Boomers Against Elder Abuse With Marcia Southwick, Director of The National Association

The Energy-Water-Food Nexus: Your Choices - Your Behavior and The Environment
With Amanda Hatherly, Director of the New Mexico Energy Smart Academy at the Community College

Debra Haaland is the newly elected State Democratic Chair of New Mexico, and one of the state’s leading political activists with a long and storied history of working for the interests of the people of New Mexico regardless of race, color, creed or economic strata.

As the Democratic candidate for Lt. Governor during the 2014 general election she visited every corner of the state and demonstrated her care for and understanding of New Mexico’s people and issues.

Deb has worked to increase voter turnout in underrepresented communities for more than a decade. As the Native American Vote Director for President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign she, again, traveled across the state, where she was instrumental in generating nearly a 60% voter turnout in Native American precincts with 89% of the votes cast going for the President.

The New Mexico Coalition for Literacy (NMCL) was founded in 1987 by First Lady Katherine Carruthers in response to the public's concern about the high illiteracy rate among adults in New Mexico. For twenty-five years, the NMCL has providedfunding, training, and technical assistance to local adult literacy programs statewide. These local programs, in turn, provide literacy instruction to adults who want to improve their literacy skills.

Mary McGinnis has been writing and living in New Mexico since 1972. Her work has been published in over 70 magazines and anthologies. The terrain and spaciousness of New Mexico have inspired her to write poems about nature, and love.

She has published two full length collections, Listening for Cactus(1996) and October Again (2008). As a licensed professional counselor she enjoys serving couples and people with both hidden and visible disabilities. As a woman who is blind, she is inspired to write about the disability experience, as well. She participates in three writing groups where lots of laughter, writing, and sharing of good food and words takes place.