Before Oscar Apodaca talked to Accion, his Santa Fe tree service business was struggling like so many entrepreneurial enterprises that lack access to capital.

Oscar and his wife, Charito, started their full-service landscape business on Rufina Street in 2008 after Oscar left his job at a local nursery. Their dream was to turn his landscaping gigs into a full-time business with a permanent home rather than running the venture from a roadside trailer.

A few years later, Oscar’s Tree Service was renting a storefront and expanding the retail arm of their landscape service. When the Rufina Street property was offered for sale in 2016, the Sinaloa, Mexico natives jumped at the chance to...

In light of increased tensions and speculation over the future of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program, the Catholic Bishops of Arizona and New Mexico want to reiterate our strong and unwavering support for DACA youth so they do not have to live in fear of deportation. These young people entered our country as children and should have the opportunity to remain in our country to be educated here and to have opportunities to exercise their gifts for the enhancement of our nation.

Presently, DACA protects nearly 800,000 of these young people, while allowing them to live and work in our country without fear of deportation. Through DACA they have furthered their education...

State tourism departments are assigned a big task: drive visitors to cities, towns and attractions, where tourist dollars can spur the economy. When they’re successful, local businesses get a boost from increased sales.

For the New Mexico Tourism Department, much of selling the state is easy, as the Land of Enchantment’s natural beauty sells itself. And since the department’s 2012 launch of the New Mexico True campaign, businesses can leverage the visibility and heft of the state’s sales efforts by becoming certified as New Mexico True.

While certification is free and offers a way to supplement a company’s advertising and marketing efforts, it comes with some legwork.

Get...

On Friday night, August 18th, I learned of the passing of my dear friend Jackson Gibson, following his long and hard-fought battle with cancer.

At that moment, I felt that a true leader of the people had passed from us.  He was a servant-leader and a chief in every sense of what those terms mean – a public servant who was independent minded, strong willed and outspoken, but who also kept in mind “his people”.  Not just Navajos, not just Native Americans, not just Veterans, not just McKinley County citizens – but all of us New Mexicans and Americans, and visitors and guests, from all walks of life.

Jackson could be tough and stubborn and hard-headed, but he was at his core...