Tomorrow's Meetup: Special Guest NM State Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino

Our monthly Albuquerque DFA-DFNM Meetup is set for Thursday, September 6th at 7:00 PM at the Social Hall of the First Unitarian Church at Carlisle and Comanche. To RSVP or join our group and email list, click here.

Our special guest will be State Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino, one of the progressive stalwarts in the New Mexico Legislature. Sen. Ortiz y Pino was a primary sponsor of resolutions urging the Congress to impeach Cheney and Bush and immediately bring our troops home from Iraq, as well as bills to establish a Department of Peace and create a working families tax credit. He's been a strong supporter of legislation needed in the areas of social welfare, at-risk youth, health, vets, education and many other core Democratic issues.

Now's our chance to thank him for his service, get his analysis of last year's Legislative Session and learn what's coming up at the January 2008 session. He'll also answer questions from the audience. More background on the Senator:

Sen. Ortiz y Pino was elected to represent State Senate District 12 (most of downtown Albuquerque and surrounding neighborhoods) in 2004, after retiring from a career in state and local government in a variety of social service posts. In 2004, he also started work at HELP-NM as director of the family services division. Since 2001, he's written a regular newspaper column on political and social issues for the Weekly Alibi.

He's worked throughout New Mexico but spent the past 28 years in Albuquerque. His interests broadened over the years from an initial focus on mental health and children's protective services to work in child and family advocacy, substance abuse, positive youth development and early childhood programming.

With two other social workers, he helped found a private adoption and foster care agency called La Familia in 1984 and co-founded a Charter High School for dropouts in Albuquerque in 2000 -- the Robert F. Kennedy Charter High School. He also helped found Los Puentes and Cesar Chavez Charter High Schools in Albuquerque and Cesar Chavez in Deming. All primarily serve adolescents who have left mainstream high schools.

Sen. Ortiz y Pino has a BA in Latin American Studies from the University of New Mexico and a Master's in Social Work from Tulane University.