The following are press releases and stories that have appeared in the media about Adelante in the last year or two. For more current information visit the recent PR page.

Contact

Jill Beets

Vice President of Marketing & Communications

505.449.4026

Fax 505.883.0246

JBeets@GoAdelante.org

November 9, 2006

Adelante Names New Board Members

Adelante Development Center, a local nonprofit agency working in support of people with disabilities, recently elected new members to its Board of Directors.

Don McLeod, Executive Director of A New Day, and Ray Barton, Business Relationship Manager for Wells Fargo Bank, are new to the Adelante Board.

Officers for 2006-2007 will be Dr. Richard Cronin, Bob Walton, Bill Miera, and Ray Berg. Betty Blea, Randy Burge, Cathy Fernandez, Claire Garner, Helen Jackson, Molly Madden, Cate McClain, Nancy Renner, and Dr. Art Weinstein are returning members.

November 6, 2006

Adelante Desert Harvest Awarded $20,000 Grant from PNM Fund

Adelante Development Center, a local nonprofit agency working in support of people with disabilities, was awarded a $20,000 grant from the PNM Resources Foundation for the agency’s Desert Harvest Food Rescue program. The funding will help cover the operational costs for Desert Harvest including food-safe packaging and transportation costs. Desert Harvest has a dual mission – to provide volunteer opportunities for people with disabilities and to help end hunger in New Mexico. Program volunteers pick up surplus food from area restaurants and deliver it directly to other area nonprofits with food service programs for people who are homeless, at-risk youth, and low-income teen mothers, and others in need.

Desert Harvest is unique in that the program utilizes an existing food source – perishable, prepared food – that would otherwise go to waste. The program currently rescues over 29,000 pounds of food per month in Bernalillo, Sandoval, and Valencia Counties at a cost of just 8 cents per meal.

The PNM Fund, a division of the PNM Resources Foundation, has distributed nearly $5 million to fund nonprofit projects that meet community needs. In 1983, PNM shareholders created the PNM Foundation as a separate, nonprofit, tax-exempt corporation governed by a board of trustees comprised of PNM employees. Adelante greatly appreciates PNM’s investment in this cost-effective and highly beneficial program. PNM’s commitment is an investment of $10,000 for the next two years to help sustain the program.

October 31, 2006

Woodmen Make Donation of Art Supplies to Adelante

Woodmen of the World fraternal organization donated $250 in art supplies to Adelante Development Center’s Westside Community Options program. Adelante is a local nonprofit agency that helps people with disabilities achieve their goals. The Community Options program helps people with disabilities learn life skills and uses a variety of projects including artistic endeavors in that effort. Adelante offers vocational and life skills training, community living services, volunteer opportunities, and employment to over 600 New Mexicans with disabilities.

October 3, 2006

Adelante Friends in Time Awarded $50,000 Grant from Daniels Fund

Adelante Development Center, a local nonprofit agency working in support of people with disabilities, was awarded a $50,000 grant from the Daniels Fund for the agency’s Friends in Time program.

The funding will allow the program to purchase assistive technology devices and cover the cost of staff members that help people with severe neuromuscular disabilities put the technology to use. Through the Friends in Time loan bank, assistive devices help people overcome some of the symptoms and physical and limitations caused by neuromuscular diseases, allowing them to communicate with their families and caregivers, shop from home, and maintain as much independence as possible.

Friends in Time is the only nonprofit program providing hands-on support services for people with multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in central New Mexico. Bill Daniels, a former resident of Hobbs and Roswell, established the Daniels Fund in 1997 to provide help and hope to those in need. When he died in 2,000, his estate transferred to the Fund, making it the largest foundation in the Rocky Mountain region.

August 21, 2006

Adelante Document Destruction Services Wins National USDA Award

Adelante Document Destruction Services, a local shredding business, recently won a national award from the United States Department of Agriculture for the company’s outstanding work for the Forest Service Financial Operations Center in Albuquerque.

Adelante Document Destruction Services provides secure paper and e-media shredding for the Albuquerque Service Center where the Forest Service’s financial processes are handled for the entire country. Adelante was one of only four businesses recognized nationally by the USDA as a Javits-Wagner-O’Day Award winner.

The Javits-Wagner-O'Day (JWOD ) p rogram provides employment opportunities to more than 45,000 people nationwide who are blind or have other severe disabilities in the United States. Community-based, nonprofit organizations like Adelante employ individuals and provide goods and services to the federal government through the JWOD program.

Adelante Document Destruction Services is operated by Adelante Development Center, a local nonprofit agency. As an affirmative business, Adelante works to provide the best possible products and services for government as well as commercial customers while simultaneously providing employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Adelante is the only shredding business in New Mexico that has both a AAA certification from the National Association of Information Destruction (NAID) and ISO 9001:2000 through the International Organization for Standardization.

August 18, 2006

Adelante Friends in Time Gets a $10,000 Grant from Albuquerque Community Foundation

Adelante Development Center, a local nonprofit agency working in support of people with disabilities, was awarded a $10,000 grant from the Albuquerque Community Foundation for the agency’s Friends in Time program. The funding will help the program cover the cost of nurse educator and in-home counseling for people with severe chronic neuromuscular disabilities such as multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease). These services help people and their families who are overwhelmed by the diagnosis, symptoms, and physical and cognitive limitations of neuromuscular diseases.

Friends in Time is the only nonprofit program providing hands-on support services for people with MS and ALS in central New Mexico. Albuquerque Community Foundation has been a supporter of Adelante, a locally-founded nonprofit, for many years. This year, the foundation is celebrating 25 years of connecting people who care with causes that matter in Albuquerque.  

May 25, 2006

Adelante Desert Harvest Food Rescue Reaching 1 Million Mark

Adelante Development Center’s Desert Harvest Food Rescue program just reached the milestone of 1 million pounds of food rescued. Desert Harvest was started in 2001 to address two needs – to alleviate hunger in Central New Mexico and to provide volunteer opportunities for people with disabilities. The program, which rescues surplus food from area restaurants and delivers it to other nonprofit agencies, has been a tremendous success.

In 2005, Desert Harvest rescued an average of 24,600 pounds of food per month – a several thousand pound increase from 2004. The two biggest months were August and October with 32,000 and 34,000 pounds, respectively. In 2005, 46 restaurants made donations and 18 recipient agencies benefited. Without Adelante’s Desert Harvest program, most of that food would have ended up in trash bins instead of feeding those in need. The program began by simply picking up surplus prepared foods and has now expanded into meals prepared especially for groups who need it. Seven area restaurants provide guest meals to our recipient agencies, most of them agencies supporting children in the community.

In Valencia County, Desert Harvest staff has also helped run the Belen Area Food Pantry for the past two years. Adelante helps keep it stocked and staffed with volunteers, many of who are people with disabilities participating in Adelante's programs. We also have run a food prep training program for people with disabilities through the Pantry kitchen. Several graduates are now employed in the community.

Finally, as Desert Harvest has expanded, our partnerships have helped us to nourish people beyond the food we collect. The program has provided vocational counseling to teens at recipient agencies and the Desert Harvest staff worked with Computer Reruns to provide 27 refurbished computer systems to low-income people and families in transitional and recovery programs. The people involved are in school using the computers as tools in their progress toward self-sufficiency.

Desert Harvest continually looks for food service establishments to donate their over-run food, monetary donors to cover the cost of food safe packaging, volunteer drivers, and agencies to assist. For more information contact Jim Knutson at 341-7186 or JKnutson@GoAdelante.org .

November 21, 2005

Adelante & Heather Wilson Announce Federal Funding for Jobs Program

Congresswoman Heather Wilson and Adelante officials and clients held a press conference to announce federal funding to support Adelante's job programs for people with disabilities.

The federal investment was supported by the entire New Mexico congressional delegation and Congresswoman Wilson was instrumental in securing the funds. The money is earmarked to expand Adelante's business activities, providing necessary services to area businesses and providing additional jobs for people with disabilities in New Mexico.

Adelante CEO Mike Kivitz, Congresswoman Heather Wilson, and board chairwoman Nancy Renner spoke at the event. The press conference was rounded out by a testimonial from David Baldonado, a worker for Adelante's Assembly Services and Packaging business who has a disability.

October 14, 2005

Adelante Dedicates New El Centro Facility to Senator Pete Domenici

Adelante Development Center, a nonprofit agency that helps people with disabilities achieve their goals, dedicated the agency’s newest facility, El Centro, to Senator Pete Domenici on Friday October 14, 2005.

The event was held at 3900 Osuna Road NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87109. It included a ribbon cutting and dedication of the building to Senator Domenici followed by tours of the facility. Senator Pete Domenici and Representative Heather Wilson were on hand to cut the ribbon. Friends of Adelante, parents, guardians, advocates, and case managers were also in attendance.

El Centro is Adelante’s newest community resource. It is the agency’s headquarters and a place for people with disabilities to learn about assistive technology, find employment, meet with other self-advocates, and more. It is also home to three other nonprofit agencies supporting people with disabilities. (New Mexico Business Leadership Network, Home New Mexico, and the Self-Advocacy Resource Center)

Adelante dedicated the building to Senator Domenici in honor of his work in service of people with disabilities. The Senator has helped Adelante expand and improve the employment opportunities of people with disabilities in New Mexico and been a champion of people with disabilities throughout his tenure in Congress.

August 26, 2005

Congresswoman Wilson Receives JWOD Champion Award

Congresswoman Heather Wilson received a JWOD Champion Award at a seminar being held by the South Central Region of NISH and the National Council of Work Centers.

Congresswoman Wilson was recognized as a JWOD Champion due to her efforts to improve the lives of people with disabilities in New Mexico and across the country, especially her work addressing employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Congresswoman Wilson supported a federal investment for Adelante to develop employment opportunities for people with disabilities in New Mexico.

This funding helped the agency to open Adelante Document Destruction Services and a Bargain Square Thrift Store in Los Lunas. As a result, Adelante now employs 348 people with disabilities. Congresswoman Wilson presented awards at Celebrate Adelante, an annual award ceremony for people with disabilities, and spoke at the 2005 TechFair for the New Mexico Department of Vocational Rehabilitation. In addition, Congresswoman Wilson lead a task force on Medicaid to address the way the program handles the healthcare needs of low-income women and children, adults with disabilities, and low-income seniors.

The JWOD (Javits-Wagner-O'Day) Program provides employment opportunities to more than 45,000 people who are blind or have other severe disabilities in the United States. Community-based, nonprofit organizations employ individuals and provide quality goods and services to the federal government. Seven nonprofit agencies in New Mexico, including Adelante Development Center, take part in the JWOD program. 

August 10, 2005

Adelante Bargain Square Thrift Store Opening in Los Lunas

Adelante Development Center, a New Mexico nonprofit agency that helps people with disabilities achieve their goals, has opened a new Bargain Square Thrift Store location in Los Lunas. The store is at 701 East Main Street at the corner of Main Street and Los Lentes and has over 10,000 square feet of retail space. Bargain Square Los Lunas is now open for early bird shopping and staff training. The grand opening, Saturday, August 20, 2005, will include music, face painting, and lots of great bargains like backpacks for school for just $5.99. The store carries new and gently used items like house wares, clothing, furniture, toys, books, and tools.