide in New Mexico. The numbers show that Taos county has a suicide rate that is twice the average of the US population. In the last year we have trained over 25 individuals in Mental Health First Aid. HOT will continue to coordinate ongoing trainings for community members, parents, teachers, law enforcement, health care community and all who want to be part of a solution-based approach to suicide prevention and risk reduction.

This grant will provide the resources to promote trainings and host a larger in person walk for awareness. The funding will allow HOT to pay for materials needed for the tapestries such as art supplies and sewing support. HOT will use these funds to a public awareness campaign, promote trainings and events. HOT will hold 3 in-person trainings and provide all materials for free. During September, Hot will host a Suicide Awareness Walk that will include an opportunity to display tapestries that are created this year. Another option is to have a paid speaker or a movie the night before the walk.

ANIMAL WELFARE

1. Stray Hearts

Our Adoption, Foster, Spay/Neuter, and Behavior Modification Programs are the foundation of our success at Stray Hearts Animal Shelter. These programs keep us sharply focused on our foremost goals: pet population control, animal advocacy for those most in need, and placement of all healthy animals in responsible and loving homes. Additionally, in the past year, we have expanded and reinvigorated our Behavior Modification Program–through our Fear Free Shelter model–in the interests of a wider and more inclusive definition of total animal health and wellness. To advance our proposed F+IP, Stray Hearts’ efforts include a six-month increase to paid working hours of our Foster Coordinator–allowing the coordinator to expand services to current and future foster households–and a public awareness campaign to increase our active foster family inventory.

Our objective is to broaden the scope and range of the current part-time Foster Coordinator by expanding it to a full-time staff position.
Additionally, to increase our active foster family registry, Stray Hearts’ F+IP includes a six- month public awareness campaign; specifically, weekly social media boosts, and monthly print ads in the local Taos News.
It’s our goal that this public appeal–together with expanded foster care services and support– will increase the public’s awareness of foster care, further mobilize additional foster families, and ease the burden of overpopulation at Stray Hearts Shelter.

2. Equine Spirit Sanctuary

ESS is a licensed horse rescue with programs for people that include therapeutic riding, equine-assisted activities and therapies, educational events and outreach. ESS is home to a herd of 30 horses, donkeys, miniature horses and a pony, all which were either rescued or unwanted.

Our goal is to improve the lives of horses through education, raising public awareness of welfare issues related to equines and the plight of the unwanted horse, while honoring the intrinsic value of horse and human relationships. Rescued horses are rehabbed and, when appropriate, work in our programs for people which include a therapeutic riding program and equine-assisted learning and therapy programs. We teach compassionate, holistic horse care, training and handling, incorporating the natural methods, including bitless riding, barefoot hoof care, and bodywork.

Our vision is to bring horses and people together, providing opportunities for healing, learning and growth through our programs. We feel it is important that people in the community know that we are still here after the past two years of COVID setbacks and that the horses the program participants have grown to know and love are still being well cared for, and that we are here for them as things return to a safer, more normal state.

We are looking forward to welcoming people back for lessons, for equine-assisted therapy activities, for volunteering, and for visits that serve to educate and bring joy and fellowship. All of the things that made our programs unique, helpful, and healing in the past will continue to be meaningful in the future as people learn new coping skills.

BASIC NEEDS

1. DreamTree Project

DreamTree Project serves youth and adults experiencing homelessness with a range of programs: street outreach, youth shelter, adult shelter, transitional living for youth, housing assistance for adults, and job training through AmeriCorps at local nonprofits. DTP also operates two social enterprises, Ziggy’s Frozen Yogurt and DTFarms, with sales to support DTP’s programs. Outreach takes place across Colfax, Mora, Rio Arriba, Taos, and Union Counties. The shelters are located in Taos and housing for youth is located in Espanola, Raton, and Taos.
DTP will operate its programs for youth and adults with this grant funding.

Our outputs will be:
* 7,000 nights of shelter for individuals experiencing homelessness
* 50 unaccompanied youth sheltered
* 40 young adults housed

2. St. James Episcopal Church Food Pantry

The St James Food Pantry has been operating for nearly four decades and is an integral part of the Taos, NM community. We are a 501(c)(3) organization funded by financial and material donations from our extended community, as well as grant funds. Except for the Director of the Food Pantry, who is a paid employee of the St James Episcopal Church, we are an entirely volunteer-run organization.

The funds received from this grant will be used for our operational budget. Our projected operation budget for 2022 is $15,250. It includes all non-food supplies purchased for the pantry, professional cleaning and sanitizing services, monthly subscriptions for volunteer management and guest registration software, communication software, delivery driver stipends, and lunch supplies for feeding our volunteers. These operating expenses are necessary for efficiently running the food pantry and allow us to serve as many households as possible each week. Having our operational budget covered mainly by grant funds also allows us to assure our donors that all of their contributions will go towards the purchase of food, a fact that tends to attract more donations.

3. El Pueblito United Methodist Church – Diaper Project

Shared Table consists of three primary components:
A. Shared Table distributes approximately 6,250 pounds of food to 250+ households twice a month reaching approximately 500 people. Distributions are made at the El Pueblito Methodist Church in El Prado and at the Talpa Community Center. All made possible by 50 volunteers working year-round. The amount of food distributed has increased by 25% since 2020.
B. A monthly home delivery food program to 45-50 vulnerable adults. Food boxes are tailored to the needs of households. Food is distributed through Mountain Home Health Care. AAA Home Care and El Mirador Home Care. A team from Kit Carson Electric distributed food boxes directly to individual homes.
C. A diaper program for families in Taos, Taos High School, Penasco and Questa.

With these funds we will continue monthly distribution of diapers at Shared Table. Diapers are distributed on the 2nd Wednesday of each month. Each family on the diaper program registry receives a text or phone call prior to the distribution to remind the family that diapers will be available for pick up and also to check on the size needed as the child grows. Special arrangements are made for families to get their diapers if they are not available to pick them up on the designated day. Diapers are distributed at both the El Pueblito church and Talpa Community Center Shared Table distribution sites.

4. Community Against Violence

Since 1978, a clear and hopeful vision of a community free from all forms of sexual and domestic violence has sustained Community Against Violence (CAV) and driven its growth from a small group of volunteers to a community staple agency with 43 staff and a presence in 7 northern NM counties.

At CAV, individuals and families facing immediate and long-term harm created by interpersonal violence find lifesaving safe refuge from immediate danger, and access support and advocacy and many paths to healing. K-12 students access tools to prevent and respond to violent behavior and build healthy relationships. Community groups and businesses explore the big and small ways oppression digs its heels into our institutions, and ways to dislodge it. People who have used violence in their relationships discover a chance to change. Every time someone engages with CAV, we take a collective step closer to the community we envision and know is possible. We hope you will join us on the journey.

In response to continued high incidence of domestic/sexual violence (D/SV) in Taos County and surrounding areas, over the past 44 years, CAV has grown to provide a seamless continuum of trauma-informed services that are free, confidential, and culturally relevant. Moreover, CAV understands the root causes of D/SV from an anti-oppression perspective and works to address these issues through a three-pronged approach of prevention, intervention, and treatment. CAV aims to prevent D/SV through prevention programming. When violence does occur, CAV provides intervention and treatment services to reduce the impact and related stressors through advocacy and supportive healing programming.

5. HEART of Taos

In 2022, HEART of Taos will continue paying for four hotel rooms for women and families facing homelessness. Each household is offered case management services to help navigate housing and other resources. HEART is providing this temporary housing as it works with the community to find a permanent home of emergency/transitional housing for the general women and family population facing homelessness.

The grant funding will support HEART’s hotel shelter program by paying for the hotel room cost of four rooms for emergency/transitional housing for women and families experiencing homelessness. The output will be providing the immediate need of housing to women and families. The households will have the option to connect with a Service Navigator to work on their housing and long-term stability.

COMMUNITY ADVOCACY

1. Talpa Community Center

Talpa Community Center and Library are the hub of the rural community of Talpa. We serve our patrons (young and elderly) with free programs that assist them with social, educational, and artistic needs. We are committed and depend on grant funding to be able to continue serving our diverse community.

TCC relies on grants to enable us to carry out all the free programs we offer to our patrons young and old. We will use the funds for core operational support to continue the many services we offer. Funding enables us to purchase supplies and equipment needed to continue the learning process on each of our sewing and ceramic groups. Funding enables us to keep the Library open 6 days a week for patrons to use. We had only been open 4 days a week but TCC saw the need to have our library open 6 days a week to enable parents to bring children to library to learn and play. We provide a safe place for families to come to learn/read/play, a place to come and connect to the internet for school or work. We continue to be a site for Shared Table distribution, NA & AA meetings, acequia meetings, farmers market, senior sewing weekly groups, etc., but most important is the need for our public library with all its children’s programs such as reading, art, ceramics, games, and librarians to assist them.

2. MAS Comunidad

MAS is the only nonprofit based in Southern Taos County. It was founded in 1982 to provide ambulance services to the remote communities of Southern Taos and South Western Rio Arriba Counties. The variety of programs MAS has provided since then has evolved in response to community needs. MAS has become an umbrella organization for multiple projects addressing diverse needs, inequities, and filling the gaps in services of the rural, frontier villages of Peñasco, Picuris Pueblo and surrounding area. We collectively serve over 3500 local community adults and youth with direct services each year.

Our programs provide food, clothing, and household items for families; creative, educational, and computer support for youth and adults, behavioral health, wellness, and service navigation supports; a place at the local health council; and free community recycling. The impact has been strong community engagement, relevant and equitable partnerships, and services that meet the needs of the people.

MAS programs reach over 3,500 individuals annually through its myriad of services and programs, which represents just under 90% of the population in the MAS service area. The SPOT served 122 people last year through CHW and other support services, 45 of whom are elementary students with the Taos Behavioral Health Youth Project. Each year the Food Bank serves 552 community members. The Peñasco Theatre Collective served 810 local youth with 3 classes per week for 15 weeks, with 10 residencies, and 50 community members attending performances. Our Peñasco Learning Garden works with 24 local families, and Art for the Heart serves 10 local elders with a space to access art supplies. The ReUse Center saves 50 metric tons of waste from entering the landfill, with 2000 community members participating, and a clothes distribution for children.

3. New Mexico Immigrant Law Center

At NMILC, our goal is to make high-quality legal services free and accessible to low-income immigrant communities. While most of our cases are immigration law-related, we also take on family law and employment law cases that are related to or necessary for our immigration legal advocacy. Recognizing the barriers that immigrants face in accessing many types of services, not only legal services, we refer to our partners at victim service providers and social service organizations to facilitate immigrants’ ability to receive comprehensive assistance. We serve over 5000 immigrants each year. About 800 receive extended legal representation and the remainder receive legal consultations, brief services, and pro se assistance. As a result, immigrants can access public benefits and become eligible for health insurance; improve their economic status by applying for, obtaining, or renewing work authorization; and avoid devastating family separation due to deportation.

NMILC will provide legal immigration services, including but not limited to, providing full representation, legal advice, brief legal consults, and legal information. NMILC will also provide ongoing trainings to Las Cumbres staff members so that they are equipped to identify and refer immigrants who may benefit from NMILC’s services. In partnership with Las Cumbres, NMILC will also conduct school-based outreach to identify immigrant youth who may qualify for an adjustment of their legal status through the Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) before they reach age 18 and age-out of that benefit. NMILC staff members will also travel to Taos every other week to provide an in-person all-day legal clinic. Ongoing case work will be provided by NMILC via a hybrid in-person and remote process. A minimum of 100 individuals served with legal representation, legal advice, brief consults, and/or legal information.

4. Search and Rescue of Taos

TSAR rapidly deploys trained resources upon being contacted by the NM State Police that search and/or rescue lost and injured people. We are an active organization of 60 volunteers that promotes leadership throughout the organization, trains about 650 man-hours each month, responds to 12-24 missions annually, and has an engaged, working Board of Directors.

To better serve our community, TSAR trains ten Specialized Search Units: Base and Incident Command, Ground, Medical, K-9, Technical, Drone, Bike, OHV, Swiftwater, and Avalanche, as well as operates a Mobile Command Unit and 4-Wheel Drive Response Unit.

TSAR would create a pilot project of online education courses, with a minimum of two courses to start. Course subjects would potentially be backcountry hazard awareness and backcountry medical awareness. Based upon the outcome of the initial online classes, it is the goal to create additional classes. This educational outreach to our community is an important step in service to our mission and can culminate in the future to a more effective educational platform in training our own team members and other SAR teams across the State without travel expense or exposure during a pandemic.

TSAR equipment is required for training and missions. Partial equipment needs will be funded by this grant including: Waterproof Radios, GPS Units, and Charging Stations for both. This would significantly improve TSAR’s response and communications ability on a mission. TSAR’s 2-year goal is for our members to become certified with NASAR, the National Association of Search and Rescue. Our long-term goal is to become a Level III Federal team. Reaching this goal would enhance all our member’s training and response abilities, and also make us eligible for Federal funding.

5. Questa Economic Development Fund

The Questa Del Rio News (est. 2018) is a project of the Questa Economic Development Fund (QEDF); it is a 32-page, free monthly paper vitally serving the communities of Questa, San Cristobal, Lama, Cerro, Costilla, Amalia, and Red River in northern Taos County with local news and events.

The paper operates at a loss each year and the focus of several current initiatives is to create solid revenue income. A part-time Ad Sales Representative is working to grow advertising of the paper by expanding sales into Taos County and corporate markets and populate the paper’s new website with new digital advertisers.

The paper has grown in size and readership since inception and engages many community volunteers who assist in its monthly production; the paper is a catalyst for fueling growth. This grant will help grow advertising sales revenue for print and especially online digital ads, to aid in developing reliable and sustainable revenue to fund increasing operational costs for printing, delivery fees, and annual subscriptions for digital apps.

Through greater training, planning, and proactive selling the goal of the Ad Sales Rep is to double 2021 average monthly sales from $2,500/month to $5,000/month in 2022. Funding will be used for resources, training, and reimbursements that can’t be funded by the paper or QEDF in 2022.

EDUCATION

1. Bridges Project for Education

Bridges empowers individuals and their families to advocate for themselves and improve their lives by accessing postsecondary education and by extension contribute positively to the broader economy and social welfare of our community. We believe equal access to postsecondary education results in a stronger, more resilient community. Bridges offers a robust continuum of free services: early engagement outreach, individualized counseling, and alumni support. Three objectives shape Bridges’ programming:
-Students will have accurate information, early enough, and will develop both vision and agency to actively choose an appropriate postsecondary path
-Students who choose to pursue a formal postsecondary education path will complete the essential steps to access a school that’s affordable and a good fit
-Those who enroll will complete their program and contribute back to their community.

Bridges increases access to college and vocational training by providing: individualized counseling, early engagement and alumni outreach. Individualized counseling is the heart of our programming. Counselors will help students develop a list of schools that are a fit, complete applications, write admissions and scholarship essays, develop resumes, complete the FAFSA, apply for local, regional and national scholarships and compare financial aid awards. The average student will meet with us 5 times. We will counsel 100 to 120 students. Each client will complete at least 2 applications and the FAFSA, review their financial aid award with their counselor and apply for at least 1 scholarship.

Bridges will reach out to younger students to support postsecondary exploration and readiness. The alumni program will verify enrollment and support current and former clients in their programs in an effort to increase retention, provide assistance, and make referrals when needed.

We will provide workshops and presentations to all juniors at Taos County high schools as well as our community partners– reaching 500 people. Topics covered will include: types of postsecondary programs, a counseling and financial aid overview, essay and resume writing and scholarships. Our monthly column in the Taos News covers topics related to postsecondary education and the key points along the path. We will publish approximately 9 articles reaching the newspaper’s readership both in print and online.

2. Twirl – Create- A- Space

Research on the critical importance of play to healthy child development is widespread. Twirl fills a gap in the play and learning landscape in Taos, providing children and families with innovative programs that honor and support a child’s fundamental need to play. Twirl has proven itself to be a reliable and inspirational community resource for families and the agencies supporting them for 15 years. Our programs bring our whole community out to play and create together, elevating the benefits of play for everyone!

The Create-A-Space program is comprised of two age-appropriate programs: Create A Space for 5-12 year-olds and Create-A-Space Junior for 2-5 year-olds.

Create-A-Space guides children through a process of identifying and naming their feelings and how a space can foster feelings. We guide them to connect the idea that a space can generate a feeling so that ultimately, they can design a space of their own capitalizing on a feeling. We help them to identify what they want their space to sound, feel, and look like in order to be claimed as “their space”. The program takes 6 hours to complete, from imagining to creating, ideally over 4 sessions/visits. Children will be building towards the end project of creating a small-scale model or diorama box which employs STEAM modalities. The small-scale model will not just tap into the social emotional learning of creating a space of one’s own, but it will also involve design principles, iteration thinking, technology with moving parts and a light, engineering principles to work through the structure, artistically and creatively. This project is STEAM and Social Emotional Learning all wrapped up in a box!

Create-A-Space Jr. is a 45 min session, offering social emotional learning exploration that guides children to a calm, safe place, real or imagined while also introducing STEAM concepts and an early literacy element. Children create their own spaces using loose parts play and share their Create-A-Space stories with their group.

3. Taos Education Collaborative

The Taos Education Collaborative (TEC) is the call to action by a local group of educators and community members to address educational inequity for students, youth and adults, across Taos County. Our vision is to create the conditions for ongoing, continuous, connected learning – at home, in schools, and across a network of key communities learning hubs – to accelerate the education, health and economic growth of Taos County families and communities. We do this by supporting free, high-quality educational opportunities that are open to students across the community as well as working with community partners to build connections, pipelines, and pathways that connect programming from different entities into a cohesive, impactful educational experience that prepares Taos youth and adults for improved economic outcomes.

Our request is for core operational support as we work to grow and fully operationalize the Taos Education Collaborative for years to come; specifically, we have agreements in place and grant funding to support a Project Lead/Coordinator and an Administrative Support role through December 2022 and are working to secure funding for the following year. TEC will continue to focus grant funding awarded to support our community-wide summer STEM program and our “Pipelines and Pathways” project.

4. UNM Taos -Transformative SEL Catalysts – Elevating Cultural Competence in SEL CC

SELCC develops social and emotional competence in adults across communities in Taos County. Each year, the six-month training program brings together fifty adults from intentionally diverse sectors to learn and practice Social-Emotional skills together including emotional literacy, emotional navigation, empathy, consequential thinking, communication, optimism, and clarity of values and purpose. This project has been funded by Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation and Taos Community Foundation since ’20-’22 and we have secured funding from LANL for a third Cohort in 2023. As an interracial, multicultural group of SEL educators, we recognize that a robust and intersectional analysis of power and identity must sit at the heart of the work that we do. Given the context of our work, northern New Mexico with its unique history of racial and ethnic colonial violence, conflict, and enduring disparity we see this exploration as essential to the relevance of our continued work.

We will embark on a series of workshops about power, identity, race & ethnicity integrating theoretical frameworks with lived experiences. The workshops will be facilitated by an external trainer, will be actively participatory, rely on principles and techniques of experiential learning and participatory co-creation.

We will hold facilitated conversations between community members, shared language and vocabulary to speak constructively about diversity, equity and inclusion, support for participants to explore their own identities. Strategies to support constructive engagement entwined with SE skills will be taught and practiced. SE skills start with self. Similarly, identity work must start with self. Self and social awareness are foundational skills in all models of SEL and EQ. Identity and belonging are key outcomes of effective SEL programming. The need for contextualized culturally affirming and sustaining SEL, grounded in humility and reciprocity is foremost in the field of SEL.

5. Inspire Taos Community Cares – Imagine Taos

ImagineTaos is an interactive art and creation space focused on STEAM learning opportunities through playful interactions with diverse materials. The space is aimed at providing opportunities for families, schools, and organizations that work with children and families to connect with one another and discover their passions through a sense of wonder and play. Community collaboration is at the heart of the vision for ImagineTaos. We believe strongly that the space should be available to all community members and organizations free of charge. ImagineTaos inspires curiosity and connection through play and will provide a variety of opportunities to support child and family well-being for our Taos community.

The space will host early childhood and elementary classes daily. Educators will engage and participate alongside children and ImagineTaos staff and be given strategies to integrate new materials, arts, technology and project-based learning approaches into their classroom environments, while also incorporating a strong knowledge and coaching in
SEL strategies and practices that support trauma informed care. Through in school programming and collaboration, ImagineTaos will serve roughly 10 classes weekly, 40 children in after care daily. Any community organization providing resources and supports for children and families can schedule opportunities to meet clients at ImagineTaos.

Weekly family support/parenting groups will be hosted in the evenings facilitated by ECE educators and Licensed Mental Health Counselors. ImagineTaos staff will provide monthly PD events for educators and service providers focusing on Trauma Informed Care, SEL, STEAM, Integrative Project Based Learning Drop In visits for children and families will be available Friday-Sunday for children to explore with their families.

ENVIRONMENT

1. Taos Valley Acequia Association

Taos Valley Acequia Association’s mission is to ensure the long-term sustainability of our traditional agricultural community by protecting water rights and preserving and strengthening the acequia system. TVAA is a hub for systems change strategies and community education at the grassroots level. We recognize and advocate for continued use and maintenance of acequias as sustainable, ecologically sound and democratic methods of farming, as well as a part of our living communal heritage that supports traditional methods of food production and preparation, ecosystem sustainability, ancestral learning, and oral customs.

We fulfill this mission by educating, informing, advising, and assisting acequias and their parciantes, about their water rights, the laws and regulations pertaining to their water rights, and the historical uses, agreements, and customs related to acequias and water use and conservation.

VAA plans to do outreach with the community about water rights and acequia culture and traditions. We hope to show the Taos Valley and surrounding communities how acequias can be productive in climate change by water sharing, regenerative agriculture practices, healthy soil practices and seed distribution. TVAA plans to work with Title companies and real estate agents to bring awareness of acequias to new landowners. TVAA plans to mail the newly produced brochure to new landowners that have come to the Taos Valley in the last two years and continue producing short films on acequias to have on our website and social media pages.

We will collaborate with other organizations to hold events to educate the community about healthy soil, traditional and regenerative agriculture practices. We hope to bring awareness to the community about the importance of having our agricultural lands in production and using their water rights for beneficial use so they are not lost to abandonment or forfeiture. We will work with acequias on the key issues they have listed as priorities.

2. Taos Land Trust – Rio Fernando Park Visitor Improvements

Taos Land Trust engages in community to protect our lands and water and build resiliency. This work has been challenging but necessary: we have been defending our traditional agricultural and range lands from the complex and interrelated threats of increased development, out-migration of youth from farming families, and the impacts of climate change. We do this while creating opportunities for natural resource careers for northern New Mexicans youth.

We plan to enhance Rio Fernando Park as a more interactive educational space for the whole community. The park is open to the public with hundreds of visitors every month who walk our trails, volunteer for plantings, and observe bird migrations. By designing and installing signage for trail markers and essential information and constructing a wooden kiosk at our entrance from Fred Baca Park, we can inform visitors about our work as Taos Land Trust as they enter the park. We also plan to install more benches around our walking trail to provide seating for visitors. We have one bench installed, in memory of grandparents who passed from COVID. These benches can be used by walkers to rest along the trail, to observe the variety of birds and wildlife, or to read a book.

3. Taos County Cooperative Weed Management Area

The TCCWMA is made up of 19 diverse organizations: Taos Soil and Water Conservation District, USDA Carson National Forest, USDI Bureau of Land Management (Taos Field Office), NM Department of Agriculture, New Mexico State University Agricultural Extension Office, NM Department of Transportation, NM Division of Forestry, Southern Methodist University (Taos Campus), Taos County, Town of Taos, Amigos Bravos, Taos Land Trust, Rocky Mountain Youth Corps, New Mexico Native Plant Society (Taos Chapter), Sunset Park Inc., and Rio Grande Ace. Our group of collaborators share knowledge and manage educational programs such as our monthly “Weed of the Month” article in Taos News, annual free educational weed tours, weed mapping and mitigation, retailer outreach, and distribution of the “Know Your Weeds” coloring book for Taos County 5th graders. While many of our collaborators work on individual programs, we are finding that our work is stronger and reaches further if we all work together.

We will set up research plots at Rio Fernando Park to compare non-toxic management techniques for Canada Thistle. The methods will be based on Margaret Chapman’s research paper, “Canada Thistle (Cirsium Arvense) Alternative Treatments” and will include treatments such as regular mowing, mulching, cover crops, and applications of soil amendments. We will be setting up the experiment to compare 4 different techniques in 2 different locations at the park – one in the wetlands and one in the upland farm beds.

Once the experimental plots have been set up this spring, the plots will need to be maintained through the summer and into the early fall. Some of the techniques will require periodic treatments, such as mowing at 2-3 week intervals, while others will simply require observation. The results of the experiment will be gathered and compiled in the early fall in order to compare the techniques. We recognize that one season is not enough time to completely assess the success of the techniques, but we will communicate the single season results to the community through organizational websites, the Taos News, and other outlets and plan to continue the project into further seasons.
Timeline
May 2022: Experiment design
May – September 2022: Implementation
September 2022: Gather results
November 2022 – April 2023: Finalize and present results

4. Amigos Bravos

During 2022 Amigos Bravos will build on 34 years of success and work protecting and restoring the waters of New Mexico. We will work on the following projects in Taos County: revitalizing the Rio Fernando, restoring and advocating for protection of the Midnight Meadows wetland north of Questa and the La Jara wetland in the headwaters of the Rio Fernando; providing technical assistance to community members who call with water-related concerns; monitoring water quality in Taos County, organizing and executing Taos river clean ups, and engaging in community education around water quality.

2022 Outputs/actions:
– Continue providing free community education for Taos and surrounding town
– Complete large-scale wetland restoration in the Midnight Meadows wetland jewel
– Serve in a leadership role in the Rio Fernando Revitalization Collaborative to complete on-the-ground restoration and education projects on the Rio Fernando de Taos
– Continue being the backbone organization for the Communities for Clean Water Collaborative by facilitating meetings, leading strategic planning activities, and providing technical support for key projects such as engaging in regulatory requirements and compliance monitoring of ground and surface water discharges
– Organize and execute the Taos River and Lands Clean Up and Rio Fernando focused clean ups with the community
– Continue the river otter monitoring project with Taos volunteers
– Complete the Rio Fernando project which focuses on backyard and pet waste education and outreach
– Complete the Water Sentinels Citizen Science project to sample 5 rivers in Taos County 3 times a year
– Work on the Questa to Red River Trail
– Participate in the Red River Roads working group
– Continue participating in the Taos Valley Watershed Coalition and Taos County Wildfire Protection Plan Team
– Continue Taos Ski Valley Clean Water Act Oversight
– Continue providing technical assistance (grant writing) for the Taos County Cooperative Weed Management Area
– Work on the Miranda Canyon Project to restore and protect this impaired canyon

5. Alianza Agri-Cultura- Communications and Outreach

Alianza Agri-Cultura de Taos (AA-CT) is a 501(c)(3) grassroots organization that was established in 2017 by a diverse group of likeminded agriculturists in Taos, New Mexico. We gathered to respond to the latest official re-assessment of agricultural tax exemptions, a financial threat that primarily affected our multi-generational Hispanic landowners. Our organization has been, and continues to be, led by people of color committed to supporting our legacy and new farmers across all communities to hold on to their agricultural lands, water, and traditions.

We seek funding for operational support for employee wages and project improvement specific to Communications & Outreach staffing. We know through our work that agricultural training, business and workforce development, and coordinated outreach are the most effective ways to enable and empower all producers to remain and thrive in agriculture. We need to spend more time meeting producers to develop trust and gain in-depth knowledge about their needs to connect them with the available resources to operate an efficient and sustainable farm operation.

A program that would benefit from this support is Anuncios Agriculturas de Taos, our quarterly newsletter. Started in 2020, Anuncios serves to disperse agricultural information to producers and community alike. It intertwines anecdotes about farmers and partners, scientific articles from local agencies, and opportunities in Taos County such as agricultural festivals, workshops, grants, and employment opportunities. Anuncios is currently funded for two electronic issues. Ultimately, we would like to fund this service quarterly and print 1,000 copies to distribute county-wide. We hope you explore the editions on our website to see the high- quality design and enormous amount of information we disseminate. A more robust budget for our Communications & Outreach team would enable us to dive deeper into telling the stories of producers, building relationships, and compiling an even greater list of resources accessible to Taos producers.

YOUTH

1. St. James Episcopal Church – Common Grounds Youth Co-Op

Have you heard about Common Grounds? It’s a Taos Teen Co-Op and Café.
We’re a Co-Op because we’re teens and adults cooperating with each other and Sponsors to help pull it off. We started working together in 2016, after 4 teen suicides in less than 6 months. We also know we have friends and peers in Taos who are homeless or sofa surfers. We will have the ability for them to do laundry and take a shower. We’ll have a give & take closet and a youth friend food pantry, too.

We’re a Café, with a menu open to the public for breakfast and lunch items from our Food Truck. In the afternoon and evenings, we’ll have a “menu of activities” for teens. Things like poetry slams, game rooms, concession/refreshments, study areas, music, meditation and art rooms: all with approved and trained chaperones on site.

We have moved out of our capital campaign for building renovations ($150K raised!) Our General Contractor is actively working with governmental planning departments to commence the building renovations. Now we are moving into the defining of programmatic activities, creating our operating plan, staffing plan, and budgets. From the receipt of the building permit, we anticipate 60-90 days for renovations to complete.

Having opened the Food Truck and employing youth, now our outputs over the next 12 months include:
-an open building/activity center
-formal MOUs with partner agencies for staffing and operations
-training/certification plans for outreach programs/staff
-policies/procedures for operations
-volunteer/chaperone protocols
-testing and establishing ideal hours of operations for the outreach building
-establishing daily/weekly/monthly teen/youth activities

2. Youth Heartline

Founded in 1991, Youth Heartline (YHL) was formed to provide Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) volunteers to youth within the Eighth Judicial District of New Mexico. This district encompasses nearly 10,000 square miles and a population of 50,000, is home to two Native American Nations, and contains pasture and mountainous regions. These geographical and cultural factors can complicate access to community services and resources for families in the area requiring creative, local, and responsive programming. In recent years, Youth Heartline has broadened its scope of family support to include outreach, therapeutic support, and community building through psycho-educational programs. Currently, Youth Heartline employs 11 staff, six educational contractors/therapists, one Enchanted Circle Americorps Member, and supervises 16 volunteers. There are currently six members of the YHL Board of Directors with representation from Colfax, Union, and Taos Counties. The community support of YHL’s mission and work is apparent in the awarding of local funding support for our newer programming initiatives; however, this funding can overlook the administrative support required to fulfill financial and reporting obligations, as well as the engagement in systems-level initiatives described above.

This year, we were able to make an expansion to our office space to increase capacity for health conscious, in-person service provision, at an annual rental increase of $6,300.00. As an agency we take pride in hiring local staff, and strive to pay a local living wage. Due to sharp increases in healthcare costs, inflation, and the ongoing housing crisis, we are working to integrate incremental wage increases and ensure continued health benefits for our staff. Our employer contribution for healthcare is $3,081.00 monthly for Taos-based staff alone. We feel that these expenses are an integral part of our ability to increase organizational capacity and retain quality and qualified local staff. As a non-profit, core operations support is difficult to receive as federal, state, and local grants often expressly exclude this category, despite it being a deeply necessary function of agency operation. Given our established history of financial management and reporting to multiple funding sources, we feel we are well-equipped to efficiently manage operational funding to optimize our current funding and best serve our clients.

3. Rocky Mountain Youth Corps

RMYC provides comprehensive life skills and workforce development training to hundreds of youth and young adults across northern New Mexico every year. We work with partners at all levels of government, private businesses, and community organizations to deliver our training curriculum. Corpsmembers earn a stipend, professional certifications and an academic scholarship while they complete a wealth of conservation, recreation, historic preservation, and environmental education projects. RMYC provides the training, resources and inspiration that Corpsmembers need to enter the workforce and return to school as they develop their pathway to a career.

At least 40 youth and young adults will enroll in the training programs in 2022. All Corpsmembers will participate in the comprehensive life skills training curriculum and earn professional certifications such as Mental Health First Aid, First Aid / CPR. Conservation crews will earn chainsaw certifications and Red Cards, providing them with additional qualifications to enter a skilled profession in fire- fighting and forestry. We anticipate over 80% of all graduates will successfully transition to work, school or other service opportunities after they graduate from RMYC. Conservation crews will improve over 50 miles of trail and treat over 50 acres of land at risk of fire or threatened by invasive species. We will deploy crews across Taos County in remote rural areas and in partnership with Taos Pueblo. Corpsmembers from the Canine Leadership Crew will train 5 service dogs and support them in finding their ‘forever’ home. The Prevention Program will conduct a community-wide health survey of at least 800 respondents to gauge the impact of drugs and alcohol. The Prevention Program will also create public awareness campaigns (print and radio) on the harms of substance misuse.

4. Field Institute of Taos

Our programming offers year-round opportunities including after school offerings, summer programs, citizen science initiatives, and extensive school and community programming. We strongly believe these experiences are valuable for all ages and make positive impacts throughout the community. We continue to increase our focus on promoting access, diversity, equity, and inclusion in outdoor education.

We are entering our 26th year of outdoor environmental education serving over 1500 children ages 5-18 each year, bringing them outdoors to build awareness, connection, and health through hands-on nature studies and outdoor skills instruction. We develop stewards of the environment by helping establish a “sense of place” (connection between individuals, their community and the environment) and by encouraging them to take on leadership roles by mentoring others.

Current programs/events:
• Letting Off STEAM after school programs and EdVentures
• Youth Leadership Program: ages 10 and up (56 in 2019, pre-Covid)
• Mountain Camps: outdoor education (ages 6-16)
• FIT Neighborhood: summer day camps (ages 5-11)
• Educational Outreach: in-school programs (free) for local classrooms
• Trails to Trees Program in collaboration with Youth Heartline
• After School Mountain Bike Club (ages 8 and up)
• Taos Area High School Mountain Bike Team: since 2015 (ages 14-18)
• Taos Area Middle School Mountain Bike Team: started fall 2021 (ages 11-13)
• Team FITaos: all-ages, all-abilities, inclusive local cycling group
• Trip for Kids Taos: free cycling/environmental education program for local youth
• Youth Bicycle Skills Clinics (free) for both local schools and the community at large(hoping to resume in 2022)
• Special Events: Ride the Rift, Youth Nature Photo Exhibit, Be FIT Raffle, July 4th Rubber Duck Race, bicycle swaps, and a mountain scavenger hunt

5. Taos Children’s Theatre

TCT offers theatre/dance projects, providing immersion in theatre skills, culminating in innovative performance pieces. Students from 13 Taos and Questa schools will be invited to audition on zoom. The projects culminate in artistically dynamic productions performed for summer schools, camps & community. A zoom element is maintained for out-of-town students (Questa, Dulce, Lama, Nepal). Students work with qualified theatre artists (local and out-of-state) as mentors in this summer intensive (low in cost), forming a theatre family. Dance, a component of TCT’s program, enhances body-mind connections. Parents frequently volunteer, assisting with stage management, costumes, box office, makeup, and set design. In COVID, TCT’s programming shifted to film making in a green screen studio and on zoom with green screen. See “The Little Prince,” You Tube Taos Children’s Theatre and Cinema.

TCT proposes a fantastical summer hybrid zoom/physical theatre/dance adaptation of R. L. Stevenson’s “Treasure Island,” a light-hearted take on treasure seeking on the high seas with everyone a pirate on board a 14 foot “galleon” to sail the oceanic tempests (projected virtual realities). All culminates in COVID safe performances for summer schools/camps, service organizations & community at Taos Center for the Arts (TCA) performed by a multi-generational cast (ages 7-17) of 33 actors/dancers from 14 Taos/Questa schools. 8 adult performers/staff interact as coaches/mentors.

ARTS AND CULTURE

1. The Paseo Project

The Paseo Project works at the intersection of arts and community. We believe deeply in the potential for art and artists to transform communities, and to forward this vision, we work in close partnership with arts organizations, educators, and nonprofits.

The Paseo Project participates in a variety of community projects and economic development initiatives, ensuring that an arts-based, supportive, and inclusive lens is used in community problem solving. From our annual PASEO festival to our STEAM education programs, The Paseo Project brings inspiration and innovation to Taos.

In 2020, The Paseo Project turned its attention to diversity, equity, and inclusion, joining a year-long international training program called OF/BY/FOR ALL. In completion of this program, we continue our work to better-understand how to truly serve, and work in partnership with, all members of our community, particularly those historically underserved or underrepresented in the arts and cultural arenas.

This grant request will help with the presentation of:

PASEO 2022
Free, immersive, nighttime art festival bringing installation, projection, and performance art to Taos. Coming off the heels of two years of cancellations, we cannot be sure how the 2022 Festival will look, but we intend to bring some long-earned joy to the streets of Taos on September 16 & 17!

Youth Programming
Inquiry has led us to better understand the significant gap in opportunities for youth aged 16 – 25. This is precisely the age group who needs the most support to want to stay in Taos and create a life of their own here. This summer we again will offer our internship program and are also excited to have our first youth board member.

Paseo Artists in Residence
We are hosting three artists in residence.
-Jemila McEwan, bringing “Sun Seeds,” a crowd sourced project with kites.
-Joanna Keane Lopez with an adobe installation and performance.
-CHiKA returns to Taos with ‘Taos GO,’ bringing AR and VR into our classrooms and community.

The Spring Out (Art Walk)
Scheduled for Mother’s Day weekend, we will be projecting artwork from our region’s museums, featuring a collective bouquet of flowers. Youth performances will also be included during this two night event, May 6 & 7th.

This list is representative, not exhaustive. The Paseo Project is fortunate to be nimble and responsive, and remain open to opportunities.

2. Taos Archaeological Society – Picuris Ceramic Analysis Project

The Taos Archaeolological Society provides monthly meetings with speakers September through May each year.
The TAS provides 2 student scholarships per year. The TAS funds bus trips for local Schools to the Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Project, and provides volunteers for excavations and scientific research.

TAS volunteers are undertaking analysis of the Picuris ceramic collection at the SMU-Taos campus. The TAS members are counting, weighing, sorting and cataloging 100,00 ceramics in the collection. The funding will be used to purchase insurance for to facilitate the analysis at SMU as mandated by the SMU Risk Management team. Also, some supplies will be required to continue the analysis.

3. SOMOS

Since 1983, SOMOS has encouraged creativity and craft development in the literary arts for all ages. Through quality workshops, readings, conferences, and festivals we showcase writers, storytellers, and poets from diverse backgrounds. We provide classroom and performance space and sell gently used books and new publications by local authors. Core support will fund staff and overhead expenses necessary to provide our annual programming and operate our Bookshop.

The outputs will be our annual programs to include the Young Writers Program, Taos Writers Conference, Writers Showcase, Poetry and Prose Months, Storytelling Festival, Taos Poet Laureateship and Bookshop. The Young Writers Program provides middle- and high- school students opportunities to develop their self-expression and confidence. Taos Writers Conference brings more than 20 faculty members together to teach 80+ participants in the craft of writing for three days. SOMOS Writers Showcase features readings and workshops by nationally-recognized, award-winning writers and poets such as Camille Dungy, Ana Castillo, Kirk Wallace Johnson, and Carmen Agra Deedy. Poetry and Prose Months celebrate local and regional poets and writers with public readings, workshops, and other events. The Taos Storytelling Festival includes featured professional storytellers, a free community Story Swap, a children’s concert, Storytelling-in-the- Schools, and an adult storytelling workshop presented by the headliner storyteller. The Taos Poet Laureateship honors an accomplished Taos poet who takes on a poetry-based community project for their two-year term. The Bookshop is run by volunteers and sells donated, used and new books by Taos authors.

4. Taos Center for the Arts

TCA’s theater and galleries support contemporary cinema and documentaries, regionally relevant film presentations and discussions, live music, live dance and theater performances from Taos community groups and regionally touring performers, over 30 exhibitions annually in the Stables Gallery, and a combination of community focused and curated exhibitions in the Encore Gallery. Where We Meet airs every Monday on KNCE 93.5fm, is distributed as a podcast, and features thinkers, artists, scholars discussing topics that range from ethnomusicology to building with adobe. In 2021, TCA partnered with a dozen non-profits and groups to support public events and presentations. TCA is forging avenues for internships focused on arts management, technical and event production, communications and marketing. Finally, TCA is in process of a year-long diversity, equity and inclusion training – for board, staff, and community members – to inform how we fulfill our mission and how we serve the community.

TCA looks to broaden, further, the scope of events and opportunities, expand our audience as members, creators, and co-organizers. Some examples of this continued or anticipated work follow:

(1) TCA utilizes a profit-sharing rental agreement that makes it possible for groups to produce events without providing a rental fee. This model enables groups with a minimal budget to cover rental fees and produce shows. This profit-sharing agreement places TCA in partnership with a broader circle of Taos organizations. TCA becomes a supportive producing agent; organizations that might not typically use the spaces become co-organizers, producers, and facility caretakers.

(2) In the area of programming, TCA will continue to develop and evolve programs that directly engage local and regional filmmakers (Open Screen) and musicians (Music In&Around). And, though drive-in movies events are not profitable for TCA, the institution views those events essential for building accessible programming. Drive-ins are friend-building, attract a range of ages and families, and provide programs at a low cost.

(3) TCA is expanding internship and mentorship opportunities. TCA creates a flexible structure to make it easy for Taos County school administrators to connect students with TCA.

(4) TCA staff and board are engaged in a year-long DEI training. Through this program, TCA is engaging in a strategic and actionable plan with a desired outcome of connecting to a broader range of the Taos community.

5. Taos School of Music

The TSoM is “one of the nation’s most elite summer music conservatories” (Jane Pauley, The Today Show) and a cultural cornerstone of Taos. Its course of study is unique amongst summer music programs; it selects by audition nineteen of the most promising early-career young musicians from around the world and immerses them in rigorous study of chamber music with the world’s foremost professional chamber musicians. The results of this work are weekly public performances in both Taos and the Taos Ski Valley that enrich the cultural fabric of the region. The organization presents at least 14 concerts per season to over 2,500 audience members who come from both the local Taos community and across the country. Both TSoM Young Artists and local Taos audience members have cited the life-changing experiences that the organization provides.

The TSoM is requesting funds to support core operations. This includes support of the organization’s three main goals:

1. To offer a unique, immersive study of chamber music for a select cadre of music’s most promising budding young musicians,
2. To share with the Taos community world-class chamber music performances, and
3. To develop and nurture a love of chamber music in the Taos community and beyond.

5. Music from Angel Fire

Music from Angel Fire is presenting its 38th Season Summer Festival in 2022 under the artistic direction of Tara Helen O’Connor and Daniel Phillips for their second season. The theme of Romance and the Silver Screen brings together composers of the Romantic Period (1830 to 1900) with contemporary works from two composers-in-residence whose works will be premiered in Angel Fire. What ties the modern works to that of Brahms, Chopin, Debussy, Dvořák, Liszt, Saint Saens, and Tchaikovsky, is the music tells a story. Prutsman’s very contemporary take on that is a work he composed as the soundtrack for Buster Keaton’s 1925 silent movie, Seven Chances. Musicians and audiences who have seen the piece or performed it, have found it great fun. Because it requires a screen, it will be featured at the 8/25 Taos Concert at the Taos Community Auditorium.

The Music from Angel Fire educational outreach program, Music in Schools, mirrors the school year, beginning each August during the festival. In 2022 it is planned to be a hybrid program, with both in-school and virtual elements. The virtual elements expand number of students able to be reached. Student diversity is notable with some schools having majority minority populations that include Native Americans and Hispanics. In the 10 schools to be visited in 2022, student population is 76% Hispanic and 90% of the students qualify for the federal free/reduced lunch programs. In communities where school districts have limited K-12 student populations (as few as 138), Music in Schools is a unique and valued opportunity in this rural region that is underserved by the arts.
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TIER 2
• Agriculture, Implementation, Research and Education -AIRE
• Always Loving Mankind Food Pantry -Colfax County
• Ballet Taos- Summer Dance Company
• Biotecture Planet Earth- CASA- Castle Affordable Sustainable Autonomy
• Downtown Taos
• Ensuenos Y Los Angelitos Development Center
• Harwood Museum of Art- SELf Studio
• Kit Carson House- Capital Campaign Feasibility Study
• Localogy
• Millicent Rogers Museum- Education Program Support
• Our Lady of Guadalupe Food Pantry
• Sangre de Cristo Initiative- Carbon markets to Reduce Wildfire Threats
• Santa Fe Dreamers Project- Taos Immigration Legal Clinics
• STEMarts- Space Messengers Immersive and Educational Mixed Reality Sci-Art installation
• Taos Amateur Radio Club
• Taos Artist organization- open Studio Tour 2022
• Taos Coalition to End Homelessness- Men’s Shelter
• Taos Behavioral Health (Nonviolence Works)
• Taos Fall Arts Festival
• Taos HIVE -Pollinator
• Taos Whole Community Health- Direct Care for Holistic Services for the uninsured or underinsured
• The Couse Foundation
• The Food Depot
• The Paseo Project – Juneteenth 2022
• Unity Through Arts and Culture
• Vista Grande High School- Animal Management, Welfare and Training
• Western Environmental Law Center
• Wholly Rags