2007 Lights On New Mexico Summary

Throughout the state of New Mexico the Lights were on for Afterschool in October. Individual afterschool sites and larger group gathering dotted the landscape. With the assistance of the New Mexico Forum for Youth in Community, the Afterschool Alliance and the national Afterschool Ambassador, lights bulb pins flashed and posters and banners were distributed to 12 regions of New Mexico.

The success of this years events began with the Lights On Afterschool float in the New Mexico State Fair Parade, along with the Display at the fair encouraging the importance of supporting Afterschool throughout New Mexico. This year, there were 38 registered Lights On Afterschool events held across New Mexico, of which all but 2 were connected to the New Mexico Out-of-School Time Network through the New Mexico Forum for Youth in Community. This years theme was, “Celebrating Afterschool Programs, Recognizing Key Champions”.

There were estimated 3,000 and 4,000 attendees at all of the events combined. speakers across the state included mayors, city councilors, state representatives, and state senators, along with principals, teachers, program managers, and parents, and Mark Wonder from Senator Jeff Bingaman’s office all pledging to continue supporting afterschool programs for our youth.

The New Mexico Forum for Youth in Community would like to thank the following programs and cities for their participation in the New Mexico Lights On Afterschool event:

• Albuquerque Community Learning Centers Project, Albuquerque
• Appletree Education Center, Truth or Consequences
• Aztec Boys Girls Club - Teen Center, Aztec
• BECC, Aztec
• Boys Girls Clubs of Acoma Pueblo, Pueblo of Acoma
• Boys Girls Club of Bloomfield, Bloomfield
• Boys Girls Club of Dine Nation - Hanaadli Youth Center, Nageezi
• Boys and Girls of Farmington, Farmington
• Boys Girls Club of Las Cruces, Las Cruces
• Boys and Girls Club of Otero County, Alamogordo
• CAFE Community And Family Enrichment Afterschool, Alamogordo
• Citizen Schools, Albuquerque
• DeBaca Youth Opportunity Center, Ft.Sumner
• Discovery Afterschool Program, Taos
• Farmington Public Library, Farmington
• Farmington Boys & Girls Club, Farmington
• HAFB School Age Program, Holloman/Alamogordo
• Holloman Youth Teen Center, Holloman/Alamogordo
• Laguna Department of Education, Pueblo of Laguna
• Laguna Middle School, Pueblo of Laguna
• MADD Youth in Action, Farmington
• Mosaic Academy, Aztec
• Native American Community Academy, Albuquerque
• Navajo Elementary Afterschool, Navajo
• New Mexico Forum for Youth in Community, Albuquerque
• Rocky Mountain Youth Corps, Taos
• Roosevelt County Youth Opportunity Center, Portales
• San Juan County Partnership, Farmington
• Santa Fe Public Schools, Santa Fe
• Santo Domingo School 21st CCLC, Santo Domingo
• Teen Zone, Farmington
• West Las Vegas 21st Century Community Learning Center, Las Vegas
• Youth Opportunity Center, Clovis

Supporting programs also involved in events included,

• 4-H programs
• Albuquerque-Bernalillo Community Partnership
• Albuquerque Community Centers
• Albuquerque Public Schools
• Americorps*Vista Volunteers
• Bernalillo County Recreation Programs
• Big Brothers Big Sisters
• New Mexico Department of Children Youth and Families, Children’s Trust Fund
• New Mexico Public Education Department, 21st Century Programs
• Youth Development, Incorporated
• YMCA of Central New Mexico
• Voices for Children

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Field Summaries from LoA Partners (partial list):

Bernalillo
In Albuquerque two Lights On events highlighted the importance of Afterschool time and Afterschool programs, one event was held at the Native American Community Academy (NACA) site and there were activities for the kids and information and resource booths for parents and several speakers were highlighted. The Governors Proclamation was read by the Afterschool Ambassador and the Principal spoke about the importance of having quality afterschool programs. A representative from Senator Jeff Bingaman’s Office read a special message from the Senator pledging his on-going support of Afterschool time and programs. A representative also spoke about the New Mexico Integrated school services programs that are new to New Mexico. Children had performances and made presentations they had been working on in the NACA afterschool program, the dance and drum group performed. The event ended with a pizza dinner, considering the weather the attendance was good. The other event in Albuquerque was held at the Barelas Community Center on October 25, 2007 and called the Albuquerque Community Learning Centers Fall Harvest Festival. This event highlighted the need for Quality Afterschool programs and the importance of keeping the “Lights On”. This mini-Carnival offered several hands on activities for kids with prizes, costume contests, cake walks. Speakers highlighted the importance of Afterschool time. Some of the Albuquerque sponsors who participated were, Walkers Popcorn, New Mexico Rail Runner, Police Crime Prevention Unit, The Forest Service (BIA), and Hinkle Family Fun Center.

Grants
The Afterschool writing club ages 12-18 youth held an event for Lights On at a local city park where they had a screening of a movie, pizza and LOA prizes were given out to promote Lights On to parents and other community members. Invitations were sent out to the local school districts, city officials and parents.

San Juan
Lights on After School in Farmington, New Mexico October 18, 2007 "Celebrating New Mexico Afterschool Programs, Recognizing Key Champions" Certificates were issued to all our key champions at the event.

The Farmington Public Library teens with help from Vista Cadre Farmington RPO presented several events throughout San Juan County on October 18, 2007 for Lights on After School. The events took place between 4:00pm to 7:00pm at the library and at several locations.

Mosaic Academy in Aztec and BECC Family Center in Bloomfield was host to the teens who provided daycare for 21st Century and read stories to the youth and provided them with a hands-on craft activity.

Teen Zone – Movie Marathon and Guitar Hero at the Farmington Public Library.

Vista Cadre – Showed kids movies and offered a hands-on activity to make a haunted house in the Library Laboratory at the Farmington Public Library. Live homework help tutoring was available on computer stations with teens showing youth how to access the information. The event was also hosted at the Boys & Girls Club Power Library with teens volunteering from the Mayor’s Teen Advisory Council.

MADD Youth In Action – Mayor’s Teen Advisory Council and New Mexico Youth Alliance member, Anna Doherty along with volunteers distributed safety information and painted faces at the Downtown Association Halloween Safety program.

DeBaca County
The DeBaca County LOA Event was a success, we had 100 people attend and participate. We had an open house at the PIT which is a recreation center, with the help of the PIT director Lydia Nieto. The proclamation was done at the city council meeting prior to the LOA by Mayor Juan Chavez. We had lots of food (pizza, cookies, sodas), and we had pool table games, video games, coloring, and other games, and we did great door prizes which included a Portable DVD player, Backpacks filled with school supplies, family oriented board games. We were able to do this thanks to our wonderful community assistance; Village of Fort Sumner, Fort Sumner Eagles, TeamBuilders Counseling, Pauline Finney(Fort Sumner Housing), among others volunteer efforts. The kids in our community really enjoyed this event and hope to continue the tradition in the future!!

Roosevelt County
The Roosevelt County LOA event was held at the Portales Recreation Center from 5-7pm with a ceremonial lighting ceremony at 7pm. The event was held as an open house for the Recreation Center and the Youth Opportunity Center. Johnny Ledbetter, Director of the Portales Recreation Center estimated we had around 219 attendees. Everyone attending received a souvenir and had free refreshments. There were fun activities and games for all to enjoy. Family movies, DVD’s and board games were also given to attendees as door prizes. The City Commission read and signed the Proclamation at their regular meeting.

Curry County
The Curry County LOA event consisted of several activities for the youth to participate such as face painting, musical chairs, a hoop shoot, and a demonstration from a martial arts afterschool program. We had three grand prizes donated by Hank Baskett Jr. which were autographed by his son Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Hank Baskett III. There was plenty of food and drinks donated for our youth to enjoy and our community event was a success with over 200 people that joined for the LOA event. This City commission read and signed the Proclamation at the regular meeting and it was received by one of our youth program participants. We partnered with the school district, United Way and other afterschool programs to provide a celebration of afterschool in Curry County.

Taos
Taos, celebrated "Lights on Afterschool" week. We had a week filled with radio spots which helped us to have a week of "word of mouth" highlighting afterschool programs. We were honored by the school boards of Taos, Questa and Penasco as well as Governor Bill Richardson who declared October 18, 2007 "Lights on Afterschool Day. We had on-site celebrations with parent participation potlucks, cake, Child ID Fingerprinting and the coloring of Light Bulbs to send to our Representatives.

On October 20, 2007, we had a community awareness event at the Taos Youth and Family Center. The Discovery Afterschool Program, Girltime, Rocky Mountain Youth Corps, Boys and Girls Club, Somos Youth Mentoring, Taos Youth Music School, Twirl, Fun with Clay Art and ECHO for Kids all gathered for a carnival featuring games, face painting, tattoos, clay art, mask making, Halloween crafts, music production equipment, a "Fun with Science" magic show and a visit from seven foot tall Mannie the Monster. Much fun was had by all and it was a tremendous experience to come together to highlight and showcase our individual programs which serve the Taos community and it's youth.

We feel that it is our responsibility to offer the next generation of our beautiful and diverse community with as many opportunities as possible so that they can grow and become active and productive adults. It was an honor and a privilege to be a part of Lights On Afterschool 2007.

Truth or Consequences
Sierra County Lights on Afterschool was celebrated Monday October 15 at AppleTree Educational Center. In a program that celebrated legislatures, teachers, TEACH scholars and local agencies for their work in the area of Early Childhood Development, champions of After School programming were also acknowledged and honored. Mayor Lori Montgomery spoke in support of providing quality out of school time programming in this community and to present a proclamation for “Keeping the Lights On Afterschool”. This year we are recognizing Afterschool Champions in our Region. One of our key Champion is Senator John Arthur Smith who pledged on going support.

Santa Fe
Light on Afterschool was celebrated at ten district schools and was a great success. Families, staff, children and community members joined in to participate in fun activities, eat healthy snacks and meet and greet the staff. Each site had a unique program which highlighted hands on learning and projects, contributions from partners and community, and the work that staff and students have done during this semester. One site had a Bilingual Resource Fair which featured community based organizations providing information and resources, dinner, food for families and was attended by over 100 children and adults.

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For more information please contact:

Michael Lujan, Director of Network Support, Out of School Time Network
mlujan@nmforumforyouth.org
(505) 821-3574
(505) 242-2776 (FAX)