Community Matters: Santa Fe Dreamers Project
Santa Fe Dreamers Project, Miles Tokunow
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
Listen here
This month, we're honored to welcome Miles Tokunow, Executive Director of the Santa Fe Dreamers Project. With a mission rooted in dignity, justice, and equity, Santa Fe Dreamers Project provides high quality, accessible legal services to immigrants and mixed status families. Their work goes far beyond legal paperwork. They partner with clients to pursue humanitarian protection, preserve family unity, build economic stability, and fight for freedom from detention.
Today, Santa Fe Dreamers Project currently has over 1,150 open cases. Hundreds of these clients are subject to years-long processing delays with US Citizenship and Immigration Services, limited visa numbers due to statutory caps, or have deportation proceedings that are stuck in court backlogs. This results in immigration cases that can take more than five years to resolve. Their model of legal services is based on the commitment that their staff partners with their clients until their cases are complete, regardless of political and bureaucratic conditions.
_____
About Community Matters
Our monthly radio show invites subject experts and community leaders to talk about the challenges and inequities our region faces and possible solutions that could contribute to its growth. Hosted by Santa Fe Community Foundation staff, Community Matters airs on the third Wednesday of every month at 6:00 PM on KSFR (101.1 FM). Listen to past episodes here.
Community Matters: Quivira Coallition
Through education, innovation, and collaboration, Quivira works in coalition with ranchers, farmers, government agencies, and land stewards to foster resilience on working lands. Quivira works to support the community and implementation of regenerative agriculture until it is embraced as a crucial piece of our food systems, our land stewardship, and our solutions to climate change.
Community Matters: Patti Ward, Fundraising Immersion Program
On this episode of Community Matters, we have the pleasure of speaking with Patti Ward, a seasoned nonprofit consultant with over 25 years of experience helping organizations build the skills and strategies they need to thrive. Join us as we discuss key trends and challenges in New Mexico’s nonprofit sector, practical tips for crafting a compelling case for support, and what participants can expect from Patti's upcoming Fundraising Immersion program.
Community Matters: Dr. Opal Lee, Dione Sims & Hakim Bellamy
In honor of MLK Day, on this Community Matters episode we share a portion of our conversation between renowned activists Dr. Opal Lee and Ms. Dione Sims — both instrumental in the movement to make Juneteenth a federally-recognized holiday — and Hakim Bellamy, the inaugural Poet Laureate of Albuquerque and advisory committee member of the Empower! Black Futures Community Fund at Santa Fe Community Foundation.
