Think New Mexico has received a score of 100 out of 100 on Charity Navigator’s new Encompass Rating System for small nonprofits. This score, which is based on Charity Navigator’s Finance and Accountability analysis, provides an assessment of a nonprofit’s financial health (stability, efficiency and sustainability) and its commitment to governance practices and policies. Charity Navigator is the world’s largest and most trusted nonprofit evaluator. Learn more on Charity Navigator’s website.
We are delighted to announce that we have hired Abenicio Baldonado as Think New Mexico’s first ever Education Reform Director! As this Santa Fe New Mexican column explains, we created this new position because we believe that nothing is more critical to the success of our state than improving the quality of our public schools. Yet because Think New Mexico takes on new issues every year, we have not been able to give education reform the consistent, intense focus that it needs every day of the year. The Education Reform Director position is designed to fix that, and we could not have found a better fit for the position than Abenicio. He is a proud graduate of Robertson High School in Las Vegas, NM, earned his BA and Masters from Highlands University, served as a public school teacher and charter school board member, and spent the last three years as the Legislative Liaison for the Public Education Department. Read Abenicio’s bio on our staff page.
Think New Mexico Executive Director Fred Nathan received a 2021 Humanitarian Award from the Jewish Community Center of Greater Albuquerque, in recognition of his three decades of public service on behalf of New Mexicans. Read the Albuquerque Journal’s profile of Fred here.
Our most recent annual report includes updates on our work to make the infrastructure funding process transparent, prevent the taxation of delivered groceries, end predatory lending, strengthen financial literacy education, and more! Click here to download the annual report.
We are delighted to be joined this summer by Amelia Bierle, who grew up in Carlsbad and is now earning her Masters in Public Policy from UNM; Sophie Hare, who was raised in Santa Fe and and is now a junior studying Public Policy and Spanish at the University of Chicago; Ciara “Key” Macfarland, who grew up in Albuquerque and is now a senior majoring in political science at Colorado College; and Vedder “Rise” Miller, who grew up in Santa Fe and just graduated from Duke University with a degree in Public Policy Studies and History!
Amelia and Rise are working with us during the first half of the summer, and Key and Sophie will be here during the latter half. Read more about this year’s Leadership Interns.
In a report released October 4, 2020, Think New Mexico recommends that the legislature and governor cut the state’s maximum annual interest rate on small loans from 175% to 36% and make a course in financial literacy or personal finance a high school graduation requirement. Learn more about our recommended reforms and ask your legislators and the governor to support them!
Read all about the latest progress on our efforts to increase retirement security for all New Mexicans, maximize dollars to the classroom, make health care prices more transparent, expand the Strategic Water Reserve, increase funding for lottery scholarships and much more in Think New Mexico’s latest annual report! Click here to download the annual report.
Think New Mexico is delighted to have six stellar students working with us (remotely) this summer!
Our 2020 Leadership Interns include Rohan Angadi, a former Valedictorian and Student Body President of Clovis High School who is now a junior at Yale studying economics and mathematics; Daniel Estupiñan, who grew up in Sunland Park, served on the Gadsden School Board while he was an undergraduate student at NMSU, and is now earning his Masters from the Harvard Kennedy School; Chloe Larkin, a junior at Wellesley College who was active in New Mexico Youth and Government and was elected Youth Governor for New Mexico in 2018; Kate Monahan, a Santa Fean who just graduated from the University of Southern California and previously interned with Senator Tom Udall and Fix It America; Raffaele Moore, an Albuquerque native who is a rising junior at Brown University and previously interned for Senator Martin Heinrich and Mayor Tim Keller; and Ariane Talou, a junior at UCLA who has interned with Emerge New Mexico and served as a Fellow on Representative Ben Ray Lujan’s 2018 congressional campaign. Read more about this year’s Leadership Interns.
Think New Mexico’s staff is currently working from home as we do our part to flatten the curve, but we are continuing our efforts to develop and advocate for policies that will improve New Mexico’s quality of life and help the state come back stronger than ever from this public health and financial crisis. If you are experiencing financial hardship or need information about coronavirus testing or the state’s public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we encourage you to visit NewMexico.gov.
Finally, if you’re able to able to support Think New Mexico’s work during these challenging times, we wanted to let you know that the federal government is offering an additional tax deduction incentive for up to $300 in charitable contributions made this year.
The New Mexico Work and Save Act (House Bill 44, sponsored by Rep. Tomas Salazar, Rep. Gail Armstrong, Rep. Christine Chandler, Sen. Bill Tallman & Sen. Michael Padilla) passed the House 62-1, the Senate 40-0, and was signed into law by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham! This law will dramatically expand access to retirement savings accounts for private sector workers in New Mexico. Read more about it here.
