NM Forum for Youth in Community STAFF

The Forum, through its projects and partnerships, has been instrumental in facilitating movement in New Mexico in establishing the Children’s Cabinet and supporting the first Legislative Institute. The Forum has also facilitated the building of the Youth Alliance, a statewide coalition of youth focused on youth voice in public policy. Similarly, the Forum has provided direction and support in building the Out of School Time Network, a coalition of practitioners focused on quality after-school and out of school time programs. In partnership with many other organizations, the Forum established the Next Generation Fund, a permanent endowment to fund positive youth development programming statewide.

Ms. Nelson is a graduate of the New Mexico Highlands University School of Social Work and a Robert Wood Johnson Ladder to Leadership Fellow. Ms. Nelson has served youth, their families and communities for seventeen years with experience in both direct practice and policy development. Her professional emphases are youth and community engagement, violence prevention, and gender-responsive, culturally-relevant service and systems development. She has served on the Board of Directors for Pegasus Legal Services for Children and SafeTeen New Mexico. Ms. Nelson was the first to create New Mexico’s gender-responsive behavioral health plan in 2006 and has championed New Mexico’s Teen Dating Violence Strategic Prevention Initiative guided by Positive Youth Development since 2007.

Contact Anna Nelson, LISW via email at anelson@nmforumforyouth.org

Andrew has played bass guitar in several local bands since 1998 and has performed in dozens of Albuquerque and Santa Fe venues as well as tours up and down the west coast. After college his passion for music led him to co-create and publish a magazine spotlighting New Mexico’s music industry. For three years he published nearly 30 magazines and organized several music showcases. He spent the next six years marketing and managing a large local music store.

During his first year of VISTA service Andrew served as a health care advocate for the New Mexico Hispanic Medical Association (NMHMA). He helped the NMHMA coordinate health fairs where community residents without health insurance could receive free health education, immunizations, and screenings. His fundraising efforts provided scholarships for rural New Mexico students interested in studying for a career in health care. A majority of his service was spent marketing the NMHMA’s New Mexico Medical Card, a medical discount card for residents of New Mexico without health insurance. Andrew is now serving a second year of service as a VISTA Leader. VISTA Leaders assist fellow VISTA members in achieving program objectives and developing new project activities and sources of community support. VISTA Leaders also play a support role in mentoring and coordinating VISTA members by ensuring positive relations and facilitating idea-sharing.

Contact Andrew Castellano via email at andrew@nmforumforyouth.org

VISTA Cadre members commit to serve full-time for a year at a nonprofit organization or local government agency, working to fight illiteracy, improve health services, create businesses, strengthen community groups, build capacity, enhance infrastructure and much more. VISTA Cadre members specifically work with the Forum and its partners in pursuit of building cohesive partnerships amongst youth serving organizations. The A*VISTA Cadre Project has been consistently growing since its inception and currently manages close to 50 full time volunteers as well as many more part time volunteers.

Mr. Chené is a graduate of the University of New Mexico where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Communication with an emphasis on Intercultural Relations. He began his career as a VISTA Cadre Volunteer and has worked in the realm of education in different capacities since.

Contact David Chené via email at david@nmforumforyouth.org

As a performance poet and slam poetry champion, Jasmine has led numerous writing workshops and performances throughout New Mexico and the Western U.S. She worked closely with youth writers as a member of the NHCC staff, as a key member of the Voces Youth Writing Intensive staff as well as working for the center’s Education Department and was a key member of the staff for numerous events and initiatives, including Dia de los Muertos celebrations and Globalquerque. Jasmine is currently a student at Central New Mexico Community College and plans to attend the University of New Mexico after completing her studies at CNM

Contact Jasmine Cuffee via email at jasmine@nmforumforyouth.org

This internship led Michael to future positions in the public service sector. Before coming to the Forum, he worked as an Intern in United States Sen. Jeff Bingaman’s Albuquerque and Washington D.C offices. While working in Sen. Bingaman’s offices, Michael worked on education issues that affected New Mexico and its youth.  This is when Michael became very interested in the field of Youth Development.  He began his career as a volunteer through Americorps VISTA at the Forum and served two terms as the Forum’s Policy & Research Analyst. Michael is now the Director of Network Support of the A*VISTA Cadre Project.

Contact Michael Garcia via email at michael@nmforumforyouth.org

The Forum, through its projects and partnerships, has been instrumental in facilitating movement in New Mexico in establishing the Children’s Cabinet and supporting the first Legislative Institute. The Forum has also facilitated the building of the Youth Alliance, a statewide coalition of youth focused on youth voice in public policy. Similarly, the Forum has provided direction and support in building the Out of School Time Network, a coalition of practitioners focused on quality after-school and out of school time programs. In partnership with many other organizations, the Forum established the Next Generation Fund, a permanent endowment to fund positive youth development programming statewide.

Ms. Rogers bring a wealth of experience in finaical management from her previous work at various business and non-for-profit corporations in New Mexico.

Contact Rita Rogers via email at rrogers@nmforumforyouth.org

During her tenure with MOVE, she partnered with the N.M. Commission for Community Volunteerism, N.M. Forum for Youth in Community, U.N.M. Student Services, C.N.M. Experiential Learning Department, Junior Achievement New Mexico, United Way of Central New Mexico, Center for Nonprofit Excellence, and the Corporate Volunteer Council of Central New Mexico. Some of MOVE's largest initiatives were the training of volunteer managers, recruitment and placement of volunteers, a volunteer recognition program, and Make A Difference Day. Ms. Saine worked as a substitute teacher with the Albuquerque Public Schools and has experience in human resources and labor relations. She is a graduate of UNM with a B.S in Political Science and an M.P.A. Her past volunteer experience includes the Albuquerque Public Schools Join-A-School Program, Junior Achievement New Mexico and Albuquerque Reads. She currently serves on the board of directors for Cuidando los Ninos and volunteers at UNM's Popejoy Hall.

Contact Debra via email at dsaine@nmforumforyouth.org

As Director of Network Support for the New Mexico Youth Alliance, a collaborative project between the Office of the Lt. Governor and the New Mexico Forum for Youth in Community, Moneka oversees engagement of 112 youth representatives (ages 14-24) that provide feedback and make recommendations to state lawmakers to create and/or refine youth policies to ensure youth have a meaningful voice in our state’s political process. In addition, New Mexico Youth Alliance members develop community impact projects to address concerns in their communities such as increasing graduation rates, underage drinking prevention, youth entrepreneurship, suicide prevention, and many more.

Contact Moneka Stevens-Cordova via email at moneka@nmforumforyouth.org