Truths that Cannot Be Argued: CRFW Partners with YWU to Create Powerful Legislative Advocates

Yes-for-Mental-Health-photoWe often hear about how elected officials are governed by money and not the will of the people they serve. However, through many real conversations with elected officials, we have found great hope in our state of New Mexico. We have seen elected officials take our perspectives into account and implement them into the policies they endorse in the legislative session. Crossroads for Women, alongside Young Women United, have been able to bring a gendered-lens analysis to criminal justice reform in New Mexico and have witnessed elected officials considering and centering the needs of women in the criminal justice system.

Crossroads began shifting statewide policy in January of 2011 upon joining the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness, a group of nonprofits dedicated to creating solutions for our homeless population. KC Quirk, the Executive Director for Crossroads, invited a group of women from her leadership workshop to attend the coalition’s annual Lobby Day where they were able to speak directly with legislators about their firsthand experiences with homelessness. Mayas and Crossroads women know the strengths and challenges of the system better than most because they have lived these experiences themselves. Their candid words with legislators truly took the roundhouse by storm that day and initiated a deep interest in Crossroads to continue making change.

This momentum carried the Crossroads women into attending the Homelessness Lobby Day every year thereafter. It was the summer of 2014 when we chose to diver deeper into the legislative process by engaging in the legislative process and with our elected officials in a way that we never imagined possible. KC Quirk and women from her leadership workshop began actively attending the newly formed Criminal Justice Reform interim subcommittee during the interim session.

We reached a pivotal moment as one of the Crossroads women responded publicly to a presentation they heard about in the CJR subcommittee about the numerous programs available to inmates failing to mention how these programs were only available in the men’s prisons. She was able to speak truthfully about her personal experience being at the women’s prison in Grants, including how there was a stark lack of access to those aforementioned programs and long waitlists that forced many inmates to stay incarcerated longer than their sentence allotted. Legislators from the subcommittee were shocked but appreciative of her candidness and many waited patiently for their turn to speak individually with her afterward.

Also present at the roundhouse were our fierce allies, Young Women United, a community organizing and policy project by and for women of color in New Mexico. We had previously worked with YWU when they launched their “We are More than Addiction” campaign that featured powerful artwork on the side of city buses to destigmatize substance use and pregnancy. Teaming up with YWU at the legislature provided an opportunity that strengthened both of our work and lifted the stories of the women in the criminal justice system. YWU’s powerful media and policy work were an asset to our own advocacy work and together we were able to accomplish some truly amazing feats, both in and out of the legislature. We had also worked closely on getting mental health funding for Bernalillo County. Throughout these campaigns and policy work, YWU hosted group discussions with the women of Crossroads and Mayas Place to tie them into the advocacy and policy work and bring their voices to the capitol. Valuing the leadership and strength our women had to give, YWU hired 2 legislative interns to participate more deeply in the legislative session. This allowed us to have representation every day during the legislature from meaningful conversations with elected officials to testifying on a bill that could mean greater access to employment and housing for women.  Mo, was hired in January, after working with YWU on the bus campaign and attending several Lobby Days. Since then she has attended several conferences and presented on panels alongside Esperanza Dodge, the Mamas Justice Organizer for YWU. “This is the best job I’ve ever had,” she said. “To be able to tell my experience, it’s amazing.” She is currently working on a piece for Juneteenth, the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States, and plans on attending two more conferences in the coming months.

One of the most powerful interactions we had with elected officials from across the state of New Mexico was the Crossroads Day Luncheon we cohosted with YWU in early August. We invited state senators, representatives, judges and the New Mexico Department of Corrections as well as their families. It was a space for the elected officials to sit in conversations with Crossroads/Mayas women and their families over lunch in a casual setting. The women were able to share their personal experience and expertise with elected officials who respectfully engaged in the conversations, taking away incredible knowledge and experiences back into their roles. The women walked away with the feeling of being heard and one step closer to bringing a gendered lens to the New Mexico criminal justice system.

Not only did legislators and elected officials walked away from the Crossroads Day luncheon with a greater understanding of women in the criminal justice system, but also with a deep appreciation of the work Crossroads and Maya’s has done with women over the years. Out of this gathering came the Crossroads Day Senate Memorial 97, sponsored by Senator Lisa Torraco. During the memorial, 9 Crossroads/Maya’s women sat before the state senators on the Senate Floor. They were each individually introduced and Crossroads was recognized as a whole for the incredible work to address homelessness, poverty, addiction and mental illness. Many Senators rose to express kind and meaningful words of appreciation for Crossroads, followed by a unanimous vote for the memorial.

We’re so proud of the women and the way they’ve advocated in front of elected officials in New Mexico to center the needs of women in the criminal justice system. Through the support of Crossroads and YWU, along with the open ears of our legislators, we have seen the women enact positive change in their community, take ownership of their identities and start to push back on the stigma society has placed on them. They will not let their past define their future and will continue advocating to treat addiction as a healthcare issue, not a crime. When we work from this framework, we can start to reduce recidivism in New Mexico. Working together, we can address the root of the situation to bring better solutions for families. In the words of KC Quirk, “The women have turned their experiences into truths that cannot be argued and certainly cannot be ignored”.

Written by Joseph Hillman, CRFW volunteer writer

 

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