Delaney Swink, Director of Volunteer/Pro Bono Services and Fundraising for the NM Immigrant Law Center

A love of travel, languages, gender studies, and the desert brought Delaney to NM by way of Oregon, Chile, and Morocco. Now at the NMILC Delaney is finding volunteers and donors to support the many programs they offer. NMILC provides free legal services to low-income immigrants statewide focusing on humanitarian and asylum relief. Her volunteer program has a robust screening and onboarding program for everyone who comes through so they can focus on the quality of services. Please be in touch with Delaney if you would like to support this work financially or with your acute legal counsel, and Spanish-speaking talents.

With their 15th anniversary coming up, Delaney and their team have a lot of celebrating ahead! Throughout her work it’s evident that she centers community need, access to justice, and intentional partnerships. Here she also takes time to highlight the work to build the Family Preparedness program and how it fits the needs of NM and indeed assists folks in preparing for the worst case: a deportation scenario.

Listening to Delaney chat about what has influenced her politics and worldly perspective is a reminder of how connected we all are – and that one can find a meaningful place in work and life by paying attention to the humanity of others.

Register for the April 8 NMILC Fundraiser at the Albuquerque Museum: https://www.nmilc.org/upcoming-events/albuquerque-museum-nmilc-fundraising-night

NMILC resources, including the Family Preparedness Toolkit: https://www.nmilc.org/toolkit

ABQ Museum exhibit: https://www.cabq.gov/artsculture/albuquerque-museum/exhibitions-1/exhibitions

Additional notes about agencies Delaney volunteers with:
- ABQ Mutual Aid: http://www.ffol.org/

• The Honor Native Land Tax – Delaney helped launch HNLT in 2020 with Albuquerque Showing up for Racial Justice (ABQ SURJ), and continues to do organizing work with them https://www.abqsurj.org/about-the-hnlt
  HNLT fundraises to support Indigenous organizations on Tiwa Land – the Pueblo Action Alliance and The Red Nation. By redistributing resources the HNLT offers a chance for settlers to make an ongoing contribution to Indigenous movements for land, water, and futures. This is a cross-class project that allows people to contribute financially on a sliding scale basis.

Corrections per Delaney:
The NM Habeas Project is in collaboration with the ACLU NM and other partners like Innovation Law Lab and Vecina, along with others.
The Albuquerque Museum's "Detention Nation" exhibit is a “multi-media” exhibit

Katy Anderson, VP of Strategy, Partnerships & Advocacy, Roadrunner Foodbank of NM

Having worked at Roadrunner over 12 years, Katy Anderson has been a part of many innovative and important systems change around food access and security. She’s a big part of our state and national advocacy platforms and does the deep work to address the needs of marginalized populations.

Katy and her team utilize data and relationships, research from the social vulnerability index among others, and coalition-building strategies to determine how well needs are being met. Yup, it’s a lot of great work. Check out this episodes to learn more about how Katy is telling the story about need, bringing advocates together, and how RFB has a “culture that helps staff share the load.”

In Katy’s words, it’s important to “find a place for your heart to rest in seasons like this.” It may not be quiet in her house or among her community choir performances, but her heart and perspective is one you should know more about.

ABQ CoroLux https://abqcorolux.org/

Roadrunner Food Bank of NM https://www.rrfb.org/

Phia Smith, Executive Director, Somos Unidos Foundation

Phia so elegantly brings both the “head and the heart” to her work and has a genuine presence that encourages the belief that she is capable of truly big things. As she spoke about her trajectory into this ED position, “Tia Phia: relays her deep faith in how building relationships is the core of it all – both her emotional, very lively human experience with others, and her work of uplifting young athletes. But – it’s not actually about sport, as you’ll hear. The Academy under the Foundation is the only fully scholarshiped program in the USL(!) and seeks to provide the best path forward for those players, never loosing sight of the possibilities that mentorship and emotional intelligence can bring forth in young folks. Phia is that person that centers their needs and the needs of the larger community. She amplifies the work of other organizations, coordinates unique Academy events (see: TOPSoccer), and represents the Somos Unidos spirit in a powerful, hopeful way. Learn more about where Vintage United comes in, why experimentation in the nonprofit sector is important, and why Phia “moves for joy” across New Mexico and wants others to join her.