Our Youth Leaders

We believe that our communities must reflect the needs, values, and priorities of young people, and young people’s civic engagement is essential to building equitable systems.

Youth Leaders play a key role at NMCAN by engaging peers and the community in systems and policy change. From participating in committees with partner organizations, speaking on panels and presenting at conferences, leading skill-building workshops, and supporting peers in getting involved in systems change work, these leaders are hard at work creating positive change in our community.

Current Youth Leaders

Joanna Windham(she/her)

Joanna Windham is a youth leader with NMCAN and a fellow with the Jim Casey Foundation. She is a proud young mother to two beautiful children. Joanna is an animal lover who has spent a lot of time rescuing and fostering many animals. She also has a pet family of her own. Originally from Albuquerque, she enjoys photography, reading and writing books, watching movies, horseback riding, going on hikes and trail walks. Joanna is also an entrepreneur and opened a small pet service business. Despite facing a difficult upbringing in an abusive household, Joanna emerged as a strong-willed and loving individual. Joanna hopes to use her experience and voice to drive change in the child welfare system to create more support for families in New Mexico.

Q Martine(he/him)

Quirn goes by “Q” for short and prefers he/him pronouns. He was born and raised in Albuquerque, NM. As the oldest brother of four, he had to help parent his younger sisters while still very young himself. He has experience with youth engagement including college prep programs and other supportive roles involving youth. His main passion stems from music. Dancing in his free time, slowly honing his skills, though it may not always be public. He uses dancing as a way of healing his soul – showing his emotions which cannot always be expressed through spoken words alone, for he tends to be introverted when you first meet him.

Wafaa Alwashah(she/her)

I experienced the foster system at age 11 while being in the care of CYFD, my life was chaotic, shifty, and unstable. Like many other youth & children, I’ve endured many hardships with foster families, shelters, and treatment facilities. While being resilient, I’ve gained confidence, independence, empathy and so many more characteristics. I have been a youth at NMCAN for 7 years now. I’m happy to be a part of a community that accepts me and helps create positive change in the state of New Mexico, embracing my voice and opinions to speak out on important issues in the system. I am passionate about many topics, such as homelessness, foster care, mental health, etc… I love to get inspired by weekly nature walks, journaling, physical activity, and cooking in the kitchen with some tunes!

Ivan Sharpe

Izreal Castaneda

Kimora Toledo

Little Hawk Brown

Mia Calle

Orenda Martine

Reagan Hughes

Renne Jenkins

Reed Ridens

Tichelle Jim

Yazh Pending

Active Alumni Youth Leaders

Alyssa Davis

Andrew Salazar

Elijiah Davis