Center for Civic Policy (CCP)

The Center for Civic Policy organizes the New Mexico Civic Engagement Table (NMCET), a coalition of over 40 New Mexico groups focused on voter mobilization and policy advocacy. ²

The Center for Civic Policy is the sister group of the Center for Civic Action (CCA), a left-of-center lobbying and advocacy group focused on supporting left-leaning candidates and promoting left-of-center policy positions; it is a partner of ProgressNow New Mexico’s Progressive Voter Guide.  ³

Related Organizations

The ProgressNow New Mexico Education Fund and the Center for Civic Policy are related organizations and share an address, according to IRS filings. ^{4 5} The ProgressNow New Mexico Education Fund is a member of the New Mexico Civic Engagement Table, a project organized by the CCP for mobilizing voters in New Mexico. ⁶ As of December 2023, Oriana Sandoval was listed as the chief executive officer of the Center for Civic Policy and as the chair of the board of the ProgressNow New Mexico Education Fund. ^{7 8} 

The NM Dream Team, a fiscally sponsored project of the CCP as of 2023, is an advocacy group based in New Mexico. ⁹ The group describes itself on its Facebook page as “undocumented students and allies working in and alongside our community to inform and empower immigrant families and students.” ¹⁰ As of December 2023, Elizebeth Cuna was listed as the president of the board of the CCP; Cuna is also a founder and senior policy advisor of the NM Dream Team. ^{11 12} The NM Dream Team is a partner of the NMCET. ⁶

Dreams in Action NM, a lobbying and advocacy group based in New Mexico, states its website is “owned and operated” by the Center for Civic Policy in its privacy policy. ¹³ The CCP and Dreams in Action NM also share an address, according to IRS filings. ^{14 15} Dreams in Action NM claimed to be the “electoral arm” of the NM Dream Team in articles from 2021. ¹⁶ As of June 2023, Cuna was listed as the executive director of Dreams in Action NM. ¹⁷ Dreams In Action NM is a partner of the NMCET. ⁶

The Semilla Project is a member of the New Mexico Civic Engagement Table. ⁶ Cuna is the founder and executive director of the Semilla Project, and a co-founder of Semilla Strategies LLC, a political consulting firm. ^{18 12 19 20} The Semilla Project lists the Center for Civic Policy, Dreams in Action NM, and NM Dream Team as partners on its website. ²¹

Activities

The New Mexico Civic Engagement Table, a project of the Center for Civic Policy, is a state affiliate of State Voices. ^{22 2 23} The NMCET’s expressed goals include voter registration and get out the vote campaigns to realize “decolonized freedom through access and attainment of justice.” ²

The advocacy campaigns of the NMCET include “Democracy Reform,” “Economic Justice,” “Climate Justice” “Immigration Reform,” and “Census & Redistricting Coordination.” ²

As of August 2024, Orianna Sandoval was listed as the chief executive officer of the Center for Civic Policy, a co-director of the New Mexico Civic Engagement Table, and on the board of State Voices. ^{24 25 24 26} As of December 2024, Sandoval was also listed on the board of the ProgressNow New Mexico Education Fund, a partner in the NMCET. ^{27 6}

In 2023, the Center for Civic Policy supported The New Mexico Voting Rights Act along with ProgressNow New Mexico, Dreams in Action NM, the NM Dream Team, and the Semilla Project. ²⁸ The Voting Rights Act, signed into law in 2023, “restores the right of previously incarcerated individuals to vote upon their release,” “creates a voluntary permanent absentee voter list,” and “automatically registers voters at the MVD,” according to the New Mexico governor’s office. ²⁹

In 2021, Center for Civic Policy created a map to visualize its recommended realignment of  the boundaries of U.S House and state legislative seats across New Mexico. This map won endorsement from a “citizens” redistricting advisory board known as Citizens Redistricting Committee, in effect recommending it to the New Mexico Democratic-led Legislature panel that was planning to hold a redistricting conference in December of 2021. ³⁰ New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) signed a version of the proposed maps into law in December 2021. ³¹

In December 2021, Center for Civic Policy released a report that discussed issues related to short- and long-term policies required to transition to so-called “clean energy.” Some of its “short term” policy suggestions included a proposed “Community Solar Act” to foster “grassroots” solar energy development as well as a proposed “New Mexican Community Ownership and Power Administration” that would serve as a catalyst for weather-dependent energy systems. Its “long term” policy suggestions included forcing state agencies to enter into “Power Purchase Agreements” that would support community-owned energy systems, forcing the breakup and restructuring of New Mexican utility companies, and creating an “Energy Democracy” office that would transition the state away from conventional energy sources. CCP wrote this report in partnership with the multi-issue left-of-center think tank and advocacy group Institute for Policy Studies. ^{32 33}

On November 1, 2022, Center for Civic Policy announced that it sought to intervene in an appeal filed by the Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico (IPANM) with the New Mexico Court of Appeals relating to state oil and gas air-pollution rules. IPANM opposed Gov. Lujan Grisham’s energy regulations, and CCP demanded that IPANM the oil industry it represents continue to be subjected to such regulations. ³⁴ CCP partnered with the Environmental Defense Fund, ³⁴ an environmentalist group known for its left-wing advocacy climate change issues. ³⁵

Funding

Center for Civic Policy receives funding from organizations such as the Solidago Foundation, ³⁶ a left-of-center grantmaking organization that supports activist organizations that advocate for environmentalist regulations, increased unionization, increased government spending, and left-of-center social policies on issues such as immigration and race. ³⁷ CCP also received a grant for $200,000 in 2018 for a term of 24 months from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, ³⁸ a left-of-center foundation that is one of the wealthiest and most generous grant making organizations in the world. ³⁹ CCP also received funding from the Collaborative for Gender + Reproductive Equity, a coalition of left-of-center groups that promote abortion rights, changes to the judiciary, and organizing at the state and local level. ⁴⁰

The Center for Civic Policy has also received funding from the large left-of-center groups the New Venture Fund, a nonprofit under the direction of Arabella Advisors, the Margurite Casey Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. ^{41 42 43 44}

Leadership

Elizabeth Cuna was listed as the executive director of Dreams in Action NM as of June 2023. Cuna works as campaign director for the Center for Civic Policy and was listed as president of the board as of 2023. She serves as senior advisor for the NM Dream Team, which she helped found. Previously, Cuna worked as United We Dream’s national field director for four years. Cuna’s career in advocacy began when she admitted to being an illegal immigrant in 2004. ¹² She is co-founder and owns 90 percent interest in Semilla Strategies LLC, and she is the executive director of the Semilla Project, which she helped found. ⁴⁵

Melanie Aranda was listed on the board of Dreams in Action NM as of June 2023. Aranda was listed as the chief operating officer and founding member of the Center for Civic Policy and a co-director of the New Mexico Civic Engagement Table as of August 2024. Previously, Aranda worked as a volunteer for the Petroglyph National Monument Protection Coalition. Prior to founding the Center for Civic Policy, Aranda worked as vice president of an Albuquerque-based political consulting firm that helped elect local progressive leaders into office.  She was previously on the boards of ProgressNow New Mexico and the ProgressNow New Mexico Education Fund. ⁴⁶

Oriana Sandoval has been the chief executive officer at the Center for Civic Policy and the Center for Civic Action and a co-director of the New Mexico Civic Engagement Table since 2015. ²⁵ As of 2023, Sandoval was listed as the chair of the board of the ProgressNow New Mexico Education Fund and the board of State Voices. ^{8 26} Previously, Sandoval worked at the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment as a clerk researching litigation on climate change issues and cases involving air quality standards in California’s Central Valley. She was also a clerk at the Centro Legal de la Raza in Oakland, California, where she provided legal services in the areas of housing, immigration, and employment. In 2011, she worked as the founding executive director of a left-of-center voter mobilization organization called New Mexico Vote Matters, which assisted 21,000 New Mexicans in registering to vote in 2012. ⁴⁷