DEI United
United Way of North Central New Mexico (UWNCNM) and the Albuquerque Community Foundation (ACF) have established DEI United to support, promote and advance diversity, equity and inclusion in north central New Mexico.
COMMUNITY
Community Conversations on race, equity, and inclusionLEADERSHIP
Building Better Boards with People of ColorDEI United: Equity in Leadership Initiative
UWNCNM and ACF support nonprofit leaders impacted by systemic inequities. This is in direct response to identified needs in supporting nonprofit leaders to embed equity, longevity, and health into our local nonprofit ecosystem.
The new and emerging leaders for the initial grant funding in 2024 are:
New Leaders
- Leory Silva, ED/CEO of Laguna Community Foundation
- Michael Trimm, ED/CEO of Transgender Resource Center
- Sonya Bellafant, ED/CEO of NM Legal Aid
- Natasha Garcia, ED/CEO of NM Reentry Center
- Ricardo Devine, ED/CEO of The Rock at Noonday
- Karla Causey, ED/CEO of African American Chamber of Commerce
Emerging Leaders
- Adriana Martinez Guzman of WESST
- Markela B. Clinton of Juneteenth Renaissance Institute
- Camille Vasquez of the Rio Grande Community
- Catalina Nunez of Valencia Shetler Services
- Louisa Garcia of Girl Scouts of NM
Funding provided by
DEI Funds
DEI United is a partnership between UWNCNM and the Albuquerque Community Foundation (ACF) created to support, fund, and advance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion practices in the area each organization serves. The staffs of UWNCNM and ACF have drawn advice from community partners and from the values of Trust-Based Philanthropy to intentionally focus on equity. Please view the About DEI United flyer for a description of the different funding streams within DEI United.
2023 Community Wealth Building Cohort
2023 DEI United Fund Recipients
- smART Classrooms
- La Plazita
- Juneteenth Renaissance Institute
- Dental Care in Your Home
- Black Health New Mexico
- Burque Against Racism
- God’s Warehouse
- International District Economic Development
- International District Health Communities Coalition
- Los Jardines Institute
- TenderLove Community Center
- Together For Brothers
- Umoja Abq
- Working Classroom
- Vizionz Sankofa
History of DEI work at UWNCNM – how do our efforts substantiate our public statements
Help support our efforts by donating to the DEI United Fund today.
Internal training
- UWNCNM partnered with Albuquerque Community Foundation to hire Solfire Consulting Group to conduct a series of 3 trainings entitled Recognizing, Interrupting and Disrupting Inequity in New Mexico (RID) in 2021.
- Approximately 50% of staff completed a 2-day Groundwater Racial Equity Institute training and a 5-day Crucial Conversations training in early 2022. The remaining staff will complete a similar Groundwater training before the end of 2022.
Reflection on Hiring
- Added DEI statement to all job descriptions.
- Reviewed all job descriptions for gender-coded words, re-evaluation of minimum education and experience requirements, driver’s license and travel requirements, physical requirements, and benefits and salary range, to ensure equitable access for all applicants.
- Ensuring a blind review of all resumes by HR removing names and dates of degrees at first stage of review.
Addressing workplace through an equity lens
- Contracted with Solfire Consulting Group to complete an internal assessment of UWCNM from a DEI lens, which led to staff focus groups that informed the creation of 4 workgroups (Organizational Learning, Organizational Culture & Imperative, Inclusive Leadership Development, and Inclusive Grantmaking) that began our journey in 2020.
- Surveyed all staff re: pandemic and workplace culture which led to new policies and changes.
- Ongoing internal learning opportunities for staff include: 1) Establishment of Equity Learning Group that explores and discusses several DEI related books, movies and articles together; 2) Monthly lunchtime learning sessions on DEI topics; and 3) Ongoing work group to address challenges around DEI work.
- In September 2021, hired full time Director of DEI to cement ongoing commitment to DEI as a priority by providing a full-time position to support DEI in all aspects of our work.
- Incorporated DEI into all aspects of new Strategic Plan.
Sharing with the Community
- Developed content for the 21-Day Equity Challenge (daily learning series in conjunction with Albuquerque Community Foundation)
- Conducted Community Conversations with community members around racism and DEI.
- Created statements to be shared publicly around the importance of DEI work, both internally and externally.
Grantmaking process review
- Demographic data was collected on volunteer panelists for grant application reviews.
- Expanded outreach for more diverse recruitment for volunteer panels to review grants.
- Staff began exploring Trust-Based Philanthropy as an equitable grantmaking process in line with our DEI values. Education on TBP continues to be shared with staff and supporters.
