A Year of Momentum: How Collective Impact Found Its Footing and Found Its Voice

One year ago, Collective Impact was at a crossroads.

Northern New Mexico was facing familiar challenges that felt anything but small: young people unsure where opportunity lived, nonprofits stretched thin by funding hurdles, and communities asking hard questions about why opioid settlement dollars were not yet translating into visible change. What was missing wasn’t passion or effort. It was alignment.

Over the course of the past year, Collective Impact didn’t just realign. It ignited.

New Leadership, Clear Direction

Daisy Arevelo-Rodriguez & Andrea Lucero

The year began with new leadership stepping into place. New Collective Impact Director, Andrea Lucero, and Coordinator, Daisy Arevelo-Rodriguez, brought renewed focus, fresh energy, and a commitment to listening first. Rather than rushing to solutions, the team invested in rebuilding trust, gathering partners, and centering the voices most impacted by the challenges ahead.

That approach paid off quickly.

Nonprofits, No Longer Working Alone

UNITE! Meeting

Quarterly UNITE! meetings became the backbone of Collective Impact’s work. More than 85 nonprofit and community leaders representing over 100 organizations came together to wrestle with real issues: youth opportunity gaps, transportation barriers, funding inequities, and the ongoing impacts of substance use. These were not surface-level conversations. They were working sessions that sparked collaboration, shared strategies, and collective advocacy.

One theme echoed throughout the year: nonprofits are stronger when united.

That spirit carried into coordinated conversations around opioid settlement funding, where community members and nonprofit leaders began organizing to advocate for resources to reach community-based solutions that work.

Youth at the Center, Not on the Sidelines

Perhaps the most powerful shift this year was who was invited into the room.

Collective Impact engaged young adults not as participants, but as partners. The launch of the Future Leaders Council marked a turning point. Youth helped shape programming, planned events, showed up at community gatherings, and even presented a youth-driven proclamation to the City of Española. Their message was clear: solutions for young people must include young people.

The opening of Pathfinder Casita on the McCurdy Family Resource Campus gave that leadership a home. Casita became a place where tutoring, workforce readiness, mental health training, creative expression, and leadership development could live side by side. In just months, it transformed into a trusted hub where youth felt seen, supported, and capable.

A Summit That Signaled What’s Possible

All of this momentum culminated in the launch of the Youth Ignite Summit. Planned and shaped alongside young leaders, the summit brought together students from across the region for inspiration, connection, and a glimpse of what their futures could hold. Motivational speakers, career panels, and youth-led celebration created an atmosphere that felt less like a conference and more like a catalyst.

It was a statement: Northern New Mexico’s youth are ready to lead.

Building Toward What’s Next

This year was not about checking boxes. It was about laying a foundation. Collective Impact enters the next chapter with clear direction and bold plans: expanding youth-led rallies, strengthening behavioral health career pathways, growing internships and mentorships, deepening nonprofit collaboration, and using better data to guide smarter decisions. The work ahead builds directly on what has already been proven: when systems align and youth are centered, confidence grows, opportunity expands, and communities become more resilient.

Collective Impact is no longer an idea in progress. It is a movement gaining momentum.

And the next year promises to be even bigger.