| Las Cruces, New Mexico, is the largest city in Dona Ana County, a densely populated area along the U.S. border with Mexico. A 45-percent population growth in the past decade has transformed the region from a collection of small, moderately sized communities to the second most populated area of New Mexico. Challenges usually associated with big cities--including alcohol and drug abuse, crime, and violence--have accompanied the population increase. Poverty is also widespread. Dona Ana County has the third highest child poverty rate and the seventh highest adult poverty rate in the State of New Mexico. It is the sixth poorest county in the country.
The Court Youth Center (CYC) has offered young people in La Cruces a safe haven from these problems since it opened in 1996. Housed in the newly renovated Court Junior High School, CYC programs allow young people, 62 percent of whom are Hispanic, to participate in healthy leisure activities and enhance their academic skills. The center currently houses an art gallery, dance studio, gift shop, kitchen, 600-seat theatre/multipurpose space, and four multi-use rooms. Young people manage and maintain all the facilities, with help from an intergenerational and multicultural adult staff.
New Mexico State University (NMSU) is using Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities (HSIAC) funds to renovate a portion of the youth center so it can house a full-scale, accredited Culinary Arts Training Program there. The program, a welcome addition to an area that has a 7-percent unemployment rate, will provide marketable skills to local high school students and unemployed adults.
Development of the Culinary Arts Training Program is being guided by a coalition of partners that include New Mexico State University, Dona Ana Branch Community College, the Las Cruces Public Schools, the hospitality industry, community-based organizations, and New Mexico Works, the State's Welfare-to-Work program. The university has leveraged more than $231,500 for the project and expects to receive additional funding from New Mexico Works and the hospitality industry to continue the program after HSIAC funds are exhausted.
|
