As the President and CEO of the Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico, Dr. Terra Winter has had the privilege of building relationships with many people who are making a difference in our region. Terra was selected to lead the organization back in 2016 and immediately got to work, learning from her board members and working closely with them on initiatives supporting nonprofits across southern New Mexico. At the time, Abel Covarrubias, Aprendamos Family of Services CEO, was serving on the CFSNM board of directors.
Looking back, Terra remembers fondly one of the first times she was able to interact with Abel and his family. “The family set up a scholarship in honor of Abel’s niece, Myra, to help support scholarships for NMSU students majoring in Special Education. We were able to host a reception to introduce the scholarship recipient to Myra and her family, which was an incredibly meaningful moment for everyone,” she said. “Seeing this tight-knit, loving family welcome an NMSU student—who was essentially a stranger—into their world was special,” she shared.
While supporting the philanthropic initiatives Abel was interested in pursuing, Terra also learned a great deal about Aprendamos Family of Services. She was able to develop an understanding of some of the needs of the children and families served by the organization and find creative ways to partner to help move the needle on some important outcomes in our region. “The Aprendamos team had the skills and expertise to help provide early intervention support, autism resources, and even counseling, but there were gaps they were identifying where more could be done,” she said. “We collaborated with Aprendamos on projects like the creation of Hearts of Autism, which was housed at CFSNM for many years and continues to have a growing sustainability endowment, and worked together on Doña Ana County Resilience Leaders and their new 100% Family Center,” Terra said. Additionally, Terra shared that partnerships with both the Covarrubias family and Aprendamos Family of Services helped to launch the Advancing Social Equity Initiative project which challenged local nonprofit leaders, their teams, and board members to think about diversity, equity, and inclusion within our community.
The collaborative work on these projects also spurred new, unique programs that helped to bring the next generation of leaders to the table to have important conversations surrounding philanthropy and ways to give back to the community. “We had the opportunity to partner on the Nuestra Juventud initiative, which empowered youth leaders to learn more about nonprofit organizations, and work to help strengthen their communities,” Terra shared. Nuestra Juventud also closely aligned with the CFSNM HandinHand Program which encouraged high school aged students to participate in service projects and explore what sharing their time, talent, and treasure can look like. “The programming we worked together to develop, along with the numerous new funds that support scholarships, programming, and passions of the Covarrubias families, have allowed us to begin the work to fill gaps in services for our community,” Terra added.
Working on some of these projects also gave Terra the opportunity to witness a lot of Aprendamos’ growth. She has seen the number of staff members expand, programs evolve, and get to know the company’s leadership. “Over the last decade, I have developed relationships with many of the company’ shareholders, which has allowed me to see how their desire to make a difference and give back is embedded in the organization. It’s been great to learn more about how they all want to make an impact in their own unique ways,” she shared.
When we asked Terra what she envisions for the next 20 years of Aprendamos, she shared, “Abel and the Aprendamos team have been creative in finding ways to serve children and families in our region while also investing in initiatives that look to the future. I think with continued brainstorming and collaboration, we will see that many of these dreams that started as just an idea are going to lead to big changes for Southern New Mexico.”
Thank you, Terra, for partnering with Aprendamos to make a meaningful difference in the community we call home!
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