​Today we celebrate the contributions of nonprofits. Nonprofits touch every aspect of our lives:

• from neonatal home visits to hospice;
• from educational enrichment to recreation;
• from providing food, shelter, and essential services in times of crisis to organizing major cultural attractions;
• from health care to home care;
• from local business to global technology.

Nonprofits serve the most vulnerable members of our communities, and tackle the stubborn problems of society. Nonprofits are on the frontlines acknowledging and addressing inequities, within our organizations and within society. Nonprofits are natural allies with government. We all want the same thing—healthy, thriving communities.

Nonprofits contribute to educational outcomes:

• providing early childhood education, after school programs, mentoring, adult literacy training, and GED preparation;
• helping students with clothing and school supplies;
• providing counseling to abused, neglected, and/or grieving children;
• providing adaptive equipment to children with disabilities.

Nonprofits help make it possible for all children to learn.

Nonprofits work to break the cycle of poverty, helping people create opportunities and possibilities for themselves by providing support to participate in the workforce:

• care for dependent family members;
• job training and placement for those who have difficulty entering or re-entering the workforce;
• jobs and support for those who cannot work independently.

People who volunteer with or donate to nonprofits are more likely to experience:
 a greater sense of happiness;
 a stronger sense of purpose, and
 more social connections.
Volunteering lets people contribute to and connect with community.
Volunteering provides opportunities to develop job and leadership skills.
(See “Benefits of Volunteering: 10 Reasons to Volunteer” by Stacey Buttel, July 31, 2023. Visit link.)

Nonprofits contribute to our quality of life by organizing opportunities to interact with the many cultural traditions of New Mexico. In 2018, nonprofits brought $1.86 Billion of out-of-state funding into New Mexico. These funds generated another $1.36 Billion with indirect economic activity as nonprofits bought goods and paid for local services and contractors. Nonprofits generated $3.22 Billion in total economic output. (Economic Impacts of the Nonprofit Sector in New Mexico, 2019, UNM BBER)

Nonprofits make significant contributions to culture, tourism, and the local economies. Nonprofits manage some of our best known events that bring in tourists from across the country and around the world. These events generate over $471 Million in economic activity each year for local businesses.
(Albuquerque Journal 2/8/2023; Journal North 5/11/2023)

Nonprofits contribute to economic development by providing training and loans for new entrepreneurs.

Nonprofits contribute to our quality of life by:

• providing recreational opportunities such as sports leagues, social and service clubs; and
• organizing cultural events such as art, music, and film festivals, literary events, operas, dance and orchestral performances, balloon rallies, and specialty markets.

If you have attended services at a house of worship, or attended the theatre, the Balloon Fiesta, the Mariachi Festival, the Taos Jazz Festival or the Traditional Spanish Market, you can thank a nonprofit.

Nonprofits remind us of our place in the world, working to protect the environment and all its inhabitants.

Nonprofits are an expression of our humanity: providing services to people with disabilities, those who are hungry, experiencing homelessness, struggling with addiction or domestic violence.

Nonprofits step up where our systems fall short. NM nonprofits are creative, innovative, and dedicated.

During the early phase of the pandemic, when everyone was advised to stay home, nonprofits quickly pivoted to help community members. When wildfires displace communities, nonprofits are there to help—and continue helping as people recover and rebuild.

Nonprofits show up every year during the [legislative] session, helping community members to engage in the civic process. Nonprofits are partners with government in service of our communities.

​Nonprofits touch every aspect of our lives.

We are grateful for all that nonprofits do every day for our communities.

$25/hour.

All Teeniors' high school grads are now paid this. It's the minimum that adult workers need to meet their basic needs. I'm so grateful to have reached this goal. And I assure you, if Teeniors can afford this, corporate employers can too.

Almost every social ill we have stems from poverty. I'm ready for the next evolution - past capitalism - past the scarcity mindset that breeds endless, exploitative growth and competition; where businesses are forced to compete with each other relentlessly, at the expense of the people—the workers—who actually make and do almost everything that turns a profit for the owners.

A higher wage may not be what you need - maybe you need more time off, work-from-home options, healthcare? If you are not getting your needs met and your employers aren't inclined to budge, how can you change your situation? Right now these Teeniors' coaches are contractors who live at home and work just a few hours a week. I want them to know that no matter what their job is in the future, they have the power to get their needs be met.

Albuquerque Business First asked local leaders like myself what can be done to move NM forward. This was after their 2023 survey showed that crime and homelessness were among the top concerns. Changing our ridiculously low minimum wage ($12/hr in NM) was just one of my suggestions. Below is what I wrote. (You can read it on their website here.)

All three of the barriers to moving NM forward — crime, education, homelessness — result directly from poverty. People of means are housed and don’t tend to commit the crimes at issue here; they can send their kids to good schools and supplement that through tutoring and extracurriculars, among other needs. The solution is simple: We commit to meeting the needs of our most impoverished New Mexicans.

As business leaders, how many of us connect with New Mexicans who live and work in different class circles than our own? If our team is already satisfied with their work and compensation, how do we recruit from different neighborhoods to get a variety of applicants? How do we reach out to people of different ages/abilities/incomes to uplift a multifaceted workforce and clientele? How are we connecting with customers who can’t afford our product or service but need it? Are we familiar with B-Corps? Even if we don't seek that certification, do we know the practices they evaluate?

How do we feel about minimum wage? I find it ridiculously low at $12/hour. It contributes to these barriers while perpetuating the cycle of poverty. I pay Teeniors coaches $15-20/hour, and if I can afford that on our revenue, anyone can. By creating a nonprofit arm as a fiscally sponsored initiative, we get to help people who can't afford to pay. Recruiting from diverse neighborhoods through open job fairs creates conversations with people who bring new perspectives to our workplace. In 2016, the Partners for Employment Symposium did a full-day event on hiring people with disabilities that answered the tough questions many of us were thinking.

If as employers we can't pay a full-time, entry-level person a wage that will allow them to meet their material needs, we need to rethink our business model. Every issue we stress about, at its origin, stems from scarcity or a scarcity complex (which exists among both the poor and affluent).

There’s no denying the concerns holding New Mexico back are systemic, but as leaders we can address the needs of individuals, then expand our circles. Getting comfortable with uncomfortable questions and avoiding the desire to shame each other will make a huge impact in moving us forward.

Hey, there!

As 2024 loomed, our team gathered to create vision boards identifying our wishes and intentions for the new year. We're doing it again in 2025! Vision boards are a representation of your intentions and goals - typically small to large poster-sized boards, with images and text that you choose to represent the things you're trying to bring into your life. If you'd like to try one for 2025, here's what I recommend:

• Think about 5-7 things you would like to happen in your life.
• Find a quiet space to work for a while.
• Gather 4 things: a poster board or paper; scissors; a glue stick / tape; and magazines.
• You can get free magazines from local libraries - call ahead to make sure they have some to share. They don't need to be about anything particular - for example, a Costco magazine might have just the right word or photo you need to visualize "healthy," or a tourist magazine can easily represent "strength" or "adventure."
• Skim through to find words and pics that represent your vision. (For mine last year, I focused on "perfect health" as a big goal - and picked a few visuals to represent good food, exercise, and mental clarity.)
• The idea is to set your intentions, post them on the board, then hang the board in your home or a room where you'll see it everyday. You'll naturally take active steps toward making those abstract ideas come to fruition through your conscious and subconscious mind. 
• You don't need to know the "how" to make your goals happen, just set your intentions. No matter what they are (i.e., learning to be more patient, creating a new relationship, traveling more, finding a job you love; speaking kinder or more lovingly to yourself), and watch how the universe helps you manifest these desires in various ways over time. 

Vision boards are a great tool practiced by people from all walks of life - and a beautiful  piece of artwork to have in your home. There really are no rules to how it looks. It's about crafting something that you'll glance at everyday, which will consciously or subconsciously inspire you to realize your dreams and goals. Some focus on specific ideas, others - the bigger picture of what you want your life to look like.

Happy New Year and here's to manifesting your dreams!

​Trish

This blog page has been inactive until today, specific to work events when I last wrote in 2018.  One day I will find the time to write regularly. For the past two years, I've lived through a hard life chapter and have not had the bandwidth to write, except what I share in our monthly newsletter.

Today I'm focused on something else.

Something I can’t get off my mind this week: the way people use the words "protestor" and "rioter" interchangeably.

I see friends sharing their frustration this way:

“I understand the protests and support them, but... [fill in the blank... rioting, looting, destroying property] is bullshit. They’re killing their own message!” 
​
No, they’re not. 

First, the vast majority of protesters are not rioting, and they are not violent. They are protesting for life. This is life and death.

Second, there have now been multiple examples of police and non-protestors initiating chaos in these marches – in my own experience, and in the evidence of others. Like a video I just saw: a car of white people handed out bricks to a group of black men... then were followed and called out by a lone, brave black woman. I have also seen police who are treating these protests with respect.

The opportunists of every race who are exploiting the movement by looting and inciting violence are, sadly, a part of every movement for change, and this one is no different. It's always tragic and of course none of us wants to see rioting.

But for the very small minority of protestors who ARE actively rioting after reaching their boiling point, can you even comprehend what kind of oppression leads to finally having enough and seeing rioting as your only option to be heard?

We’re seeing just a tiny glimpse of these realities on screen - the systemic horrors, the majority of peaceful protesters, the chaos, the pain of lifetimes of injustice. If you didn’t see the 8-minute torture of George Floyd, the literal hunting and killing of Ahmad Arbery, the dog walker in Central Park, or any other videos of the black experience from this year alone, please. don’t. look. away. 

So, yes, for some this may be an excuse to start fights or explore their inner anarchist, but don’t let them shift your focus. Remember that before this, quiet protests were still criticized by those who insisted on looking away, who turn the focus back to their own limited life experience, who complain about people not respecting the flag, not respecting the police, not being polite when they stand up for themselves.

For those who’ve been living these atrocities, this is an inevitable moment of action. The evidence of severe, murderous racism exists in every corner of the internet right now and across all cable news networks. Bitterness, silence, or concern about “what the world is coming to” suggests that we have no idea just how bad things have been, forever. For so, so many.

​It’s never been easier to speak out on their behalf.

This is their time.

- Trish Lopez



If you are unfamiliar with the names referenced above, see videos below:

George Floyd in Police Custody
NYC Dog Walker and African American Bird Watcher
Ahmaud Arbery Death
Remembering Breonna Taylor

Locally, standing in silent peaceful protest in support of black lives:

See ABQ Journal article
See KOAT news video

And a Moment To Remember In San Francisco

Teeniors was one of 10 startups chosen from around the world for the Aging2.0 Global Pitch for Partners in San Francisco. I flew there this month to compete. 4 minutes. 6 judges from around the world. Big audience. Fantastic opportunity for our little train that could.

Unfortunately, we didn’t win. They picked the robot that talks to seniors instead. 😞

But Teeniors got honorable mention!

One of the judges came up afterward and said “Oh my goodness we LOVED you. We SOO loved you! You almost won! But in the end, robots are more scalable than humans.”

A line I won’t soon forget.

I was disappointed at first, as the winning startup got $5,000 plus an opportunity to pilot their program in Japan. But upon reflection, I truly realize that our value, our human connection, our impact is enormous. While the robots win this round, I'm still so grateful for the opportunity and the wonderful compliments to our work. Many audience members came up afterwards and said they wished we had won and that Teeniors existed in their city. 

It was exciting that we were invited to pitch at the big leagues. More people know about our work than ever before and I suspect that our work will continue to inspire others with cool ideas to try and execute them. To say 'screw the business world and the way they've always done things' (money first, people second). Teeniors has such a huge impact on our young coaches and our older clients, but compared to how quickly these other tech companies can scale, the amount of investment they have behind them, and the caliber and size of teams they're working with, we are a tiny, tiny, tiny little operation. We were invited because they know we make a HUGE impact. And the audience seriously felt it. The judges did too, and they were all cool - they were just thinking about speed/scale over people (quantity over quality). Which I have to expect when competing in things like this, I just also hope that we can turn someone's head away from that mindset.

Anyway, just a quick note and a big thank you to those of you who sent your support and wished us well! Our goal is to make Teeniors sustainable in whichever parts of the world it exists. We'll keep on truckin'...

- Trish