Nelsy Dominguez is the Greening America’s Cities Community Fellow in Albuquerque, New Mexico for the Bezos Earth Fund at the New Mexico Foundation.
In this inaugural role, Nelsy will work with the Albuquerque-based Bezos Earth Fund Greening America’s Cities-funded grantees and partners. She brings her diverse talents and many years of experience focused on expanding the social sector’s solution-focused impact and capacity to the role.
Serving in a coordinating role, Nelsy will work closely with the Bezos Earth Fund and its Greening America’s Cities team, the New Mexico Foundation, and the Earth Fund’s Albuquerque-based grantee partners. She will also collaborate with local and national partners, such as Green Latinos, The ReGenesis Institute, the Urban Sustainability Directors Network, the Coalition for Sustainable Communities NM, Bernalillo County, and City of Albuquerque, among others.
The Greening America’s Cities initiative is a multi-year, $400M investment by the Bezos Earth Fund, primarily in community environmental justice organizations through 2030. Nelsy joins other Community Fellows in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Wilmington, DE. Community Fellows in each city assist community-driven efforts to design, build, protect, preserve, and increase access to more green spaces and help ensure resources invested in the community have maximum benefit for the community.
“I am delighted to be part of Bezos Earth Fund Greening America’s Cities which brings together national and local knowledge to create a supportive ecosystem where communities long overlooked can thrive. Locally, I will be working with many partners and joining nationally recognized and locally esteemed community leaders such as Richard Moore of Los Jardines Institute and Helga Garcia-Garza of La Cosecha Community Supported Agriculture and Agri-Cultura Network. Together we will be both learning from and supporting efforts to create long-lasting community-driven wellness.” Richard’s and Helga’s decades long efforts have led to many investments in the South Valley of Albuquerque, including those by the Bezos Earth Fund, that ripple throughout New Mexico and nationally.
This July will mark the one-year anniversary of Bezos Earth Fund’s Greening America’s Cities $6.6 million investment toward greening projects in and around Albuquerque that will advance nature and urban greening solutions in public spaces with native fruit trees and herbs, educational nature trails, pollinator gardens in disinvested communities. Funds will also support improving accessibility to sustainably grown, healthy produce from local farmer networks. Communities in and around Albuquerque will reap many benefits from these activities such as increased local resilience to climate impacts like extreme heat.
Nelsy is a seasoned professional with nearly three decades of professional experience specializing in the social sector and as a small business entrepreneur through her consulting firm, c3 Perspectives Consulting, LLC. Nelsy was the Program Director for a combined period of nearly 22 years at two statewide foundations, the Con Alma Health Foundation and the New Mexico [Community] Foundation. She served as Deputy Director of Farm to Table NM and engaged in policy-driven town hall consensus building while working with New Mexico First.
Nelsy serves on the board of Groundworks New Mexico (formerly NM Grantmakers Association and the Center for Nonprofit Excellence) and contributes as Advisor to several groups and projects including the New Mexico Food & Agriculture Policy Council as a Governance committee member, the Envision Fund of the Santa Fe Community Foundation as vice-chair, and the HEAL Fund of the New Mexico Foundation. Nelsy is a Commissioner with the Santa Fe County Health Policy and Planning Commission representing District 3 and is a member of the New Mexico Public Health Association.
She is a proud mother of a fabulous seventeen-year-old daughter. Nelsy holds a master’s degree in social work with a concentration in policy and administration from the School of Social Work at New Mexico Highlands University, and a bachelor’s degree in Iberian and Latin American literature and cultural history, a policy minor, and a Paralegal Certificate from Montclair University in New Jersey.
About
The Bezos Earth Fund is transforming the fight against climate change with the largest ever philanthropic commitment to climate and nature protection. We’re investing $10 billion in this decisive decade to protect nature and drive systems-level change, creating a just transition to a low carbon economy. By providing funding and expertise, we partner with organizations to accelerate innovation, break down barriers to success and create a more equitable and sustainable world. Join us in our mission to create a world where people prosper in harmony with nature.
The New Mexico Foundation’s mission is to steward community resources, build partnerships, and create opportunities that transform lives throughout New Mexico. For the past 40 years, the New Mexico Foundation has been the only statewide community foundation supporting people, communities, and nonprofits. NMF priorities include Healthy Communities, Rural Infrastructure, Education Opportunities, Community Resiliency, and Environmental Adaptability.
For more information contact: Nelsy Dominguez, Greening America’s Cities Community Fellow in Albuquerque, NM ndominguez@newmexicofoundation.org, or 505-660-6711 (cell).