Accomplishments make us grateful
by Regina Turner, Board President
As another fiscal year ends and a new one begins, I am filled with gratitude for what we have accomplished together. This annual report highlights not only our key achievements but the journey we’ve undertaken to make a difference in the lives of those we serve. Thanks to your support, this year has been marked by significant successes. With a sponsorship from Bernalillo County District 4 Commissioner Walt Benson, we organized a distinguished speaker series culminating in a compelling presentation by Julie Kohner, founder of Voices of the Generations and daughter of Hanna Bloch Kohner, a Holocaust survivor who appeared in 1953 on the TV program This is Your Life. I encourage you to google it and watch this heartwarming program that aired barely a decade after the Holocaust. Our extremely successful and robust exhibit design program launched in 2023 and continued in 2024-25 with additional exhibits: Honoring Upstanders, in collaboration with students from Tech
Leadership Charter School and, most recently, the Routes to Roots exhibit on immigration with students from La Cueva High School. By guiding students through topic selection, research, and exhibit creation, students were empowered and inspired to make a difference and be upstanders. And we know we’ve made a difference when we read student testimonials: “After working on the exhibit and learning about people who stood up even when it was hard, I started thinking maybe I could do that too. Now I try to say something. I wanna be the kind of person who doesn’t just watch things happen.” “This was my first time working on something that felt bigger than a school project. I learned so much about César Chavez, and I’m proud that my work helped educate others.”
The From Routes to Roots exhibit, concerning immigration, was designed by students from La Cueva High School.
We have established a partnership with New Mexico Public Charter Schools to collaborate on professional development for educators. In addition to a multitude of school tours and several teacher trainings in Albuquerque and Las Cruces, our team has been actively engaged throughout the year. While we received several small program grants, individual and corporate donations and income from our annual fundraising gala, our main challenge is limited operational funding, an area less prioritized by grantors. Historically, significant discretionary funding has come from New Mexico legislative junior appropriations. Unfortunately, things changed during the 2024 Legislative Session with the establishment of GRO (Government Results and Opportunity Program), to replace junior appropriations. GRO is a two-year reimbursement program designed to
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