Building Relationships With Agencies Outside of Los Alamos

by Tara Adams, Resource Specialist

One important component of what we do in the Resource Specialist (RS) program is build relationships with other agencies, including those outside the boundaries of Los Alamos County. Every summer, the RS team puts together a list of agencies of interest in neighboring communities (typically the Española area, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque) and goes to visit some of them. This is an opportunity to find out about resources outside the immediate community that may be useful to some of our clients, especially those in crisis situations.

This summer, our June trip included visits to CYFD’s Child Protective Services Division, Pathways Shelter, and Barrios Unidos in Chimayo. Past years’ visits have included trips to the Crisis Center of Northern New Mexico, Income Support Division, and Inside Out in Española. Although some of these resources are only infrequently used by clients, knowing about each program’s work and who they serve is very useful because when we do encounter a client in crisis, we are able to act quickly to connect them to what they need. Time is a valuable resource in an emergency.

Besides helping in a crisis, these connections that we make to other programs in our region help us to understand our place in the larger service landscape of Northern New Mexico, and we learn a good deal from each agency we visit. They are doing incredible work for families in New Mexico. Our hope is to build on these connections going forward, so that we can both continue to take advantage of what regional programs have to offer and do our part to give back for the services they provide our clients. In this way, JJAB can strengthen Los Alamos and help make our whole region more resilient.