The New Mexico Civic Engagement Table (NMCET) was established in 2008 as a project of the Center for Civic Policy.
Our Mission:
The NMCET envisions a thriving New Mexico where a New American Majority (NAM) that includes historically and systemically excluded communities — people of color, women, LGBTQ+, and young people — realizes full, decolonized freedom through access and attainment of justice.
We achieve this end by employing the principles of collective impact, unifying diverse organizations from different sectors around a common agenda to strengthen our democracy. Our work fortifies grassroots efforts by making efficient use of limited resources, promoting best practices, and achieving solutions no one group could achieve on its own. Through integrated civic engagement – the seamless and strategic coordination of electoral, base-building, and issue advocacy –our table and partners produce more habitual voters, build the capacity of community-based organizations and their leaders, and win on issues that impact the lives of our stakeholders.
Our Partners:
The Table was initially formed with a core group of 5 partner organizations. Over the past 12 years, the Table has grown to include more than 40 non-profit civic engagement organizations from across the state. Table partners come together to work on a variety of issues, like democracy reform, tax and budget reform, economic justice, immigrant rights, and climate justice. Table partners collaborate around strategic and coordinated opportunities for non-partisan voter mobilization, public policy campaigns, data-tested messaging, and civic engagement work to build power for NAM communities.
NMCET Strategic Priorities:
The NMCET’s objectives every year are to: (1) increase the vote share of NAM voters from the previous General Election cycle; (2) engage NAM constituencies in year-round issue education and public policy campaigns, and (3) achieve an increase in return in investment in NMCET partner organizations in order to continue to build civic engagement expertise and capacity in the state.
Our table strategies to meet these objectives are: (1) foster collective action and capacities around a common civic engagement and power-building agenda, (2) ground all decision making for our civic engagement work on data-driven best practices, and (3) create an economy of scale that ensures access to tools and resources needed to carry out successful programs. Select activities and desired outputs by program area are as follows:
Voter Mobilization Campaigns:
- Voter registration
- Get Out The Vote (GOTV)
- Issue Education
Advocacy:
- Democracy Reform
- Economic Justice
- Early Childhood Education
- Climate Justice
- Immigration Reform
- Economic Development
- Census & Redistricting Coordination
Network Development & Support:
- Technical assistance & tools sharing: Increase the return on investment in NM for shared services and cost efficiencies; Strengthen partner infrastructure and capacity with:
- VAN (Voter Activation Network) workshops;
- Field trainings throughout the year;
- Advocacy/legal trainings;
- Communications/Narrative trainings;
- Monthly meetings for Race, Gender, Equity working group;
- Quarterly meetings for immigration workgroup; and
- Trainings on administrative and/financial topics for partners