«Return to News ListingCity of Santa Fe Children and Youth Commission granted NMCTR a $10k grant

November 8, 2024 – 

The New Mexico Center for Therapeutic Riding (NMCTR) recently received another grant to support the School Outreach Program. The City of Santa Fe Children and Youth Commission granted NMCTR a $10,000 grant to be used for classroom scholarships for the School Outreach Program.

The School Outreach Program is an effective and data-driven program that provides an equine-assisted program for under-served, low-income children and youth with disabilities (autism, developmental delay, learning delays, hearing/sight impaired, cerebral palsy, Down Syndrome, ADHD, etc.) that attend with their special education classrooms from participating Santa Fe schools.

The School Outreach Program offers scholarships to Santa Fe special education classrooms. The program helps to close the gap that exists for vulnerable populations in our community who live in poverty and have high disparities (i.e., children/youth with disabilities also often exhibit risk factors associated with increased depression, poor impulse control, lack of behavioral self-control/regulation, aggressiveness, hyperactivity/ADHD, and antisocial behavior). The program currently serves children/youth with disabilities through one or a combination of two equine-assisted services: 1) In-Classroom Learning (with the use of NMCTR’s mini horse, Sherman) which includes activities to build on the classroom’s social emotional learning goals (maintaining and creating friendships, personal space, emotional awareness, etc), and 2) a therapeutic horseback riding program where students learn horseback riding skills that integrate physical activity and classroom learning (counting, spelling, colors, etc). By increasing physical fitness, self-confidence, and overall mental and physical well-being in underserved youth/children with special needs, NMCTR “Changes Lives One Stride at a Time.”

NMCTR’s School Outreach Program is beloved by the Santa Fe community’s special education teachers and administrators, as it has helped to show marked improvement in students’ capabilities in a myriad of areas.