Dec. 23—Eighteen organizations in Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico received approximately $160,000 in grant funding last week from the philanthropic arm of a statewide credit union.
The Nusenda Foundation, a project of Nusenda Credit Union, announced the recipients of its annual Community Rewards program in a Dec. 17 news release, with 72 organizations in New Mexico and West Texas drawing $700,000 in grants.
The recipients were chosen from a pool of approximately 250 applicants, said Eric Harrison, a spokesman for the foundation, meaning competition for the money was stiff.
“This year’s Community Rewards grants reflect Nusenda’s ongoing commitment to strengthening the communities we serve,” Joe Christian, the president and CEO of Nusenda Credit Union, stated in the news release. “As our membership now extends into West Texas, we are proud to support this region for the first time.”
Included on the list of local recipients was Reading Quest, a Santa Fe-based program that offers free, structured literacy tutoring and emotional support for students who are reading one or more years below their grade level.
Executive Director Rayna Dineen said the $5,000 grant would support the program’s tutoring program, which serves 480 children every week across 10 schools and at the program’s reading center.
All students undergo an assessment process, she said. Then they are assigned a reading program tailored to their needs. Many of the exercises used in the program to improve literacy are conducted in a game format, she said, which makes them appealing to youngsters.
“They have so much fun, they never want to leave,” she said.
Dineen said the standardized test scores for students in the program are tracked, allowing the Reading Quest staff to chart their progress.
“We are definitely getting good results,” she said. “… Sometimes people can’t believe it because the kids are making so much growth.”
Dineen said one-on-one, private tutoring is an advantage many children from privileged backgrounds enjoy, but it is less common for low-income students. Reading Quest aims to even the playing field, she said.
“We want to provide it for all kids,” she said.
Another grant recipient with much of its programming tailored toward young people is the Railyard Park Conservancy, which received a $5,100 grant. Executive Director Izzy Barr said the money would be used for horticulture care and educational programs, including covering the costs of field trips to the Santa Fe Railyard Park for local students.
During those excursions, students in kindergarten through fifth grade are exposed to a Physics on the Playground program and another one dedicated to pollinators.
More than 400 students have been served through the program since it began, Barr said, 40% of them from schools in low-income neighborhoods.
The money also will be used to help fund the conservancy’s summer horticulture program, which is conducted in partnership with the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps and the New Mexico School for the Deaf.
The conservancy also plans on hiring a couple of early childhood educators who will work with infants and toddlers, she said.
“It’s really helpful,” she said of the money. “We can sort of plug it in where we need it. It’s really nice to have that extra funding.”
The Santa Fe Watershed Association received one of the larger Nusenda grants at $15,000. Executive Director Morika Vorenberg Hensley said the association would use the funds to stage a series of rain garden and green stormwater infrastructure workshops.
The association has partnered with other entities, such as the city of Santa Fe and Southwest Urban Hydrology, to hold the workshops in the past, she said.
The green stormwater infrastructure workshops are designed to show participants how to use stormwater runoff as part of an environmental solution rather than viewing it as a problem, Hensley said. Much of that approach involves the creation and placement of bioretention basins.
“It’s really a fantastic way to improve urban green space,” she said. “You’re taking advantage of it, rather than having it run off into storm drains and cause erosion. We’re very passionate about it.”
Hensley said the rain garden workshops are even more in demand. They are so popular, in fact, that the staff has developed a rain garden STEM-aligned curriculum for high school students in the area.
“We’re really trying to give learners the tools they need to be empowered to be part of the solution,” she said.
Another recipient of a $15,000 Nusenda grant was the Santa Fe Children’s Museum. Executive Director Hannah Hausman said the money will be used to support the museum’s Thursdays Are Yours program, with free admission offered to everyone from 4 to 6 p.m.
The institution has conducted the program for many years, Hausman said, but museum officials have been looking for a sponsor to help offset its costs. That goal finally has been achieved, she said, allowing the museum to continue the popular program.
“The public loves it,” she said.
The museum has received other funding from the Nusenda Foundation in the past, Hausman said, especially in the form of sponsorship for special events. She said she is grateful for the generosity the foundation has shown to her institution.
“I will say our partnership [with Nusenda] has really grown in recent years,” she said.
Foundation spokesperson Harrison said the other Northern New Mexico recipients were Casa Milagro, the DreamTree Project, Gerard’s House, the Santa Fe Dreamers Project, Youth Heartline, the Bridges Project for Education, Girls Incorporated of Santa Fe, Think New Mexico, the Partners in Education Foundation for Santa Fe Public Schools, the Cancer Foundation for New Mexico, Free Flow New Mexico, the Presbyterian Healthcare Foundation, Scott’s House and the Queen Bee Music Association.
Barr said the charitable giving of Santa Fe’s business community plays a big role in helping those organizations achieve their goals.
“So much of what our businesses do for nonprofits goes unnoticed,” she said.