Rio Rancho Families, Agencies Gather to Address Youth Safety Concerns

Cynthia Arellano had a personal reason for organizing the Feb. 19 gathering at the Unitarian Church in Rio Rancho. Her niece attends Rio Rancho High School and has experienced bullying firsthand, and Arellano said she has witnessed the ripple effects on other young people around her.

"I have a niece who goes to Rio Rancho High School, and she has seen a lot of, felt a lot of bullying. I've seen all the trauma in other kids, and there's no organization here in Rio Rancho that goes into the school, which I know is difficult," said Arellano, a representative with the Fuerzas Unidas Caucus who organized the community listening session.

Arellano convened families, service providers and agencies to address the range of threats facing children in the city and to put concrete resources directly into the hands of parents and caregivers. She invited law enforcement, crisis hotlines and shelter organizations to speak, including the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office, the 988 Suicide Crisis line, Haven House and the New Mexico Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs.

The session also featured Teresa Garcia, an advocate for domestic violence and sexual assault survivors who previously ran for Albuquerque City Council. Garcia highlighted a restraining order packet that the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault commission recently revamped in Albuquerque, describing it as a more accessible and thorough document than what had previously been available to survivors.

"The packet is something that the DVSA commission just renewed and did work on in the city of Albuquerque, so a lot of these organizations came together, revamped the whole restraining order packet, so it's accessible," Garcia said.

The redesign was intentional, Garcia explained, responding to a prior version she described bluntly as inadequate. "We really tried to make it super comprehensive because the other packet that was in existence... No shade, but it was just really tiny letters. The information was outdated, and so we really came into a thoughtful process that was intentional for survivors, and then it also has information on there where there's a separate process for survivors to obtain their belongings," she said.

Packets are available for multiple judicial districts across New Mexico, including the 13th judicial district, which covers Sandoval County.

The listening session reflected a broader effort to connect Rio Rancho residents with support systems that extend beyond crisis intervention. Sandoval County is among four counties, alongside McKinley, Rio Arriba and Valencia, where the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department launched a Community Prevention Response pilot in January 2021 through its Family OutReach and Community Engagement program, known as FORCE. The county's contracted provider under that initiative is PB&J Family Services. The program is designed as a community-based alternative to statutory child protective services involvement, with the goal of addressing family needs through local agencies and licensed social workers before situations escalate.

Arellano's concern about the absence of school-based organizations in Rio Rancho underscored the central tension of the evening: resources exist across the region, but reaching young people where they are remains an unfinished task.