A community of nonprofits has moved to Bernalillo

The New Mexico Conference of Churches has purchased a building to share with other nonprofit organizations at 336 North Camino del Pueblo in Bernalillo. [This is the former home of the Katrina Lasko Gallery.] The New Mexico Conference of Churches (NMCC) is a statewide ecumenical organization of Roman Catholics and Protestants and has been in New Mexico for over fifty years. NMCC played a central role in the establishment of Roadrunner Food Bank, The Storehouse, The New Mexico Community Development Loan Fund, Encino Houses, and other significant organizations that serve those most in need. A current focus is on youth at-risk and their families through our program Congregation and Community Outreach of New Mexico (www.nmchurches.org).

Two other nonprofits are sharing the Bernalillo building. Health Action New Mexico (HANM) is a nonprofit advocacy organization that believes in affordable, accessible, quality health care for all people living in New Mexico. As the lead agency and fiscal agent for the “Health Care for All” campaign in New Mexico, HANM is committed to real reform of the current health system, equality of access for all people, and managing the cost of health care (www.healthactionnn.org).

The other nonprofit, the Human Needs Coordinating Council (www.hncc.org), is a statewide organization composed of over twelve hundred advocacy organizations, churches, clinics, pueblos, government agencies, service providers, and individuals working together for twenty years to improve the quality of life for New Mexicans. They envision “a New Mexico in which both the public and private sectors work together in a culturally-sensitive and culturally-competent manner to provide quality services and equitable support for all New Mexicans.”

The building offers a wireless accessible conference room, charming patio, meditation room, and full kitchen available to community groups. This new community of nonprofits will be of great benefit to New Mexicans and is very happy to be located in Bernalillo and Sandoval County.

For further information, call Julian Phillips at 867-2956.

New Mexico loses ground in fight against prostate cancer

With a lack of attention to the cause by elected officials, New Mexico joins the list of states with failing grades in this year’s Prostate Cancer Report Card, issued in June by the National Prostate Cancer Coalition (NPCC). The report assessed the state of the disease in each of the fifty states and the District of Columbia, and assigned a grade based on critical areas like mortality and screening rates, support for prostate cancer-related legislation, and accessibility to urologists and clinical trial sites.

“The fact that New Mexico has failed highlights the fact that policymakers need to make prostate cancer a priority,” said NPCC CEO Richard N. Atkins, MD. “The only highlight for New Mexico is that it scored well in the number of urologists per capita and got an ‘A’ in the number of clinical trial sites.”

In order to determine each state’s commitment to the fight against prostate cancer, priority was given to mortality and screening rates, followed by legislative support, and then accessibility to urologists and clinical trial sites statewide.