Founded in July of 1992, and previously named Las Cruces Rape Crisis Center. La Piñon was originally funded with a budget of $44,000. These funds were mostly for out-patient therapeutic counseling services.
Founded in July of 1992, and previously named Las Cruces Rape Crisis Center. La Piñon was originally funded with a budget of $44,000. These funds were mostly for out-patient therapeutic counseling services.
In 1996, Louise Tracey was hired as La Piñons’ first ever Executive Director, this is where we started to see the growth of La Piñon into what it is today.
In 1997 we received our official name that our community knows and recognizes as La Piñon Sexual Assault Recovery Services. Furthermore, in 1997 we opened our first ever SANE Unit at Memorial Medical Center.
In the year of 1999, we started our prevention program working with NMSU Campus for the prevention of Sexual Assault.
In 2006 we developed Kid-Talk through the support of Child Safe/Niños Seguros.
In 2007 we moved into a new location on Melendres Street in Las Cruces, NM and Donna Richmond became our Executive Director.
With Donna, her passion, and expertise at the forefront of Sexual Assault Services in Doña Ana County and Southern New Mexico; La Piñon continued to flourish and grow with new programs and grant opportunities to help survivors in Southern New Mexico.
In 2008 we received a grant that allowed us to implement a Play Therapy Room on site to work with children who experienced sexual abuse.
By 2009 we had a Rural Advocate working in Deming, New Mexico. We were also working to train law enforcement agencies on sexual assault protocol.
In 2010, Donna saw the need for temporary safe emergency housing for children of parents in crisis to prevent child abuse and neglect. From this La Piñons’ Child Crisis Center opened its doors on West Amador and provided emergency housing for children up to 11 years of age, unfortunately closing its doors in 2013.
In 2014 La Piñon saw a need to grow our prevention programs with new programs that work to prevent and end sexual violence in our community. With this our prevention program took off and we acquired our first primary prevention program for our local high schools called We End Violence and began implementing primary prevention programming for all our school districts in Southern New Mexico.
In 2016 we turned a pre-existing program, called the Peer Mentorship Program, into a primary prevention program for middle school students as there was a major need.
In 2017 La Piñon with its growing staff and new programs from PREA (Prison Rape Elimination Act), a Campus Advocate, Rural Advocate, Advocate Coordinator who trains volunteers, a growing Trauma Treatment Center, SANE Unit, and a newly accredited Children’s Advocacy Center, it was time to move to a new location off Motel Boulevard in Las Cruces, NM.
Soon after the move La Piñons’ Board of Directors appointed Stacy Blazer-Clark to become the new Executive Director of La Piñon in 2017.
Between 2019 and 2022 La Piñon continued its work keeping our doors open during the pandemic as this was how we could provide the best care for our survivors during these unfortunate times. We had teams and our staff working together to ensure continued comprehensive care for our community and survivors. During this time we received funds for a Legal Aid and Human Trafficking Grant, and we expanded our therapy department, and began to expand our SANE Unit with new programs. Furthermore, La Piñon started the work to open satellite offices in our Rural areas to provide better access to services for survivors, and our prevention program grew into doing community level work with our “It Starts With Us Community Campaign”.
In 2023 La Piñon appointed our new Executive Director, Angelica Calderon. Angelica has worked in many areas in our agency, from Advocate Coordinator, Director of Childrens Advocacy, Deputy Director, and she has conducted over 950 Forensic Interviews of children where child abuse/maltreatment was suspected. In her time thus far, we have one fully accredited satellite office in Deming, NM, a running satellite office in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, a new location for our SANE Unit, new grant funding, and a future of continued growth of victim services for our survivors of sexual assault and child abuse in Southern New Mexico. Angelica brings new ideas, passion, and hope for the future of La Piñon.
With that La Piñon has provided 32 years of service to Doña Ana County and the surrounding Southern New Mexico areas with numbers tripled and a current 2.2-million-dollar budget. This would not be possible without the support of our community who believes in our mission and the brave individuals who had a vision, a voice, and hope for survivors in Southern New Mexico.
I am completely honored to serve as the Executive Director for La Pinon. Grateful to my predecessors for laying the foundation of providing comprehensive services to survivors of sexual violence and child abuse. My vision is to lead our agency with compassion, integrity and respect. Ensuring we provide a safe place for healing journeys and advocacy to all survivors.
Angelica Calderon
KidTalk Warmline Hours:
Monday-Thursday: 3 PM – 10 PM
Friday: 3 PM – Midnight
Saturday: 10 AM – Midnight
Sunday: 10 AM – 10 PM
NM Sexual Assault Helpline (Statewide)
RAINN Live Online Chat Hotline (National)