In honor of Women’s History Month, NM CAFe will be highlighting the history of the women that have started, been apart of, and led NM CAFe throughout it’s history. Closing out our featured women, is Carli Romero.
What called you to community organizing or the work that CAFe was doing?
Believe it or not I was part of the Occupy movement along with a large group of people in 2011 who were disillusioned with economic inequality and corporate influence on our policies. Sarah showed up to one of our meetings, to share about her efforts to organize against foreclosures that were impacting local families and it was immediately clear to me that she was brilliant, she was strategic and she had done her research. I knew that her leadership with NM CAFe could lead to real change and began attending CAFe’s meetings and actions. A few month later I was hired as the Civic Engagement Campaign Manager leading up to the 2012 election.
How did you grow as a person/woman while being at/with NM CAFe?
NM CAFe was a political and spiritual home for me in many ways during my 20s. As a staff member, later a Board member and a community member, my inner “leader” emerged during my time at CAFe. It was an opportunity to meaningfully channel the passion I felt about injustices I witnessed all around me in a safe and caring environment that was designed for community input and power building. I think witnessing the power, clarity, and intelligence that other CAFe staff and leaders demonstrated, many of whom were women, Sarah herself being a young woman when she founded CAFe, shaped the way I see women and the way I saw myself.
What was the most important thing you learned?
I was given so many opportunities to develop organizing skills, to understand power and politics and to foster an anti-racist lens with an awareness of border and immigration issues. That has lent powerfully to my current lens as an intersectional feminist, which shapes the way I view the world and the ways I choose to contribute in my professional and community life to creating a world that affords EVERYONE dignity.
How has what you learned helped you with where you are at now in your career/life?
CAFe laid the foundation for all of my work toward social justice, and as an organization that fostered and invested in leadership, has been instrumental in allowing me to pursue other dreams.
Is there any word of advice you have to give for future staff, leaders, and/or organizers? (regardless of gender, but even as a woman)
Stay humble. With so much injustice it’s easy to find ourselves in “righteousness”. I struggle with this often, especially now while our President and elected officials co-sign genocide. However, justice and liberation are life-long work. If we are not learning, we are not on path. I would also say, find the boundaries and parameters around storytelling and trauma that are healthy for you. So much of movement work requires storytelling around lived traumas, and that can be harmful and exploitative over time, so make sure you are grounded in your practices and have systems of support including counseling or traditional healing – whatever is right for you.
What is your hope for the future of CAFe and the scope of community organizing/work? etc.
I hope CAFe can be bold, and can continue to expand on the economic and racial justice work that’s been done, like adjusting the minimum wage. I think CAFe’s power is in shifting municipal and statewide policies in a way that impacts the everyday lives of families and I hope that continues.
