Building Capacity In Organizations and Communities

The Forum maintains several initiatives and networks that help build capacity for the adoption of positive youth development in New Mexico. These networks provided critical support or add capacity in a variety of ways, but structured opportunities for volunteerism is a critical component. The Forum’s capacity-building networks include three critical efforts.

The New Mexico Youth Alliance (NMYA) is a statewide council of youth, one for each legislative district (total of 112); the initiative is administered through state statute, connected to the Office of the Lt. Governor, and coordinated by the Forum. The NMYA meets quarterly to provide youth with leadership and advocacy skills and creates an annual “youth platform” to advocate for youth issues. The platform is presented annually to the New Mexico Children’s Cabinet and the Office of the Lt. Governor.

The VISTA Cadre Project is a network of community-based organizations with AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteers that focus on positive youth development activities. VISTA volunteers help build capacity by designing and implementing positive youth development efforts, focusing on systems change approaches. Nearly 125 VISTA volunteers (including summer associate positions) placed at community-based organizations are coordinated by the Forum. The VISTA Cadre Project is collaborative effort in partnership with the Corporation for National and Community Service and the New Mexico Commission for Community Volunteerism.

Public Allies New Mexico is an initiative that enrolls older youth and adults in a leadership development initiative. The goal of Public Allies New Mexico is to help train and promote future leaders for the non-profit sector in New Mexico. The effort was established in 2007 and is currently limited to 15 participants yearly. Members engage in comprehensive training (weekly) and are placed with community-based organizations to receive mentoring supports from existing leaders in the sector. Public Allies New Mexico is coordinated in partnership with the Public Allies National Office and the Corporation for National and Community Service.

Want to know more about our networks?  Click on the links here to find out descriptive information about our networks, including infrastructure, capacity-building and advocacy efforts.