Sandra Ortsman
Master of Community and Regional Planning, 2005

How would you describe who you are and the work you do?

I am a devoted mother, loving wife, loyal friend, and engaged community member. I am also a white, educated, heterosexual, Jewish woman who has spent 18 years- the bulk of my adult life- in New Mexico (I am originally a New Yorker.). I am also an intersectional feminist, a nerdy lover of learning, and a self-reflective, hard-working, activist seeker of justice. My intersecting identities are with me always and they inform the ways in which I understand and walk in this world.

I started my business, Sandra Ortsman LLC, six years ago, after working as the Associate Director of Enlace Comunitario, a local immigrants’ rights domestic violence nonprofit for nine years. My business primarily serves social justice nonprofits and philanthropic foundations. I do a mix of participatory program design, grant writing, fundraising, evaluation, training, project management, and communication. I see my number one talent as being able to synthesize big ideas into actionable, operationalized plans. I help people with really big ideas figure out how to implement their vision.

What are you working on now?

For the last four years, I have worked as the contracted Co-Project Manager for the Nusenda Credit Union Co-op Capital initiative, an alternative lending program designed to increase access to affordable capital and help low-income families and entrepreneurs stabilize and develop wealth. Through that project, I conducted field research with local organizations and national lending programs; helped local organizations design how Co-op Capital could work at their organization; raised additional dollars to provide support to partners and scale the initiative; and helped to identify, select and support local partners in implementation. Today we have eleven organizations on the ground who are helping families and entrepreneurs stabilize and thrive by obtaining access to capital.

I also work with a number of immigrants rights organizations doing grant writing, program design and evaluation. My main clients are the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center, Centro Savila, and United Voices for Newcomer Rights. I am also working with another CRP alum, Claudia Medina to support her in implementing a leadership development program for emerging nonprofit leaders of color.

The last thing I am working on which I am very excited about is in my capacity of Board President of Encuentro, an immigrants’ rights adult education and career development nonprofit in the county. We are in the middle of a capital campaign to purchase and renovate our first owned building which will be in the Barelas neighborhood.

What are your responsibilities in your position?

I have multiple projects and thus multiple responsibilities. Prioritizing tasks and meeting deadlines are hugely important. I see my main responsibility as being transparent, clear and accountable to my clients, and the mission of whatever organization I am supporting. I tell all of my clients that they can’t just hire me and walk away. Everything I do is in partnership with them, as I believe it should and needs to be.

What makes your work personally rewarding?

As a business owner and mom of small children, I love the flexibility that I have. I am super grateful that I can balance meaningful work with community activism and a fulfilling family life. And I love my clients and their work. I am super selective about the clients that I take on. They need to have a mission that is rooted in social justice and I need to believe that they are doing highly impactful work. When I raise money for my clients or help them develop and implement a project. I feel great. It’s fun to be part of a team. As an extrovert, consulting can be pretty isolating, especially during COVID, so I also seek out opportunities where I will get to engage with reflective and thought-provoking people who are also fun to work with.

How has your work impacted you and your community?

My work has contributed to improved conditions, primarily for low-income immigrant families: I have garnered resources, including several millions of dollars from out of state, to support new and existing programs that address racial and structural inequities. I have provided concrete recommendations, grounded in participatory research to strengthen programs that address racial and structural inequities children face. And I have conducted iterative, community-based research to develop programs that respond to the pressing needs of my community. The people with whom I have worked in the many organizations I’ve served- primarily people-of-color from impacted communities- have helped me develop my analysis, talents and passion to effectively and ethically do the work.

How has the CRP program prepared you for your career?

I gained a lot of different skills in the planning program. For example, my writing and facilitation improved, and I developed new skills to work in groups and solicit community input. But what I really credit the CRP program with, is helping me to become more reflective of who I am, particularly as a white woman not from New Mexico, and how I show up with humility in this community. I had a great experience and am happy to remain in Albuquerque so that I can continue being connected to the school.

Is there anything that you would like to add?

I would be a negligent Board President if I didn’t invite everyone to donate to Encuentro’s capital campaign. It is truly an amazing project and you can literally be part of building our future, a space where truly transformational education is happening. I hope you’ll learn more on our website at encuentronm.org