Vasquez visits the South Valley Social Enterprise Center

Sewing machines were thrumming at the South Valley Social Enterprise Center on a recent afternoon. Rep. Gabe Vasquez was running late for a planned visit because it took longer to visit the Cibola Detention facility than expected.

Vasquez, whose lopsided New Mexico district stretches east enveloping Carlsbad, encompasses all of Las Cruces and picks up Albuquerque’s South Valley — splitting the state’s largest metro area — traveled from Las Cruces to Albuquerque and back over the week. He and the state’s other two U.S. House representatives are running for reelection this year.

Partnership for Community Action owns the enterprise center.

“It’s a really positive contribution to the South Valley. But more importantly, it’s a catalytic model for the state, to say that we can reject traditional extractive models of economic development, and community can take over that,” said Nichelle Gilbert, executive director of Partnership for Community Action.

The South Valley Enterprise Center has been trying to stimulate the local economy since 2022. But the anchor tenant, Southwest Creations Collaborative, has been in operation for 30 years. The nonprofit has a factory floor and dock, offices and on-site day care for 25 cents an hour in the enterprise center. The nonprofit employs 30 people.

Being at the enterprise center has allowed Southwest Creations to add 10 new jobs, said Susan Matteucci, the nonprofit’s executive director. Their theory is if you give a woman an income, she will invest in her children and create generational change.

“Our work is really about family security, economic security through both wages and through being able to have opportunities for your kids to go to college,” Matteucci said. “How do you navigate that path? You know, we always say all parents have the same dream for their kids. They just don’t know how to get there necessarily.”

Most of Southwest Creations’ budget is consumed by wages. Its wages contributed $1.3 million to the local economy, according to Matteucci.

Its Hacia program works with 652 families, helping students succeed in school by working with families and students. The students participating in the program have a 99% graduation rate, and 98% get accepted into college.

“It’s an integrated model that includes child care and a dignified place to work, and so it shows that economic justice is possible in New Mexico,” Vasquez said.

Seeing the model work encourages him to find federal funding for more centers like the South Valley Enterprise Center, he said.

“The Small Business Administration could be doing more in terms of technical assistance to provide access to capital for the small businesses. What I’d love to see is more of these folks who are working here become entrepreneurs, create their own lines, create their own small businesses,” Vasquez said.

Vasquez told the staff that he’s been trying to keep the Children Health Insurance Program off the chopping block and pushing for extending the child tax credit.

“It is one of the biggest anti-poverty measures that we have in this country. In fact, we cut down child poverty in this country by more than 50% when we had the child tax credit,” Vasquez said.

Cathy Cook is a news reporter for the Albuquerque Journal. Reach her via email at ccook@abqjournal.com