United Way of North Central New Mexico (UWNCNM) is working across Santa Fe and nearby counties to support neighborhoods in building stronger safety nets, food systems, and leadership. This effort is all about transformative community investment by backing projects that are led by residents themselves to create real, long-term improvements.
Catalyzing Change Across Five Counties
United Way serves Bernalillo, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Torrance, and Valencia counties. Instead of deciding for communities, they partner with them. This community-driven system means residents help choose what’s funded and how it works, ensuring projects are designed for real local needs. The goal is to support long-term change by building trust and working alongside communities instead of relying on traditional top-down approaches.
UWNCNM recently hosted a gathering called the Mosaic Celebration, featuring a film entitled The Gift of Trust. It shows how trusting local leaders can open doors to creative, effective solutions. You’ll find more about the film and what they’ve learned from this approach later in the article.
How Their Model Works
United Way of North Central New Mexico uses a different approach to funding and partnership, one that helps develop trust and local knowledge. Their model supports long-term solutions created and led by the communities themselves.
Resilient Communities Work in Santa Fe and Valencia County
Think of this as a new way to give grants. Instead of one-time checks with many rules, they give multi-year grants with fewer restrictions. Local advisory councils made up of people who live in the areas review and choose projects. This trust-based philanthropy model removes the usual red tape so organizations can act fast and smart on what their community really needs.
“Existing Differently”
The philosophy of “Existing Differently” means not just doing things the usual way. It’s about respecting local identity and working with communities, not just for them. It’s rooted in ideas like dignity-based programming and cultural identity community building, which mean programs treat people with respect and connect to who they are and where they come from. Instead of relying on traditional aid models that often overlook local context, they support new systems grounded in dignity and community wisdom.
Five Drivers Helping Santa Fe Communities Grow Stronger
Here are five areas where the United Way is focusing to help neighborhoods become stronger and more self-sufficient:
Economic Self-Reliance
They support projects that help families build stability. This includes small business support, job training, or local entrepreneurship. The idea is that people use their own skills and knowledge to build financial stability.
Food Sovereignty
Communities are growing, choosing, and preparing their own food. This taps into traditional farming and Indigenous knowledge, empowering people to reconnect with their food sources.
Grassroots Leadership
The idea here is simple. Give decision-making power to local people. Residents who live the challenges get to lead the solutions. This is what community self-reliance and grassroots leadership development mean in practice.
Mutual Support and Cultural Connection
Projects often aim to build networks where people help each other and celebrate who they are. Supporting one another helps communities feel stronger together and more connected.
New Ways of Working
Communities test creative, locally built projects that are often unlike anything done before. By doing things their own way, they spark new ideas that can grow into bigger changes.
Local Impact: Santa Fe and Valencia County Case Studies
The Resilient Communities model is already shaping change across Northern New Mexico. In both Santa Fe and Valencia counties, local organizations are leading efforts that reflect community priorities and long-term resilience.
Santa Fe County
Seven local organizations are using this model to make change:
- Bienvenidos Outreach helps people grow food in vertical towers, along with training to care for the plants and themselves.
- Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute brings fresh produce directly to neighborhoods that lack easy grocery access using a mobile market model.
- Santa Fe Indigenous Center supports urban Native residents with food distributions, emergency financial assistance, and job assistance rooted in Indigenous traditions.
- Earth Care New Mexico runs programs focused on food justice and awareness, working to strengthen food sovereignty in neighborhoods along the Airport Road corridor.
- Three Sisters Collective/Full Circle Farm is run by women growing ancestral seeds and teaching youth about their roots.
- Mother Nature Center works with elementary schools to teach food systems including composting, gardening, and sharing seeds.
- Poeh Cultural Center revives traditional farming and culinary techniques in Pojoaque Pueblo.
These efforts show how food sovereignty, participatory decision-making, and community identity work together in real life.
Valencia County
Three groups in Valencia have also been supported:
- Cotton Blossom Farm teaches sustainable agriculture and celebrates local food traditions.
- Valencia Community Action Network (VCAN) builds community gardens and set up systems to use produce that might otherwise be wasted.
- Valencia County Community Fund invests in neighborhood projects that help families and the local economy.
These projects show how the Santa Fe model can adapt and grow in other nearby communities.
Spreading the Model
United Way of North Central New Mexico is actively sharing the approach they have developed with other regions interested in community-driven change. By creating a clear framework, they provide practical tools, guidelines, and real-world examples that other organizations can adapt to their own communities.
This effort aims to make it easier for others to adopt trust-based philanthropy and replicable community development models that focus on empowering local leaders. Through this sharing, UWNCNM hopes to inspire more places to embrace funding strategies that prioritize trust, collaboration, and long-term impact.
What They’ve Learned: The Gift of Trust
In a recent short documentary called The Gift of Trust, United Way of North Central New Mexico shares the story of how its Resilient Communities initiative came to life. Through real examples and reflections from community partners, the film captures the shift from traditional grant-making to a model rooted in local decision-making and long-term relationships. As shown in the film, trust became the foundation for collaboration, creativity, and measurable collective impact.
Measuring Real Success
Instead of relying just on numbers, United Way listens to the communities about what matters:
- Material results include improved access to food and new job paths.
- Intangible results include renewed pride, stronger ties between neighbors, and restored dignity.
These indicators reflect community resilience metrics and highlight holistic impact assessments, ways to track success that respect local definitions of well-being.
How You Can Help
There are several ways individuals and organizations can get involved. You can donate to support local nonprofits working on community-led solutions, or volunteer with one of the organizations funded through the Resilient Communities initiative. Another way to contribute is by advocating for trust-based philanthropy in Santa Fe, helping to raise awareness about the importance of trust, equity, and community leadership in creating meaningful change. Details and sign-up options are available on UWNCNM’s website.
Looking Ahead
United Way of North Central New Mexico is moving toward a future where communities lead their own development. They are working to highlight Indigenous sovereignty and local voices as they grow. They plan to keep supporting long-term grassroots innovation as this community-led development future expands.
By building on community wisdom, supporting local voices, and funding with trust, UWNCNM is showing a powerful way forward. These neighborhoods are not just recipients. They are leaders driving meaningful, lasting change together.
To learn more or become part of this growing movement, visit Trust-Based Philanthropy: A Path Toward Resilient Communities and see how trust, partnership, and local leadership are reshaping what community change can look like.
STORY SPONSORED BY UNITED WAY NORTH CENTRAL NEW MEXICO
