New Mexico Women's Foundation

Recent Press Releases

Fall 2008 Request for Proposals

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 30, 2008
Good through September 8, 2008

CONTACT: Christian Leahy, Executive Director; (505)983.6155; info@nmwf.org

Help for New Mexico Women To Make Their Dreams Come True
The New Mexico Women’s Foundation (NMWF) announced today that it is accepting grant applications for its Women’s Cottage Industries Program from now until September 8. Grant guidelines may be obtained online at www.nmwf.org or by calling (505) 983-6155.

“If a woman can make and sell something, she and her family will never go hungry,” says Sue Breslauer emphatically. Breslauer knows of what she speaks. As Chair of the Foundation’s Grants Committee, she has been an integral part of a team of volunteers that is working overtime to create a more abundant life for New Mexico’s women and girls — especially in these times of economic hardship.

To be eligible, the applicant will be a group or organization, including guilds, cooperatives, and/or other community projects, located in New Mexico that helps women participate in, and/or develop, cottages industries. Cottage industries include service businesses like catering, or craft-making such as weaving, pottery, jewelry making and sewing, among many others. Groups must qualify under the 501(c)3 tax-exempt section of the Internal Revenue Code or have a 501(c)3 fiscal agent.

“The Women’s Cottage Industries Program makes seed grants to nonprofit organizations and programs throughout the state that strengthen and support groups of three or more women coming together to develop cottage industries within their local communities,” explains Christian Leahy, executive director of the Foundation.

“With gas prices as they are, I believe it’s more critical than ever to support vision and initiative rising up from the local level,” Leahy continues. “In our grantmaking we do just that. We help women remain in their communities and earn a living in a way that gives expression to their ingenuity and leadership.”

In addition to seed grants, NMWF provides education and onsite mentoring to grantees through its WE Learn™ (Women Entrepreneurs Learn™) program, and creates distinctive product distribution outlets for women artisans, including its signature Rag Rug Festivals & Design Collectives, held annually in Santa Fe, Las Cruces and Farmington.

Previous recipients include Kewa Co-op in Santo Domingo Pueblo; Espanola Valley Fiber Arts Center in Espanola; Southwest Women’s Fiber Arts Collective in Silver City; Women’s Intercultural Center in Anthony; Southwest Creations Collaborative in Albuquerque; Palomas Family Cooperative in Columbus; and Tejedoras de Las Trampas in Las Trampas.

“Cottage industries in New Mexico often draw from traditions that have been handed down from generation to generation. We have a significant opportunity here at the Foundation to strengthen the weave of our communities by supporting the preservation of traditions and the dreams of women that have the potential to expand their income,” concludes Breslauer.

2008 Santa Fe Rag Rug Festival and Design Collective

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 7, 2008
Good through Aug 16, 2008

CONTACT: Frieda Arth, Rag Rug Festival Producer, New Mexico Women’s Foundation; (505) 995-8926; frieda@nmwf.org

Robidoux Baskets Will Be Featured At Rag Rug Festival & Design Collective
Barbara Robidoux chooses her words carefully. She says she doesn’t like talking about herself, and this is followed by a long pause.

This is a telephone interview, so we can both hear each other breathing while we wait. Robidoux breaks the silence. “I make baskets, traditional baskets out of ash and sweet grass. I use a traditional Cherokee way of making baskets, and I am from the Eastern band of Cherokee,” she says. “Oh, and I also make pine needle baskets, and sometimes I make them from willow and pine.” There’s another pause as she collects her thoughts. “Both the willows and pine needles come from here (Santa Fe),” she says, adding, “I only use natural materials, which I gather by myself.”

During the day, Robidoux is hardly by herself. She is quite a busy woman. For the past 15 years, she has worked in the counselor’s office at the Santa Fe Indian School. While she would never say so, this job is an important one. Counseling young children and youth and introducing them to important options in their lives is clearly important work.

She quickly shifts the interview back to basket making. “I learned how to make baskets (on the) Passamaquoddy (reservation) in Maine,” Robidoux says. “We always sat and made baskets as a group. The designs I use are traditional, but some are melded Cherokee and Passamaquoddy designs.

“Using these designs together has been my teacher. I also do some contemporary work using ash and sweet grass.

“The main thing is that my baskets are to be used. They are made to be taken into the garden. To carry things. I’m a utilitarian. These baskets are not meant to sit on the shelf. They get lonely. They need to be touched and made use of.”

Robidoux explains that there is a basket-making group at the Poeh Center in Pojoaque NM. “We call ourselves the Rio Grande Native American Basket Makers Association. We have a gathering once a year, but mostly we meet informally. “Making baskets is not lonely,” she says. “It settles me down. I try to let my mind relax. The baskets have a way of making themselves.

“I’m a really active person. Like today, I’m going to put a floor in my hen house to help keep the baby chicks warm. And, I’m also a bee-keeper. And a poet. I have a book called “Waiting for Rain.”

“Basket-making was given to me by an elder and it has been in my life to help me. I was told, ‘Now you’ll never be hungry and you’ll always be able to get what you need’.” So far, the prophecy has come true. Robidoux weaves her baskets in a number of different shapes, including boxes and trays.

Her work, which usually sells out quickly, will be on view and for sale at the upcoming Rag Rug Festival & Design Collective August 15-17 at the Stewart Udall Center for Museum Resources, 725 Camino Lejo on Museum Hill in Santa Fe.

The festival will feature handmade products of nearly 100 women artisans in 35 booths. It is sponsored by the New Mexico Women’s Foundation and is one of four such events held throughout the state aimed at creating marketplaces to help women sell their handmade products. In addition to stunning rag rugs and other home furnishings, the Festival will feature fashions and adornments, fun and fine art, and gifts of every description. Plus THREADS: a boutique of vintage and new textiles and other offerings, to benefit Women’s Cottage Industries, a program of New Mexico Women’s Foundation, helping to create a more abundant life for New Mexico’s women and girls.

“Artisans are not charged a commission,” said Christian Leahy, executive director of the foundation. “They keep all of the money they make. New Mexico Women’s Foundation supports organizations and programs that create economic opportunities for New Mexico’s women and girls. Women artisans who are interested in participating in festivals held in Las Cruces, Farmington, Albuquerque or Santa Fe, should contact Frieda Arth at (505) 995-8926 or E-mail her at frieda@nmwf.org.

 

Christian Leahy Named to Lead New Mexico Women’s Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 2, 2008

Christian Leahy Named to Lead New Mexico Women’s Foundation

Christian Leahy, a woman with a background in social action, has been named the new executive director of the New Mexico Women’s Foundation, a statewide organization helping women and girls that’s headquartered in Santa Fe.

“Leahy brings fresh ideas and innovations,” said Frieda Arth, board director for the association. “She has the knowledge and know-how to help NMWF grow and be of service to more women throughout the state.” Leahy, who has lived in Santa Fe for 15 years, noted her strengths are in “program innovation and direction, listening and attending to what is needed, and communicating.”

“I take a holistic view, the 32,000 foot view,” Leahy said. “I’m good at strategic thinking, collaboration, and building relationships and community, whether it be with large donors or grantees at the grassroots level. I have a fierce commitment to helping women and young girls hone their emerging voices, creativity and leadership abilities,” she said. “I now have a remarkable opportunity to use my professional experience to make a real difference in the lives of women and girls throughout the state.”

Leahy said she was a grantee of the NMWF a dozen years ago. “I designed and implemented a literacy and theater project at the New Mexico Women’s Correctional Facility in Grants, which supported women in accessing and telling their stories,” Leahy said. “My goal was to help women bring their insight and needs out of silence to center stage.”

Through the years under Arth’s direction, the NMWF has been applauded for showing enormous depth and dedication.

“It’s one of those rare organizations that is entirely volunteer,” Leahy noted. ”Except for my position as executive director, no one gets paid for anything they do. It’s a place where every cent is used to improve the lives of women and girls in New Mexico.

”To watch it in action is to watch a labor of love,” she continued. “One of the things I’ve been most enjoying is connecting with a circle of women who have been helping to carry the foundation, and to hear the stories of how each one comes with her passion and commitment to bettering the lives of other women.”

One of the main statewide programs of the NMWF is its Women’s Cottage Industries Program, under which Rag Rug Festivals create product outlets for artisans’ output on a statewide basis. These festivals have been touted nationwide through the media as a “real rags to riches” story, which began as a way to help women grow their own businesses literally through weaving rags into rugs and selling them. The festivals now serve as significant sales outlets for women’s handmade products of all kinds.

NMWF also gives women a chance to learn business acumen through helping them learn how to use the money they earn to help feed their families and further education for their children.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to connect with something vital.” Leahy said. “I think there’s a real effort going on here and I’m honored to be a part of making a true difference in the lives of women.”