Growing up in Albuquerque, Adrián’s compass always led him to believe in the power of people.
This instinct to invest his time in organizing with his family, friends, and community guided him as a young college student, leading him to focus on community work projects. It was during this time that he and his colleague Javier Martinez connected with Dr. Moises Venegas at The Albuquerque Partnership, an organization that shared his urgency to address the needs of the local community.
His early work was about prevention, believing and investing in young people when others had forgotten about them. He asked, “Can we mentor young Latino males? Get them through high school, college and on to better opportunities?”. These driving questions eventually found a supportive home in the Albuquerque Partnership where Javier had also started his career, which provided the encouragement he needed to pursue a community-driven mission.
He and Javier built alliances with schools, community groups, and worked with a UNM Latino fraternity he started and other UNM students to mentor high school students, engaging politically conscious young men and students to break down the barriers posed by big institutions. This wasn’t just theoretical, it was about organizing.
After university, during his AmeriCorps service at the Partnership, he broaden his impact by advocating for higher education access, immigrants’ rights, and programs for young fathers and incarcerated men. He subsequently integrated policy research into his advocacy, directly championing underrepresented communities to ensure fair representation in the state legislature.
As the Albuquerque Partnership evolved, and Adrián grew in his capacity, he accepted the position of Executive Director.
His stewardship led to changing the organization’s name to the Partnership for Community Action (PCA), with the intention set to impact the community beyond Albuquerque. As ED, Adrián learned about the intricacies of funding, navigating the world of government grants from the city and state. However, he knew government funding was often to work on symptoms while the real work was to move upstream, organize with community,and resolve root causes.
In order to better serve, PCA needed to diversify. They turned to foundations like McCune Foundation and W.K. Kellogg, which were more aligned with asset-based, grassroots prevention work. This shift was crucial, they couldn’t justify deficit-based approaches when he knew community-building strategies were best for the communities they were dedicated to uplifting.
Adrián continued with the practice of being deeply collaborative. PCA had a history of holding partnership coalition meetings, gathering neighborhood associations and leaders from across all community sectors to create monthly action plans. This model of community building was essential, especially when working with immigrant communities in an anti-immigrant political climate under Governor Susana Martinez and Mayor Richard Berry. Through initiatives like La Coalición de Inmigrantes, which held monthly meetings at the Alamosa Community Center, the community began to take action and dream bigger.
The conversation turned to state policy and a constitutional amendment.
Inspired by programs like Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors that built power with Spanish-speaking parents of young children, and in partnership with a larger coalition and leading organizations such as CHI St. Joseph’s Children and NM Voices for Children, they asked a bold question – how do we fund a comprehensive early childhood system in New Mexico? The vision was for a constitutional right to early childhood education, funded sustainably through the state’s Permanent Land Grant Fund.
For years, the “Invest in Kids Now” coalition educated legislators and the public on the “why” including the high return on investing in early childhood development and education. They organized marches where thousands of young families and providers, powered largely by immigrant families, showed up as advocates for all children in NM.
The ambitious plan required getting a constitutional amendment through the legislature and to the voters. It was a massive grassroots effort that required getting everyone involved across the state. The vision was long-term and the dedication was evident as it took 12 years for New Mexico voters to make history. New Mexico voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment that made NM the first state to guarantee a right to early childhood education while directing substantial, steady funding to child care and early education.
Adrián A. Pedroza had many more wins with PCA and the community, including the building of the Social Enterprise Center.
He is a dreamer and most of all a dedicated builder still following his compass. Today he serves as the National Executive Director for Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors – the nation’s first evidence-based comprehensive training program initially developed by and for Latino parents with children ages 0-5, and now serving diverse families across the country. While an amazing and recognized community leader, Adrián is most proud of his family- his wife Valerie, daughter Mariana, and sons Marco and Emilio.
At the Partnership for Community Action, it is important to recognize we are standing on the shoulders of giants, and we will continue to work alongside communities towards a more equitable future for all.
In order to further the work, please consider a donation to PCA for the next 35 years of building a more equitable New Mexico!