Ariel Lehi, a fellow with the Las Vegas Community Foundation and the Anquorum Health and Wellness Initiative, told the New Mexico House Health & Human Services Committee on July 16 that the foundation has directed donor funds into short-term relief and long-term recovery projects across San Miguel and Mora counties.
Lehi said the foundation distributed $332,000 in year-one donor-advised grants from Anquorum to 18 projects in the two counties and has overseen other grantmaking that adds to more than $1.5 million awarded locally since 2020. "We were fortunate to be able to get grant money circulating in the community back in February," Lehi said.
The nut of Lehi’s presentation was twofold: use some funding for immediate needs such as the Samaritan House shelter while directing seed money at upstream solutions like a housing and land trust. She told lawmakers the foundation secured $100,000 in seed money for the trust and recently acquired a 1.2-acre lot on Valencia Street intended for affordable housing development; the foundation described an initial plan for roughly 12 apartments on that parcel.
Lehi also summarized the Encorem Health Foundation partnership: Anquorum has allocated $25 million over four years to five community foundations serving 13 northern New Mexico counties and sovereign nations, the Las Vegas foundation among them, to address social determinants of health including housing, food security and behavioral health. The foundation has hired local fellows to do outreach, grantmaking and data collection in each coverage area; Lehi identified herself as one of two fellows serving San Miguel and Mora counties.
She highlighted recurring needs identified in community listening sessions: behavioral health supports, women’s and maternity services, food security, substance-use recovery, transportation and rural provider recruitment and retention. As an example, Lehi said the foundation’s first grants cycle produced 13 awards, eight of which addressed food security.
Lehi offered several specific asks of the legislature: continued funding for the Maternal Health Bureau at the New Mexico Department of Health; support for the Maternal Mortality Review Committee and for telehealth expansion for maternal-fetal care, including an expansion of the ROAMS (Rural OB Access and Maternal Services) model; support for rural provider recruitment and retention; consideration of capital outlay for a women’s health center to accompany Alta Vista Hospital in Las Vegas; and consideration of the Las Vegas foundation as a partner for distributing Senate Bill 2 funding that targets behavioral health and affordable housing needs.
Lehi closed by encouraging committee members to contact the foundation for project follow-up and said the foundation is expanding staff and capacity to manage the new funding flows. "We are really striving to do a lot of good outreach in our community work to make sure that all parts of our community are served," she said.
Looking ahead, the foundation said it will balance emergency grants with longer-term investments, continue cross-county collaboration, launch a food-security task force and use the Anquorum partnership to leverage additional donor-advised funds and state-level attention.