3 days ago
New nonprofit forms to confront health care, economic challenges in New Mexico
Jun. 5—A new nonprofit has emerged, intending to deliver measurable progress on New Mexico's most urgent and longstanding issues.
Imagine New Mexico, led by Steve Moise, officially launched this week. The nonprofit will use a mix of data-based modeling and collaborations with other nonprofit organizations to improve results in the areas of health care, education, public safety, economic growth and poverty reduction, Moise said in an interview.
"We will devote whatever time is necessary to making these changes work," said Moise, the former state investment officer with the New Mexico State Investment Council. "This is a multi-year initiative."
The nonprofit is the result of Moise's commitment to improving on some of New Mexico's urgent issues, which he was made aware of, he said, about 40 years ago at an Economic Forum of Albuquerque meeting he attended as a young lawyer. He said the forum presentation highlighted how New Mexico ranked in various areas compared to other states, revealing the state's underperformance.
"I became very concerned. I became upset. And I went home that night and said to (my late wife), 'I'm going to do what I can to make this state what it's capable of being. It may not be until I retire, but I hope I'll be able to address it.'"
Moise said he began to research what other states and cities were doing "to help self-actualize them, make them all they were capable of being."
"And I said, 'We're going to put together some of these ideas and make them right for New Mexico.'"
The way Imagine New Mexico ultimately works is through a data-driven approach. The nonprofit's website, includes a dashboard — made in partnership with the University of New Mexico's Prevention Research Center — dedicated to tracking economic, education, crime and health care indicators.
Imagine New Mexico will then collaborate with nonprofits in each of those areas and "will challenge them to collaborate to improve" those trackable results, Moise said.
Imagine New Mexico will first focus on health care, aiming to form partnerships with nonprofits in that arena, Moise said.
"We have a health care advisory group — a couple of physicians and some others that are advising us," Moise said. "And with all these people who know New Mexico so well, we'll be able to select the nonprofits, and then they can work on finding the right indicators."
Imagine New Mexico's board consists of a distinguished group of residents from across the state, including board Vice President Mark Benak of the Sandia Foundation. The board also features former Economic Development Secretary Alicia Keyes, PGA Tour alum Notah Begay III, University of New Mexico Regent Christina Campos, and former State Treasurer Doug Brown.
The nonprofit launched with funding from organizations including the Anchorum Health Foundation, The Frost Foundation, the Sandia Foundation and the Yates family-run PY Foundation.
