New Mexico Fellowship

The New Mexico Fellowship is an 18-month, paid, public policy fellowship, with the first year housed at the Institute for Policy Studies in our Washington, DC office, and the final 6 months working with an organization in New Mexico. This fellowship program seeks to help mentor a new generation of progressive leaders in New Mexico.  In the past, this fellowship has recruited diverse candidates that are now serving New Mexico in multiple ways. Each of our former IPS New Mexico fellows is back working in New Mexico non-profits, practicing law, and shaking up legislation, and one is finishing his masters degree in public policy at Princeton and returning to New Mexico in May.

The New Mexico Fellowship provides the opportunity for college graduates and/or young scholar-activists residing in New Mexico to come to IPS to be trained in public scholarship, a term we define as the connection between grassroots activism and policy research. Through the fellowship, participants sharpen their knowledge of the progressive landscape and policy world, and develop their capacities to think, write, research, and make connections to social movements. After learning about the organizational structure and operations of a thriving non-profit in Washington, D.C., fellows will return to New Mexico for a six month paid placement in a local organization. The Fellow will work with our advisory board, which includes former Fellows, to find a placement in New Mexico that is a fit for their skills and interests.

Each fellow receives hands-on experience by working closely with 1-2 IPS projects under the individualized mentorship from our IPS public scholars.  We believe that each scholar-activist brings a unique skillset to the table. Accordingly, upon acceptance, we tailor the fellowship to participants’ personal interests by pairing them with IPS projects for 2 six-month segments where they will become an essential part of that project’s staff. Fellows also have the opportunity to learn effective fundraising and communication strategies by working with the development and communications teams in addition to their personalized projects.

Latest Work

What We Spend on the EPA Compared to Pentagon Contractors

We need to invest in the agency that can prevent and reverse ecological disasters.
Route 66 crosses a valley with the Acoma Pueblo or "Sky City" in the background. The Pueblo is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the United States and sits atop a sandstone mesa 367 feet above the valley floor.

Put Impacted Communities at Front of Energy Transition

Indigenous groups highlight the need to repair the historical harm that oil, gas, and nuclear energy have caused these communities, and to address climate change as a complex ecological and social crisis.

We Can’t Let Oak Flat Get Sold to Mining Companies

The opening up of Arizona's Oak Flat to copper mining would wipe out generations of Apache religion, culture and wisdom.
A person in a purple shirt, holding a sign that reads "We can do better" at a pro-choice march.

Young Voters Delivered Big Wins for Abortion Rights

Lawmakers should take note: Young people will resist radical efforts to violate our reproductive freedoms and our futures.
smoke-stacks

Reproductive Rights Must Include Environmental Justice

Many of the people most impacted by abortion bans are also most impacted by pollution.
Mapuche demonstrators in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Mining Resistance From Alberta to Argentina

In Patagonia, an Indigenous community's fight against repressive mining interests mirrors struggles across the hemisphere.
roe v wade protest for abortion access

Overturning Roe Will Lead to a Human Rights Crisis for All Americans

Generations have fought for the constitutional rights to privacy and bodily autonomy. We must protect them.
farm workers harvesting yellow peppers in California

It's Farmworker Awareness Week. Here’s What Those Who Feed Us Deserve.

The workers who put food on our tables face poverty, deportation, and extreme heat. These are policy choices—and they can be changed.

It’s Time to Divest from Systems of Harm and Build an Infrastructure of Care

Advocates need to pressure congress to invest in institutions that care about and prioritize domestic and international wellbeing, while divesting from systems of violence and harm.
Pro-choice demonstrators outside the Supreme Court

We’ll Keep Fighting to Protect Our Bodily Autonomy

Americans oppose overturning Roe by 2 to 1. Speaking up isn’t always easy, but it’s more important than ever.
Members of the National Guard help distribute food during the pandemic

We Shouldn’t Have to Rely on the National Guard for Basic Services

Guard members have stepped up heroically during the pandemic. If we invested in more than just the military, maybe they wouldn’t have to.
climate and militarism NPP graphic

From the Climate Crisis to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Our Militarized Budget Fuels Injustice

Changing our budget priorities is key to repairing these harms.

New Mexico’s Case for Public Ownership of its Clean Energy Infrastructure

Any energy transition that doesn’t guarantee a pathway to public ownership perpetuates inequality and wealth extraction from New Mexicans .
Members of OFRANEH at Sheridan Circle, Washington, D.C. (Institute for Policy Studies | Flickr)

De pie con defensoras y defensores de territorio hondureños en Washington, D.C.

Este año, IPS honró a las defensoras y los defensores de territorio hondureños Afro-Indígenas, OFRANEH, con nuestro Premio Internacional LM de Derechos Humanos. Todavía estamos celebrando su resistencia.
Members of OFRANEH at Sheridan Circle, Washington, D.C. (Institute for Policy Studies | Flickr)

Standing With Honduran Land Defenders in Washington, D.C.

This year, IPS honored the Afro-Indigenous Honduran land defenders OFRANEH with our International LM Human Rights Award. We're still celebrating their resiliency.
Climate Activists Continue Protests Outside White House

To Tackle Climate Change, Hold Fossil Fuel Conglomerates Accountable

Movements are using this once-in-a-lifetime political moment to mobilize communities against climate change and corporate greed.
Migrant families with children at a temporary processing faclility in Donna, Texas

There Is No "Border Crisis"

Discussing the border in nativist terms obscures the real crises that propel migrants to seek asylum in the United States.
public transit rail train in santa fe new mexico

We All Need Transit — Whether We Ride It or Not

Without public transit, I couldn’t have gotten my degree. And all of us need it to keep our planet livable.
wind turbines to depict renewable energy and public ownership of utilities

Cleaner Energy is Coming. The Public Needs to Own It.

A future where the people that consume energy are the primary owners and decision-makers of that energy infrastructure is possible.
Large photovoltaic system at the UNM-Taos Klauer Campus, NM

New Mexico Is Leading the Country on Climate Action, but Not Climate Justice

New Mexico must decarbonize its economy while giving back power and wealth to ordinary New Mexicans.

Experts

A photograph of Taneya Garcia

Taneya Garcia

2022-2023 New Mexico Fellow

New Mexico Fellowship

Ennedith Lopez Headshot

Ennedith Lopez

2021-2022 New Mexico Fellow

New Mexico Fellowship

Ennedith Lopez Headshot

Ennedith Lopez

2021-2022 New Mexico Fellow

New Mexico Fellowship

In the News

Just Transition or False Solutions?

KBOO Portland Oregon | February 13, 2023

Women’s Health Protection Act stalls in U.S. Senate

New Mexico Political Report | March 1, 2022

The Political Realities of Science Work

Counterpunch | October 8, 2019

Merger Mania

Tom Dispatch | July 16, 2019