Community Development
Are you interested in learning about how Santa Fe can become more affordable, sustainable, and vibrant? Join us for the Livability in the Land of Enchantment Speaker Series! This monthly series brought local and national speakers to venues across town. Free public talks were followed by a social hour with food, drinks, and community building.
Our Community Programs
Community Research
The Childcare Facilities Toolbox
High quality early learning opportunities are the foundation upon which lifelong educational gains are built. However, more than half of New Mexican children aged zero to three cannot benefit from this important foundation because there are insufficient high quality affordable slots available to them.
Read about the research Homewise is doing to help identify a comprehensive childcare facilities development strategy.
On October 27th, 2022, Homewise, Santa Fe Community College’s Early Childhood Center of Excellence, NMAEYC, and Deloitte presented a panel conversation at the Violet Crown about the financing and technical assistance required to move the needle on childcare facilities development and financing.
Home Renovation Program
We buy empty houses through our home renovation program and renovate them so that individuals and families can live in them again. These are homes that may have been foreclosed on or are problem properties contributing to neighborhood distress. As we renovate them, we increase the comfort and energy efficiency of the home, thereby ensuring that future homeowners can save money and help the environment at the same time.
Our Community Spaces
The Orpheum Community Hub
The Orpheum–originally a vaudeville theater–had become a mix of studio spaces and apartments when we purchased the building in 2017. After a robust renovation, we reopened the building as our Albuquerque Homeownership Center in the summer of 2019. The Orpheum is also home to our Community Hub (a theater space available for rent) where we host classes, workshops, performances and community events.
The Ruppe
The Ruppe Drugstore is the oldest drugstore in Albuquerque—operational from 1883 to 2017. We purchased the building in 2017 and re-opened it in the fall of 2019. Currently The Ruppe is open for a period of free community use while we find a long-term tenant.
