To MaryEllen Garcia, executive director of the New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence, serving survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault shouldn’t be a short-term initiative.
“Survivor safety, it’s not a pilot project. … It requires ongoing investment,” Garcia said.
But whether state lawmakers are willing to make that investment this year remains uncertain.
As lawmakers hash out the details of how New Mexico will spend its money in fiscal year 2027, coalitions representing organizations across the state that provide direct services to survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence have pointed out what they argue is a problem with the proposed spending plan: There isn’t much in it for survivor services, even as demand rises and federal resources remain uncertain.
In the more than $11 billion state budget laid out in House Bill 2, which the House passed last week, just $1 million in recurring funding is set aside to directly fund services for survivors of sexual assault. The New Mexico Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs has asked for $2 million.
While the New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence asked for an extra $5 million for the 32 organizations across the state it represents, that line item isn’t in the current version of HB 2.
The bill remains far from finished. Both coalitions are planning to lobby senators to incorporate their requests into the budget.
Rep. Nathan Small, a Las Cruces Democrat who heads the influential House Appropriations and Finance Committee, acknowledged during a budget briefing Wednesday the need for financial consistency for providers, noting he was “very proud” of the recurring $1 million allocated for sexual assault programs.
“We see that these direct service providers are a key link,” Small said. “We’re working to integrate them into sort of larger, ongoing, recurring sources of funding, so that it’s not as dependent year to year.”
Garcia said securing additional funding this year isn’t just about being able to sustain critical services. It’s about making sure the state’s budget reflects its commitment to serve survivors.
“What does that tell our community about our values, when we keep just cutting or flat-lining these community-based, vital services?” Garcia asked.
She continued, “Community-based services exist because the state and governmental systems cannot nor should not provide these services, and so we as communities should ask and demand that our legislative bodies meaningfully resource these services.”
Increasing demand
A September 2024 survey prepared for the New Mexico Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs estimates about one in five New Mexico residents had experienced intimate partner violence within a year, based on participants’ responses.
More than half of New Mexico residents have experienced rape or sexual assault — such as unwanted grabbing, kissing or fondling — in their lifetime, the survey found.
“That is the need that we need to match,” said María José Rodríguez Cádiz, executive director of Solace Sexual Assault Services, a Santa Fe-based nonprofit with a more than 50-year history of addressing sexual violence in Northern New Mexico.
Not only is sexual assault disturbingly common in New Mexico but individual cases are growing increasingly complex, Rodríguez Cádiz said.
In the past, many clients required short- or medium-term therapy after experiencing sexual violence, she said. These days, clients require 40, 50, 60, 70 sessions, something Rodríguez Cádiz attributed to “living in a world that is full of uncertainties at any level.”
As clients grapple with adverse conditions like housing insecurity or immigration crackdowns, Rodríguez Cádiz said, trauma grows more complex — and takes more time to address. That means Solace’s clinicians can’t discharge clients or admit new ones as quickly.
State funding
In recent years, the state has devoted additional funding to sexual assault service providers, which has been used to establish helplines for survivors, developing housing supports, expanding sexual assault nurse examiner programs and establishing new providers, according to the New Mexico Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs.
In fiscal year 2025, sexual assault services reached nearly 6,000 survivors across the state, according to data from the coalition.
The coalition’s request for $2 million this year was consistent with its ask in 2025, said Alexandria Taylor, executive director of the New Mexico Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs.
“We were just needing to sustain the $2 million that’s already working,” she said. “That’s already at programs, already serving survivors all across the state.”
For service providers, reliable funding each year is essential to make “the true investments that they need to make,” Taylor said, including hiring more staff.
Taylor called the $1 million in recurring funding a “major win” — though the coalition will continue to push for $2 million.
“Having this money recurring means that programs can meet the staffing levels that they need, they can provide the services that their communities need — because they know that that money is going to be available,” she said.
While the coalition providing services to survivors of sexual assault may have secured half of its requested funding, the New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence hasn’t been so lucky.
HB 2 would extend the allotted time to spend up to $5 million on a facility for transitional housing and shelter, but it doesn’t otherwise mention domestic violence services.
Garcia acknowledged the coalition’s request for $5 million is “not much.” In fact, she said an analysis indicates the true need is about three times great to adequately staff community organizations and pay workers a livable wage.
It hurts, Garcia said, “when you’re losing an advocate who has been to school to become a social worker and you’re losing them to Walmart or McDonald’s or Target because they could make more than they can in the helping profession.”
Garcia said she’s an “eternal optimist” and remains hopeful the Senate will add an appropriation for domestic violence services to the state’s budget, though she acknowledged the challenge of accomplishing that task in a 30-day legislative session.
Providers are “meeting survivors where they are. They’re providing the services that survivors are asking for,” she said. “Yet, as a state, we don’t appropriate those dollars in a way that reflects that value.”