We’re Fifteen Years Old!

Garden Open House and Teen Salsa Contest, September 2015, Image credit: NYP.

And who is “we”, you might ask? Well, I’m talking about Abiquiú’s very own and unique Northern Youth Project (NYP). NYP is a non-profit designed by and for Teens in Rio Arriba County, providing free programs and paid internships in the arts, traditional agriculture, community service and leadership projects that honor the past and look to the future.
 
To learn more about their background, here is a little blurb from their Facebook page:
“In the summer of 2009, a group of six kids, aged 13 to 16, along with the help of an adult sponsor, banded together and advocated for services for the teens of their community. They dreamt of a place to be together, feel safe and be themselves,  Surrounded by positive friends and role models with programs that supported the physical, emotional and academic needs of rural northern New Mexico teens. NYP serves youth ages 12-21 from Abiquiú, El Rito, Gallina, Cañones, and Medanales”.

Summer 2024 Interns tending the garden. Image credit: NYP

​Doesn’t this sound absolutely wonderful? If you’re not an old-timer who grew up here or who has lived here for 20 years or more, you may not know that there is nothing to do for young people around here. No basketball or soccer field, no gathering place to hang out, no clubs where one can learn something – at least, not in 2009.  Leona Hillary, who is currently Director of Education at the Santa Fe Children’s Museum, was the founder and first Program Director.

Carmella Quam facilitates a traditional Zuni waffle bed workshop with 2024 Spring Interns. Image credit: NYP.

One of the unique qualities of NYP is the fact that they offer internships to young people aged 16 to 21 who otherwise have limited job prospects or are seeking first time employment. The interns are responsible for garden care from start to finish, Spring-Fall and learn about various agricultural topics such as soil health, permaculture practices, safe tool use, plant identification, traditional flood irrigation and Acequia maintenance, growing / cooking /eating/seed saving of regional heirloom and other crops of their choosing, and community engagement at the Abiquiu Farmers Market. They explore a number of artistic media and farming styles via field trips and individual site-based apprenticeships with local mentors, and gain important leadership skills through these hands-on experiential learning opportunities.
 
A young person who commits to the full internship schedule will earn $17 per hour in 2024. Think about it: this is an invaluable arrangement which prepares teenagers and young adults for the future. They acquire skills, learn to cooperate and be responsible community members, plus – they have fun and get paid!

Summer 2023 Teen Interns preparing to cook with fresh NYP grown veggies. Image Credit: NYP

Since its beginnings, NYP has become a strong presence in Abiquiú and the surrounding communities. Their annual events include the Plant Sale and Seed Exchange, which even made it through the pandemic in 2020 when it was entirely online. There were several Harvest Brunches, Art Exhibits, and Teen Salsa Contests. From 2020-2023, NYP facilitated the Bridge Program to include youth under 12, providing a safe outdoor learning environment and support for siblings of Interns and their families during a challenging time.

Chauncey Foster of we.grow.eco facilitates a papermaking workshop with Interns and Bridge Program youth in Summer of 2023. Image credit: NYP.

And then there is the amazing film, THE LOVE OF LAND PROJECT. It started with a trash cleanup day in 2017, when a number of NYP teens organized and cleaned up local acequias. What to do with all the rubbish they collected? Well, they decided to turn it into an art project. And they made a film of the whole process. 

Watch the Preview Below

​Every week at the Abiquiú Farmers’ Market during the Spring & Summer internship (May-July), NYP mans a booth where they offer seedlings and produce for a donation. I recently spoke with one of the interns who help out there, Samantha, or Sam.

Intern Samantha. Image credit: Jessica Rath.

She told me  that they’ve been doing a lot of  fundraising recently. The land where NYP was growing their garden and operating from is likely to be sold, and they need to find a new home.

“We could always come here and hang out and have fun. It was so calming, a different environment. I've come here for about five years. In the summer when school is out and there’s nowhere to go,  something  is planned for the day here.

 We do so many different things, and a lot of it is community-based. We're a community-based  program for teens”.
 
What are some of the activities you do here, I asked Sam.

“We have different workshops. For example, a couple of weeks ago, we did a soil workshop. Our soil in New Mexico is still really brittle, and it's mostly sand. It's not very nutritious, it doesn’t have many enzymes.Our instructor had brought us some soil that she had bought at another farmers’ market, and it was really rich. We soaked it in water, and we added nutrients and minerals, and poured it all over the plants. They bloomed in a couple of days!”
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They are planting and harvesting many things right now: various medicinal plants and perennial herbs including rosemary, sage, and thyme, and annual vegetables such as greens, carrots, eggplant,corn, beans, squash, tomatoes, potatoes, and  melons​

Spring 2024 Intern irrigates tomatoes with the Acequia. Image credit: NYP.

“We were doing a whole bunch of dye plants in one row so that we can have another workshop”, Sam continued.  “We take all those plants and flowers  and we turn them into dyes, and then we bring our T-shirts and tie them and just tie dye them in all kinds of different colors”.
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They also offer the flowers they have grown at the Farmers’ Market to get donations.  And I see bags filled with rosemary that had just been picked and was really fresh. Plus, they had lots of cherries. I hope people will be generous with their donations. If NYP has to buy a plot of land or adjust their programs so they can continue to exist, they’ll need an enormous amount of money.

Bridge Program youth packaging seeds for the Pueblo de Abiquiu Library and Cultural Centers seed library project in 2023. Image credit: NYP.

Their current Executive Director, Ru Stempien, has this to say: “I came on at NYP to work in collaboration with our youth because there is no other program like this available in the County. To give our young people a chance to stay local, we need to provide meaningful opportunities economically via job & leadership skill development, as well as through the way we as adults connect with them by building trust and support through our mentorships. Most folks in the community probably don’t know about our broader positive impact beyond our programs, but most of the money we bring into the organization goes to running programs by employing local interns, staff, and mentors. NYP in 2024 alone has brought in $160,000 and a total of $900,000 in funding since 2015, that has gone almost entirely back into the local economy. We are grateful to our long time grantors and donors for making this possible! The most impactful way the community can support NYP at this time is to become a recurring donor today and share with your networks this opportunity to support the future of this work.”

2024 Summer Teen interns engaging with community at the Abiquiu Farmers Market, requesting testimonial survey responses and sharing herbs by donation. Image credit: NYP.

Here is the link to donate:
Your Gift Supports Our Mission.

You may also show your support by taking a brief survey made by the Teens to gather information on NYP’s community impact here:
Share Your Northern Youth Project Story!
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I hope they’ll find some generous sponsors who will help. It’s unthinkable to lose such an effective and useful program. What better way for the community to guarantee a bright future than to invest in our young people. The skills they learn at NYP benefit all of us.