The Facts

Meeting the Need.

Mission ABQ is rooted in Albuquerque’s International District — a neighborhood where 22.6% of residents live below the poverty line, nearly three times the national average. The median household income in our service area is $34,000–$39,000. One in four children here experiences food insecurity. New Mexico ranks 4th worst in the nation for childhood food insecurity, with 23.3% of children lacking consistent access to adequate food.

We also serve the South Valley (ZIP 87105), home to 54,000 residents, 80% Hispanic, with 42.3% of American Indian residents living in poverty.

These are the communities we know, live in, and serve — every week, all year.

What We Do

Mission ABQ operates five program areas:

Kingdom Builders Preschool & Day Care — Licensed 5-Star childcare in a designated childcare desert, with a diverse staff, including refugee immigrants, allowing us to better communicate with the families of our community, serving families who qualify for state-subsidized care.

Grace Free Store, Food Bank & Resource Center — 180,000+ lbs of food distributed annually. Weekly food boxes, prepared meals, and a dignity-centered free clothing and household goods store.

Resident Services — On-site Service Coordinators at six affordable housing complexes helping residents access benefits, healthcare, education, and housing stability support as well as Community Garden Support.

Mission Training Center — Our adult education program focuses on 4 areas of holistic development, including: character and life skills development, spiritual growth, leadership development and active service.

Community Programs — Youth camps, Spring Break day camps, school supply distributions, community dinners, arts and gardening education.

Turning the Corner

Most people come to Mission ABQ at a point of crisis — hungry, newly arrived in the country, facing eviction, or overwhelmed by systems they can’t navigate alone.

But we’ve learned that meeting immediate needs, while essential, is not enough. Real change happens when people move from dependence to independence — and then to interdependence, where they begin to serve others and give back to the community that helped them.

We see this journey in our own organization. Two of our 10 board members are graduates of our Getting Ahead program. Two are Congolese refugees. Many of our staff were once program participants. This isn’t a coincidence — it’s the whole point.

We don’t measure success by how much food we distribute. We measure it by how many people turn the corner.