Family Friendly New Mexico is committed to racial justice. We are committed to listening and learning, doing the hard work, having the hard conversations and providing resources so that our business leaders can do the same in their own organizations.

In the last weeks and months the world as a collective has been forced to critically examine many of our external and internal structures and here at Family Friendly New Mexico (FFNM) we are doing the same. Our work provides resources to employers to further their efforts to create a supportive workplace that helps their employees and their families to thrive. We would not be doing our full part in that work if we did not take this time to address the racial injustice that our families and communities of color experience on a daily basis.

We witnessed as a nation and world the brutal killing of George Floyd and how longstanding violence and oppression stems from racial inequity within our criminal justice system. Now and everyday is the time to listen to our families and communities of color who are experiencing racial injustice on a daily basis. Injustice and inequities at the systems level can show up in many forms such as lack of quality education and healthy food sources for our children and youth. Family friendly policies at work (such as flexible scheduling, pay equity, economic support and health support) can provide opportunities to thrive to both the employee and their children/families.

“When someone discriminates against a person in a racial group, they are carrying out a policy or taking advantage of the lack of a protective policy. We all have the power to discriminate. Only an exclusive few have the power to make policy.” ― Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, How to Be an Antiracist

Our work

In October 2019, we added the Platinum level award giving businesses the opportunity to reach a higher standard in the policy areas of Pay Equity, Diversity & Inclusion and Community Investment. Our awardees did not disappoint in doing just that. As renewals and new applicants came in, our team knew that we would be carefully reviewing listed policies within the three new categories. It is amazing to know that so many businesses are putting their best foot forward in providing access to resources such as diversity & inclusion training during on boarding and throughout employment and creating employee network groups for employees.

These are great, and still we must do more. We must ask ourselves what else we can do to support our non-white business owners and businesses that employ large numbers of people of color long-term.  At FFNM, we are doing the following:

• adding to our online Business Toolkit featuring resources, sample policies and fact sheets for our Platinum level categories (Pay Equity, Diversity & Inclusion and Community Investment);
• deepening our racial justice training for our staff;
• continuing to track progress by disaggregating our awardee data by race;
• increasing our education about all of the categories and policies so that our business community has a trusted resource to better understand how to implement family friendly policies.
• and, most important, we will continue to listen and actively seek out the voices of people of color to inform and guide our work.

Here are resources in our community to support all of our efforts (list will be updated regularly):

• ABQ To Do: How to Support the Black Lives Matter Movement in Albuquerque
• Native Women Lead
• Silence is Killing Us | TEDx ABQWomen Talk | Val Day-Sánchez
• Institute for the Study of “Race” and Social Justice

Angelica Archuleta was born in Santa Fe, raised in Española and grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As a Lupus survivor since the age of ten, her passion for human rights is rooted in her lived experiences. She started her career early on making pizzas at the family restaurant, and now has experience collecting research data for UNMHSC Project ECHO, and experience with the UNM Refugee Well-Being Project and The Fund for The Public Interest. Constantly developing her critical consciousness through an antiracist intersectional lens, she advocates for and raises awareness about social justice issues. Angelica joined the Family Friendly New Mexico team in August of 2019, she holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology with a concentration in Human Services and Social Policy and a certificate in Peace & Justice Studies from the University of New Mexico. Angelica is a mother to an amazing seven year old son and enjoys bicycling and skiing with her family as often as possible.