“The issue is, whether we accept that the poor should, in addition to the existing deprivation of income, food and health services, also be further deprived of new opportunities to improve their livelihood. The strategic choice is whether to accept the rapidly growing gap caused by a very asymmetric architecture of opportunities or whether to use information communication technology (ICT) in a creative manner to level the playing field in economic, social, cultural and political terms.”

– Weigel & Waldburger

ABOUT US

My Community NM is the State's only bilingual, on-line resource directory. The project, which began in 2002, has been developed through an ongoing partnership with community leaders from La Comunidad Habla. La Comunidad Habla was recently featured in an important research paper sponsored by the Federal Communication Commission—Broadband Adoption In Low-Income Communities. Unlike most other resource directories that focus on particular populations and specific service needs, My NM includes health, social service, legal, transportation, recreation, and advocacy resources for all high-risk populations. We are a collaborative project that is supported by a growing list of community partners who are passionate about providing up to date resource information to their constituencies.

Partners can use the My Community NM database to prepare print manuals. For instance the 2008 version of the Salud Manual includes resources for Bernalillo and Sandoval Counties; 6000 copies of the manual were sold-out in six months.

Our Mission

Our mission is to provide New Mexicans with a comprehensive, partner-based, up-to-date, cost-effective, online and print inventory of community resources and information, in order to:

• Improve awareness and accessibility of existing services
• Build knowledge and advocacy skills
• Facilitate referrals, networking, and collaboration
• Document service barriers and gaps

History

Southwest Creations Collaborative (SCC) created the first print version of the Salud Manual in 2002. In 2004, SCC began to put the information collected for the Manual into an online resource system developed by Sandoval County Community Health Alliance. In 2006, community leaders of a health communication project out of the University of New Mexico Hospital's Young Children's Health Center, created the consumer-friendly Salud Manual website and began offering workshops that combined computer skills with health advocacy skills. The Bernalillo County Community Health Council joined as a principal partner in 2007 and helped to develop the first version of My Community NM—the New Mexico Resources Inventory (first online in 2008).

For more information, please email or call Sara Nelson at 505-697-1331; or contact Leigh Caswell with the Bernalillo County Community Health Council at .