2007 Lights On New
Mexico Summary
Throughout the state of New Mexico the Lights were on for
Afterschool in October. Individual afterschool sites and
larger group gathering dotted the landscape. With the
assistance of the New Mexico Forum for Youth in Community,
the Afterschool Alliance and the national Afterschool
Ambassador, lights bulb pins flashed and posters and banners
were distributed to 12 regions of New Mexico.
The success of this years events began with the Lights On
Afterschool float in the New Mexico State Fair Parade, along
with the Display at the fair encouraging the importance of
supporting Afterschool throughout New Mexico. This year,
there were 38 registered Lights On Afterschool events held
across New Mexico, of which all but 2 were connected to the
New Mexico Out-of-School Time Network through the New Mexico
Forum for Youth in Community. This years theme was, “Celebrating
Afterschool Programs, Recognizing Key Champions”.
There were estimated 3,000 and 4,000 attendees at all of
the events combined. speakers across the state included
mayors, city councilors, state representatives, and state
senators, along with principals, teachers, program managers,
and parents, and Mark Wonder from Senator Jeff Bingaman’s
office all pledging to continue supporting afterschool
programs for our youth.
The New Mexico Forum for Youth in Community would like to
thank the following programs and cities for their
participation in the New Mexico Lights On Afterschool event:
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Albuquerque
Community Learning Centers Project, Albuquerque
-
Appletree
Education Center, Truth or Consequences
-
Aztec Boys
Girls Club - Teen Center, Aztec
-
BECC, Aztec
-
Boys Girls
Clubs of Acoma Pueblo, Pueblo of Acoma
-
Boys Girls
Club of Bloomfield, Bloomfield
-
Boys Girls
Club of Dine Nation - Hanaadli Youth Center, Nageezi
-
Boys and
Girls of Farmington, Farmington
-
Boys Girls
Club of Las Cruces, Las Cruces
-
Boys and
Girls Club of Otero County, Alamogordo
-
CAFE
Community And Family Enrichment Afterschool, Alamogordo
-
Citizen
Schools, Albuquerque
-
DeBaca Youth
Opportunity Center, Ft.Sumner
-
Discovery
Afterschool Program, Taos
-
Farmington
Public Library, Farmington
-
Farmington
Boys & Girls Club, Farmington
-
HAFB School
Age Program, Holloman/Alamogordo
-
Holloman
Youth Teen Center, Holloman/Alamogordo
-
Laguna
Department of Education, Pueblo of Laguna
-
Laguna Middle
School, Pueblo of Laguna
-
MADD Youth in
Action, Farmington
-
Mosaic
Academy, Aztec
-
Native
American Community Academy, Albuquerque
-
Navajo
Elementary Afterschool, Navajo
-
New Mexico
Forum for Youth in Community, Albuquerque
-
Rocky
Mountain Youth Corps, Taos
-
Roosevelt
County Youth Opportunity Center, Portales
-
San Juan
County Partnership, Farmington
-
Santa Fe
Public Schools, Santa Fe
-
Santo Domingo
School 21st CCLC, Santo Domingo
-
Teen Zone,
Farmington
-
West Las
Vegas 21st Century Community Learning Center, Las Vegas
-
Youth
Opportunity Center, Clovis
Supporting programs also involved in events included,
-
4-H programs
-
Albuquerque-Bernalillo Community Partnership
-
Albuquerque Community Centers
-
Albuquerque Public Schools
-
Americorps*Vista Volunteers
-
Bernalillo County Recreation Programs
-
Big Brothers Big Sisters
-
New Mexico Department of Children Youth and Families, Children’s Trust Fund
-
New Mexico Public Education Department, 21st Century Programs
-
Youth Development, Incorporated
-
YMCA of Central New Mexico
-
Voices for Children
Field Summaries from
LoA Partners (partial list):
Bernalillo
In Albuquerque two Lights On events highlighted
the importance of Afterschool time and Afterschool programs,
one event was held at the Native American Community Academy
(NACA) site and there were activities for the kids and
information and resource booths for parents and several
speakers were highlighted. The Governors Proclamation was
read by the Afterschool Ambassador and the Principal spoke
about the importance of having quality afterschool programs.
A representative from Senator Jeff Bingaman’s Office read a
special message from the Senator pledging his on-going
support of Afterschool time and programs. A representative
also spoke about the New Mexico Integrated school services
programs that are new to New Mexico. Children had
performances and made presentations they had been working on
in the NACA afterschool program, the dance and drum group
performed. The event ended with a pizza dinner, considering
the weather the attendance was good. The other event in
Albuquerque was held at the Barelas Community Center on
October 25, 2007 and called the Albuquerque Community
Learning Centers Fall Harvest Festival. This event
highlighted the need for Quality Afterschool programs and
the importance of keeping the “Lights On”. This
mini-Carnival offered several hands on activities for kids
with prizes, costume contests, cake walks. Speakers
highlighted the importance of Afterschool time. Some of the
Albuquerque sponsors who participated were, Walkers Popcorn,
New Mexico Rail Runner, Police Crime Prevention Unit, The
Forest Service (BIA), and Hinkle Family Fun Center.
Grants
The Afterschool writing club ages 12-18 youth
held an event for Lights On at a local city park where they
had a screening of a movie, pizza and LOA prizes were given
out to promote Lights On to parents and other community
members. Invitations were sent out to the local school
districts, city officials and parents.
San Juan
Lights on After School in Farmington, New Mexico
October 18, 2007 "Celebrating New Mexico Afterschool
Programs, Recognizing Key Champions"Certificates were issued
to all our key champions at the event.
The Farmington Public Library teens with help from Vista
Cadre Farmington RPO presented several events throughout San
Juan County on October 18, 2007 for Lights on After School.
The events took place between 4:00pm to 7:00pm at the
library and at several locations.
Mosaic Academy in Aztec and BECC Family Center in
Bloomfield was host to the teens who provided daycare for
21st Century and read stories to the youth and provided them
with a hands-on craft activity.
Teen Zone – Movie Marathon and Guitar Hero at the
Farmington Public Library.
Vista Cadre – Showed kids movies and offered a hands-on
activity to make a haunted house in the Library Laboratory
at the Farmington Public Library. Live homework help
tutoring was available on computer stations with teens
showing youth how to access the information. The event was
also hosted at the Boys & Girls Club Power Library with
teens volunteering from the Mayor’s Teen Advisory Council.
MADD Youth In Action – Mayor’s Teen Advisory Council and
New Mexico Youth Alliance member, Anna Doherty along with
volunteers distributed safety information and painted faces
at the Downtown Association Halloween Safety program.
DeBaca County
The DeBaca County LOA Event was a success, we had
100 people attend and participate. We had an open house at
the PIT which is a recreation center, with the help of the
PIT director Lydia Nieto. The proclamation was done at the
city council meeting prior to the LOA by Mayor Juan Chavez.
We had lots of food (pizza, cookies, sodas), and we had pool
table games, video games, coloring, and other games, and we
did great door prizes which included a Portable DVD player,
Backpacks filled with school supplies, family oriented board
games. We were able to do this thanks to our wonderful
community assistance; Village of Fort Sumner, Fort Sumner
Eagles, TeamBuilders Counseling, Pauline Finney(Fort Sumner
Housing), among others volunteer efforts. The kids in our
community really enjoyed this event and hope to continue the
tradition in the future!!
Roosevelt County
The Roosevelt County LOA event was held at the
Portales Recreation Center from 5-7pm with a ceremonial
lighting ceremony at 7pm. The event was held as an open
house for the Recreation Center and the Youth Opportunity
Center. Johnny Ledbetter, Director of the Portales
Recreation Center estimated we had around 219 attendees.
Everyone attending received a souvenir and had free
refreshments. There were fun activities and games for all to
enjoy. Family movies, DVD’s and board games were also given
to attendees as door prizes. The City Commission read and
signed the Proclamation at their regular meeting.
Curry County
The Curry County LOA event consisted of several
activities for the youth to participate such as face
painting, musical chairs, a hoop shoot, and a demonstration
from a martial arts afterschool program. We had three grand
prizes donated by Hank Baskett Jr. which were autographed by
his son Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Hank Baskett III.
There was plenty of food and drinks donated for our youth to
enjoy and our community event was a success with over 200
people that joined for the LOA event. This City commission
read and signed the Proclamation at the regular meeting and
it was received by one of our youth program participants. We
partnered with the school district, United Way and other
afterschool programs to provide a celebration of afterschool
in Curry County.
Taos
Taos, celebrated "Lights on Afterschool" week. We
had a week filled with radio spots which helped us to have a
week of "word of mouth" highlighting afterschool programs.
We were honored by the school boards of Taos, Questa and
Penasco as well as Governor Bill Richardson who declared
October 18, 2007 "Lights on Afterschool Day. We had on-site
celebrations with parent participation potlucks, cake, Child
ID Fingerprinting and the coloring of Light Bulbs to send to
our Representatives.
On October 20, 2007, we had a community awareness event
at the Taos Youth and Family Center. The Discovery
Afterschool Program, Girltime, Rocky Mountain Youth Corps,
Boys and Girls Club, Somos Youth Mentoring, Taos Youth Music
School, Twirl, Fun with Clay Art and ECHO for Kids all
gathered for a carnival featuring games, face painting,
tattoos, clay art, mask making, Halloween crafts, music
production equipment, a "Fun with Science" magic show and a
visit from seven foot tall Mannie the Monster. Much fun was
had by all and it was a tremendous experience to come
together to highlight and showcase our individual programs
which serve the Taos community and it's youth.
We feel that it is our responsibility to offer the next
generation of our beautiful and diverse community with as
many opportunities as possible so that they can grow and
become active and productive adults. It was an honor and a
privilege to be a part of Lights On Afterschool 2007.
Truth or Consequences
Sierra County Lights on Afterschool was
celebrated Monday October 15 at AppleTree Educational
Center. In a program that celebrated legislatures, teachers,
TEACH scholars and local agencies for their work in the area
of Early Childhood Development, champions of After School
programming were also acknowledged and honored. Mayor Lori
Montgomery spoke in support of providing quality out of
school time programming in this community and to present a
proclamation for “Keeping the Lights On Afterschool”. This
year we are recognizing Afterschool Champions in our Region.
One of our key Champion is Senator John Arthur Smith who
pledged on going support.
Santa Fe
Light on Afterschool was celebrated at ten
district schools and was a great success. Families, staff,
children and community members joined in to participate in
fun activities, eat healthy snacks and meet and greet the
staff. Each site had a unique program which highlighted
hands on learning and projects, contributions from partners
and community, and the work that staff and students have
done during this semester. One site had a Bilingual Resource
Fair which featured community based organizations providing
information and resources, dinner, food for families and was
attended by over 100 children and adults.
For more information please contact:
Michael Lujan, Project Director
Out of School Time Network
mlujan@nmforumforyouth.org
(505) 821-3574
(505) 242-2776 (FAX)
