SANTA FE, NM — Dennis Filipe Jr., of Acoma Pueblo, and Nadine Kowice, of Laguna Pueblo, are among seven New Mexicans, who will be working throughout the summer and beyond to improve the walkability of their communities.
The New Mexico State Walking College is a joint effort between AARP New Mexico and America Walks to offer a six-month, distancelearning fellowship program for people interested in advocating to make their communities more walkable. Participants, known as fellows, will complete a series of modules covering leadership development, coalition-building, walkable community design, local public policy, and strategic planning. The program is part of AARP’s Livable Communities initiative.
“AARP New Mexico is proud to be part of this initiative that will empower people and give them the tools needed to advocate for change in their communities,” said Joseph Sanchez, AARP New Mexico State Director.
“Each fellow will finish the college by developing a walking action plan for their community that they can take to local leaders and elected officials to implement change. We are very excited to not only see what they come up with, but how those plans are implemented moving forward,” Sanchez said.
Kowice is employed by the Acoma Pueblo’s Community Development Office as an associate planner. She worked for Laguna Housing for 11 years in tenant services, nine years with Acoma Business Enterprise in sales/marketing, 10 years in retail and five years in performance art/theatre.
“My niche is working with people, hoping to create a great experience or to be part of a group effort to create positive changes for a person or a community,” Kowice said. “My experiences have been joyful and rewarding in that I’ve helped people move into homes when they thought it was an impossible dream.”
“This fellowship comes at an opportune time when my office is planning road re-designs that will have pedestrian/ bike trails incorporated. I look forward to working with all the Walking College fellows and mentors,” she said.
Filipe is a tribal planner for Acoma Pueblo. He started his career assisting managing projects in South and North Dakota with the Federal Highway Administration where he then received his invitation and accepted to become a Peace Corps Volunteer.
In 2022, Fillipe started at Acoma Pueblo as a civil engineer to be the technical lead on community development and transportation efforts at the Tribe. With tribal planning efforts more in need, he changed titles to tribal planner, leading in the development of comprehensive long-term plans, including land-use, community development/ strategic plans, transportation planning, organizational improvement plans and grant writing.
The remaining New Mexico State Walking College Fellows are: Desiree Rangel – Sunland Park Don Miller – Santa Fe Maria Tsethlikai – Jemez Pueblo Mario Hooee – Zuni Pueblo Yvonne Allbritton-Chapman – Socorro
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