The ABQ Accent

The ABQ Accent | EP 47 - Dr. Shelle Sanchez, Director, CABQ Arts and Culture & Tania Armenta, CEO, Visit ABQ

Dr. Shelle Sanchez, Director, CABQ Arts and Culture & Tania Armenta, CEO, Visit ABQ All combined, Shelle and Tania have been supporting ABQ, visitors, and the arts for over 60 years. Here we focused on their collaboration to celebrate the National Route 66 Centennial. The highlight of this celebration is Route 66 Remixed, an “arts fieldtrip” across 18 miles of Rt 66 here in ABQ – 26 stops, 18 interactive experiences with poetry, sculptures, etc. You can find the hand-drawn map guide at the ABQ Visitor’s Center, libraries, and Blake’s. Thanks to a massive marketing campaign, during the Centennial they expect to welcome national and international travelers even among several big events happening nation-wide (read: World Cup). There will be special events, local wines (!), fun swag and all of it can be found on the website for which a great investment was made. This inter-generational experience “celebrates and enhances the quality of life along with bringing in outside dollars – all while highlighting artists to tell that story.” An extra fun not: Babies born at Presbyterian, on Rt 66 get a Rt 66 onesie! We highly encourage locals to check out Route 66 Remixed installments first-hand – and, see how this whole celebration sets the stage for our future, too. Shelle and Tania are sure to express their gratitude to the teams behind this effort - arts agencies, governments, sponsors, property owners etc – because you can “never to big things by yourself.” Everything here: Route66abq.com

The ABQ Accent | EP 46 - Spring Volunteer Fest 2026

Spring Volunteer Fest Podcast Panel Carolyn Thompson, Community Engagement Coordinator, Animal Welfare Tamara Williams, Erna Ferguson Librarian Nikki Peone - Associate Director, Senior Affairs The theme of this panel, our second live recording of the podcast, was reflecting on how volunteers are critical to addressing issues across our city. Each of our guests manages several projects or programs and offered the most endearing and important volunteer stories. They also have important information about unique needs and how volunteers are critical to address these needs. Whether they discussed kitten feeding, youth literacy, or supporting older adult needs in and out of the home, the panelists highlighted that volunteers themselves find human connection and purpose in their service. Hundreds of volunteers engage with these departments and most become deeply connected to this work or special projects. There are so many outstanding FREE services these City departments provide to our community, and much of it wouldn’t be possible without the support of volunteers. Check out their opportunities and more at oneabqvolunteers.com. It’s a wonderful way to create memories and connections. Notes: High needs for Senior Affairs: drivers for field trips and appointments, help in the Senior Center kitchens, yard clean ups Over 36,000 folks are registered on our website with City departments and more than 540 ongoing opportunities with community partners The economic impact of volunteer hours July 2024-June 205 = $2.7 million! Volunteer with us https://www.oneabqvolunteers.com/ Senior Affairs: https://www.cabq.gov/seniors/senior-volunteer Animal Welfare: https://www.oneabqvolunteers.com/awd Read to the Dogs/Libraries: https://www.oneabqvolunteers.com/manager/agency/edit/?agency_id=107270

The ABQ Accent | EP 45 - Ethan Watson

Happy National City Clerk’s Week!  CABQ City Clerk, Ethan, is a calming, distinct kind of presence and the first person to join us for a second episode, with good reason. (Check out Ep. #28 to listen to our first episode together.) Here we learn more about him and the awareness he has of our larger information systems and the efforts he makes to improve both processes and public education. With a 70% increase in Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA) requests, the Clerk’s office staff is feeling the pressure. Ethan describes how this also impacts all requesters in the amount of time they have to wait for a response. Out of state revenue-driven requests are a huge portion of requests and the public is paying the price. Clerk’s staff balances many inquiries with their capacity and Ethan is plays a pivotal role in helping the public understand that balance and also innovate around changes to the larger process. Locally, Ethan is part of a legislative task force to review IPRA and will be working with Clerks in other states to better understand the situation at hand. Nationally, Ethan presents best practices at conferences and has received the CMC certification (the first service CABQ Clerk to do so) and an Excellence in Governance Award. Ethan’s department also supports elections, the public financing program, and hearings. One fun note is that the Clerk’s office supports the process of speed citations being taken care of via community service – reflected by over 20,000 hours being put into our community. Enjoy this episode to level up your understanding of this important office and the wildly intelligent gentleman at the helm. See the new IPRA report here: https://www.cabq.gov/clerk/news/out-of-state-requests-consume-disproportionate-staff-time Speeding citation? Sign up for community service here: https://www.cabq.gov/automated-speed-enforcement/community-service-information CABQ City Clerk: https://www.cabq.gov/clerk

The ABQ Accent | EP 44 - Delaney Swink

Delaney Swink, Director of Volunteer/Pro Bono Services and Fundraising for the NM Immigrant Law Center   A love of travel, languages, gender studies, and the desert brought Delaney to NM by way of Oregon, Chile, and Morocco. Now at the NMILC Delaney is finding volunteers and donors to support the many programs they offer. NMILC provides free legal services to low-income immigrants statewide focusing on humanitarian and asylum relief. Her volunteer program has a robust screening and onboarding program for everyone who comes through so they can focus on the quality of services. Please be in touch with Delaney if you would like to support this work financially or with your acute legal counsel, and Spanish-speaking talents. With their 15th anniversary coming up, Delaney and their team have a lot of celebrating ahead! Throughout her work it’s evident that she centers community need, access to justice, and intentional partnerships. Here she also takes time to highlight the work to build the Family Preparedness program and how it fits the needs of NM and indeed assists folks in preparing for the worst case: a deportation scenario. Listening to Delaney chat about what has influenced her politics and worldly perspective is a reminder of how connected we all are – and that one can find a meaningful place in work and life by paying attention to the humanity of others.   Register for the April 8 NMILC Fundraiser at the Albuquerque Museum: https://www.nmilc.org/upcoming-events/albuquerque-museum-nmilc-fundraising-night [https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.nmilc.org/upcoming-events/albuquerque-museum-nmilc-fundraising-night__;!!NP4sBCZuIqfEUaWI!GOtgqL7eWNKN5rcrce2vKGvWdBjkij7XU6qXhb3g28_8Lbp9EgPT9ovnsW0JAaciDHHXAGC_jgIkDZo$]   NMILC resources, including the Family Preparedness Toolkit: https://www.nmilc.org/toolkit [https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.nmilc.org/toolkit__;!!NP4sBCZuIqfEUaWI!GOtgqL7eWNKN5rcrce2vKGvWdBjkij7XU6qXhb3g28_8Lbp9EgPT9ovnsW0JAaciDHHXAGC_ysvy27I$] ABQ Museum exhibit: https://www.cabq.gov/artsculture/albuquerque-museum/exhibitions-1/exhibitions [https://www.cabq.gov/artsculture/albuquerque-museum/exhibitions-1/exhibitions] Additional notes about agencies Delaney volunteers with: - ABQ Mutual Aid: http://www.ffol.org/ [https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/www.ffol.org/__;!!NP4sBCZuIqfEUaWI!GOtgqL7eWNKN5rcrce2vKGvWdBjkij7XU6qXhb3g28_8Lbp9EgPT9ovnsW0JAaciDHHXAGC_VRu1nzM$]  * The Honor Native Land Tax – Delaney helped launch HNLT in 2020 with Albuquerque Showing up for Racial Justice (ABQ SURJ), and continues to do organizing work with them https://www.abqsurj.org/about-the-hnlt [https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.abqsurj.org/about-the-hnlt__;!!NP4sBCZuIqfEUaWI!GOtgqL7eWNKN5rcrce2vKGvWdBjkij7XU6qXhb3g28_8Lbp9EgPT9ovnsW0JAaciDHHXAGC_mz71iLs$] HNLT fundraises to support Indigenous organizations on Tiwa Land – the Pueblo Action Alliance and The Red Nation. By redistributing resources the HNLT offers a chance for settlers to make an ongoing contribution to Indigenous movements for land, water, and futures. This is a cross-class project that allows people to contribute financially on a sliding scale basis.     Corrections per Delaney: The NM Habeas Project is in collaboration with the ACLU NM and other partners like Innovation Law Lab and Vecina, along with others. The Albuquerque Museum's "Detention Nation" exhibit is a “multi-media” exhibit

The ABQ Accent | EP 43 - Katy Anderson

Katy Anderson, VP of Strategy, Partnerships & Advocacy, Roadrunner Foodbank of NM   Having worked at Roadrunner over 12 years, Katy Anderson has been a part of many innovative and important systems change around food access and security. She’s a big part of our state and national advocacy platforms and does the deep work to address the needs of marginalized populations.   Katy and her team utilize data and relationships, research from the social vulnerability index among others, and coalition-building strategies to determine how well needs are being met. Yup, it’s a lot of great work. Check out this episodes to learn more about how Katy is telling the story about need, bringing advocates together, and how RFB has a “culture that helps staff share the load.”   In Katy’s words, it’s important to “find a place for your heart to rest in seasons like this.” It may not be quiet in her house or among her community choir performances, but her heart and perspective is one you should know more about.   ABQ CoroLux https://abqcorolux.org/ [https://abqcorolux.org/] Roadrunner Food Bank of NM https://www.rrfb.org/ [https://www.rrfb.org/]