The Northern New Mexico Youth Fund was created by the Northern New Mexico Pathways to Opportunity Strategy Table to strengthen initiatives that support young people ages 13 to 29 in Northern New Mexico to thrive at school, work, and home. The Fund aims to give all youth and young adults, especially underserved youth and young adults, who face the steepest barriers to success, the connections, opportunities, and confidence they need to reach their potential.
To do this, the Youth Fund pools philanthropic, state, tribal and federal funding to provide grants to a cohort of eligible entities to implement either a Career Technical Education (CTE) project or a Work-Based Learning (WBL) project focused on youth of color, opportunity youth, young parents and other underserved youth ages 13 through 29. Efforts funded by these grants must integrate youth leadership development and transition supports.
The Department is the first public partner in the Fund, with the $500,000 investment being dedicated to programs that meet the requirements of the CBF. The Department’s Deputy Secretary sits on the grant review committee in order to ensure that all DWS funds are deployed for CBF-eligible programs.