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Apr 25, 2024 · New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD)

Inmates build bicycles for Santa Rosa Middle School students

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:

Brittany Roembach

Public Information Officer New Mexico Corrections Department

Brittany.roembach@cd.nm.gov

505-382-3541

AJ Jones

Deputy Director

Outdoor Recreation Division

aj.jones@edd.nm.gov

505-709-8037

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

April 25, 2024

Inmates build bicycles for Santa Rosa Middle School students

SANTA ROSA, N.M. – The New Mexico Corrections Department's (NMCD) Guadalupe County Correctional Facility (GCCF) recently assembled more than 100 bicycles for students in Santa Rosa.

The bicycles were purchased using funding from the Outdoor Equity Fund (OEF), the first-of-its-kind grant program aimed at ensuring equitable access to the outdoors for all youth. OEF supports transformative outdoor experiences that foster stewardship and respect for New Mexico's lands, waters, and cultural heritage.

Inmates at GCCF assembled the bicycles in just a few hours, ensuring that Santa Rosa Middle School students have the necessary equipment to fully engage in outdoor activities.

"Projects like these demonstrate the positive impact of investing in both rehabilitation and youth development," said NMCD Cabinet Secretary Alisha Tafoya Lucero. “Our inmates take great pride in contributing to meaningful endeavors that benefit our communities."

Santa Rosa was one of the 52 recipients, from 14 counties across the state, of the OEF in the first round of the fiscal year 2024 grant cycle. Santa Rosa, specifically, received a grant of $40,000. In their grant application, they described the youth program as a catalyst to help low-income students access the outdoors and increase their physical activity.

"The Santa Rosa Middle School program epitomizes the mission of the Outdoor Equity Fund, actively involving young New Mexicans in outdoor experiences," said Karina Armijo, Director of the New Mexico Outdoor Recreation Division (ORD). "By providing essential equipment, such as bicycles and helmets, the program breaks down barriers to outdoor access and nurtures a profound appreciation for nature and the outdoors among participants."

ORD, a division of the New Mexico Economic Development Department (EDD), has granted nearly six million dollars to 250 programs throughout the state, since its creation in 2019.

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