May 5, 2008 Team Compass Volunteers Help Adelante Team Compass, a volunteer group from Compass Bank, gathered at Adelante Development Center's Flower House on Saturday May 3,

2008 to take care of some long needed yard work. Adelante is a nonprofit agency in New Mexico that supports over 700 people with disabilities and the house is a group home for three men with severe disabilities.

The house, which was built in the 1950's, had brick pavers in a huge patio area. Unfortunately, the house's prior owner who did the initial installation didn't use the best quality bricks or put the proper footing under the patio. The backyard was virtually unusable by the men who live there because the multiple levels and trip hazards on the patio made wheelchair and walker use a very unappealing adventure.

Thanks to Team Compass, from Compass Bank in Albuquerque, New Mexico, those rotten pavers are gone. They broke bricks, shoveled, and loaded their hearts out for hours and finished the whole task at record pace. Adelante was thrilled with the positive attitudes that the group brought to the project and very pleased with the outcome, too. Now the agency can get new materials in place so the entire back yard will be accessible for the men who live their and their friends and family, too.

exemplary work in partnership with Adelante in helping New Mexicans with disabilities find and maintain employment.

Adelante's mission is to “help people with disabilities achieve their goals” and one of the primary goals is employment. Adelante manages the dormitory contract at the Federal Law Enforcement Center (FLETC) in Artesia and utilizes that contract to offer people with disabilities long-term job opportunities with paid training and paid vacations. The contract at FLETC was awarded through the national AbilityOne program, which provides a contracting option for federal agencies that provides employment for people with disabilities. Adelante has been working with other local agencies and DVR to staff those positions with people with qualifying disabilities. Rodriguez's work with Adelante at FLETC was recognized because he went above and beyond his job requirements to help people with disabilities succeed in the workplace.

Rodriguez began working with Adelante in June 2005, referring people with disabilities from Artesia, Carlsbad, and Roswell to work on the dormitory contract at FLETC. Rodriguez has referred over half of all employees with disabilities at FLETC. Since June of 2005, he has made 37 referrals resulting in jobs for 22 people with disabilities. Rodriguez has also been instrumental in trying to raise funds to purchase vans to transport the workers to FLETC. With no public transportation in the area, many individuals with disabilities struggle finding transportation to and from work and it is often the primary barrier to employment. Without the extensive efforts of Rodriguez, Adelante's staffing efforts for the FLETC contract would not be nearly as successful.

Adelante is still actively recruiting people with disabilities to work at FLETC and Rodriguez remains part of that effort. For more information about Adelante or to inquire about job opportunities for people with disabilities at FLETC, please call 746-5721.

April 15, 2008 Adelante Desert Harvest Awarded $2,500 Grant From the Kiwanis Club of Albuquerque Adelante Development Center, a local nonprofit agency working in support of people with disabilities, was awarded a $2,500 grant from the Kiwanis Club of Albuquerque 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. 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 homeless families, at-risk youth, 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 is made possible by food donations from local restaurants and grocers. The program currently rescues over 30,000 pounds of food per month in central New Mexico at a cost of just 7 cents per meal.

The Kiwanis Club of Albuquerque is a local service club that is associated with Kiwanis International. The club's mission is “ improving the world one community and one child at a time .” Fittingly, the grant is an investment that will provide over 30,000 meals to children and their families through Desert Harvest. The program receives no government funds and is reliant on individual donors and grants like this one. For more information on Adelante's Desert Harvest program call 341-7186.

March 12, 2008 Adelante Celebrates 30 Years Adelante Development Center, a local nonprofit agency working in support of people with disabilities recently celebrated its 30 th anniversary. Donors, parents, guardians, case managers and agency staff were on hand to celebrate the milestone. Adelante was founded in Albuquerque in February 1978 and began by supporting just six men with autism. Today, the agency supports over 700 people with mental and physical

disabilities including developmental disabilities, neuromuscular disease, and loss of ability caused by aging.

The agency, which offers vocational and life skills training, residential services, volunteer opportunities, and employment and has locations

October 24, 2007

Adelante Friends in Time Receives $15,000 Grant from Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation

Adelante Development Center received a $15,000 Quality of Life grant from the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation (CDRF). The award was one of the nearly 100 grants totaling approximately $900,000 given by CDRF to nonprofit organizations that help people living with disabilities become more integrated members of society.

Adelante currently supports nearly 700 people with mental and physical disabilities in New Mexico. The grant from CDRF will support Adelante’s Friends in Time program, which is the only non-profit program in New Mexico providing critical hands-on assistance to people with severe chronic neuromuscular diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease). Friends in Time receives no government funds and remains dependent on foundations and individual donations to continue to provide services. Adelante is very appreciative of the support provided by the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.

The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation is dedicated to curing spinal cord injury by funding innovative research, and improving the quality of life for people living with paralysis through grants, information, and advocacy. Begun in 1999 by the late Dana Reeve, the CDRF Quality of life grant program has given over $10 million to organizations nationwide. For more information on CDRF visit the foundation on the Web at www.ChristopherReeve.org.

Adelante appreciated the support of the event’s major sponsors: New Mexico Heritage Hotels, New Mexico Bank and Trust, and 610AM The Sports Animal.

The High Desert neighbored provided a beautiful setting for Run for the Hills that included at 10K and 5K runs and a fitness walk through the Sandia foothills. Proceeds benefited Adelante Development Center and will help the agency provide employment, life skills training, therapies, and residential support for people with disabilities.

Bingaman received a JWOD Champion Award on August 8, 2007 at Adelante’s Bargain Square Thrift Store in Los Lunas, New Mexico. The store offers retail training for people with disabilities and is operated by Adelante Development Center, a local nonprofit agency that supports over 650 people with disabilities in New Mexico. The public was invited to attend and over 100 community members came out to support the Senator.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. Several nonprofit agencies in New Mexico, including Adelante Development Center, take part in the JWOD program. JWOD Congressional Champions, including Senator Bingaman, are elected policy makers who have demonstrated significant knowledge and support for the JWOD program and community providers in his or her district and/or State, or through Congressional Committee actions in support of the JWOD program.

Congressman Bingaman, along with the entire congressional delegation supported a federal investment for Adelante to develop employment opportunities for people with disabilities in New Mexico. This funding helped the agency to open the Bargain Square Thrift Store in Los Lunas. As a result, Adelante now employs 353 people with disabilities throughout New Mexico.

The agency offers vocational and life skills training, community living services, volunteer opportunities, and employment to nearly 700 New Mexicans with disabilities.

The agency manages over 20 homes for people with disabilities and the money raised will help Adelante make needed repairs to the homes in Valencia County. Adelante appreciates the hard work Liberty put into the event and all the local businesses and organizations who pitched in to make the event a success: Albertson’s, Bauer & Associates, Benny’s/Benny’s II, El Seminario, Jus-4-Fun, Los Lunas Art & Frames, Los Lunas Fire Department, 106.3 The Range, Rak’s Building Supply, local band Chemical Imbalance, and the Valencia County News Bulletin.

March 22, 2007 PNM Staff Volunteers Help Adelante Development Center PNM staff members pitched in as volunteers to help paint Adelante Development Center’s Mailing Services location. Adelante is a local nonprofit agency that helps people with disabilities achieve their goals.

Mailing Services provides businesses with quality mailing services while offering employment opportunities for over 60 people with disabilities. The affirmative business recently underwent a renovation and the PNM staff helped by painting three of the rooms in the facility. They also worked with people with disabilities to create artwork that now hangs on the walls in the break room. Adelante offers vocational and life skills training, community living services, volunteer opportunities, and employment to nearly 700 New Mexicans with disabilities.