Equipped with safety goggles and work gloves, students at Del Norte High School are discovering their path to success might not be what they pictured. With funding from the Youth Civic Infrastructure initiative, Del Norte High School has partnered with the Local 412 Outreach and Education Foundation to provide unique trade based opportunities for their students. Through this program, the school has developed a curriculum that focuses on hands-on learning in trade skills like welding, soldering, and construction math, setting students up for long term career opportunities.

“We’re always looking to be innovative, progressive, and creative,” said Del Norte High School principal, Eddie Bortot, in recent KOB4 news coverage. “So we’re always looking at different opportunities for our students.” 

The Youth Civic Infrastructure (YCI) program partners nonprofit organizations with New Mexico schools, funding the creation of project-based curriculum. This allows students to gain real world experience working to improve their communities while earning school credit in the process. By focusing on action-oriented research, community engagement, youth leadership and positive impact, partner schools provide valuable education for their students outside of traditional classroom environments.

With the funding and support they receive from the YCI program, educators and nonprofit partners collaborate to design curriculum that supports student learning and aligns with unique community needs. These nonprofits are able to integrate young people more directly into their work. In capstones, internships, and other real-world projects, students are actively contributing to the health and success of their communities while building the skills they need to thrive.

The YCI program provides all grant recipients with $25,000 “Exploration” grants in the first year. The funding is used by the nonprofit and school partners to support student internships, capstone projects, curriculum development, and community engagement. After the first year, grantees have the opportunity to apply for additional funding totalling $150,000, distributed over a three year period. This extended grant allows our nonprofit partners to further deepen and expand student involvement and community impact. In total, we have awarded almost $750,000 to community partners through our YCI fund. 

This year, 35 nonprofit and school partners submitted applications to receive funding for this work. We’d like to congratulate our 14 awardees! This year’s partnerships are:

• New Mexico Dream Team with Siembra Leadership High School
• The Ben Initiative with Dził Ditł’ooí School of Empowerment, Action, and Perseverance (DEAP)
• Fundamental Needs with Kirtland High School
• Encuentro with South Valley Academy Charter School
• Unlock Civics New Mexico with School on Wheels
• Northern New Mexico College with Espanola Valley High School
• Three Sisters Kitchen with Gordon Bernell
• Nacimiento Community Foundation with Cuba High School
• RiverSource with West Las Vegas High School
• Upper Gila Watershed Alliance with Aldo Leopold Charter School
• New Mexico Farmer's Marketing Association with Polk Middle School
• Ngage New Mexico with Mayfield High School
• Local 412 Outreach and Education Foundation with Del Norte High School
• Central Sávila with Robert F. Kennedy Charter School

This cohort represents exciting growth in our program with more than four times as many awardees as last year. Together, they’ll share their learnings and experiences through a Community of Practice group, facilitating growth and community across the partnerships and across the state.

The YCI program funds important work in our schools and communities. Through hands-on learning and real-world experiences, students gain valuable education outside the traditional classroom environment while fulfilling graduation requirements at the same time. This is made possible by the collaboration of our nonprofit partners, the support of New Mexico schools, and the hard work of the students themselves. We believe in providing our students with the tools and opportunities they need to find their own paths to success, and we’re so excited to see what our talented youth can do!

Youth Civic Infrastructure is made possible by generous funders:

• Albuquerque Community Foundation
• Anchorum
• Annie E. Casey Foundation
• Bernalillo County
• Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico
• Cricket Island Foundation
• Las Vegas Community Foundation
• McCune Foundation
• New Mexico Community Trust
• Ressia Foundation
• United Way of North Central New Mexico