The Beloved Community began in 2015 as a grassroots demonstration project funded by the Department of Health to address the outrageous length of time individuals with IDD wait for services provided by the Developmental Disabilities (DD) Waiver in New Mexico. The current wait time is more than a decade.

We weathered the loss of state funding after two and a half years and became a nonprofit organization in 2018. Beloved has continued to grow though intentional experiences and accidental occurrences that have magically transformed us as individuals, an organization and community.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 AmeriCorps VISTA Volunteer Bethany Brandt and Beloved founder Kay Lilley used Zoom to interview the folx involved with the Beloved Community since the beginning. Mario Bucio-Martinez, a communication and information technology intern, and Michel Wing, the 2020-2021 AmeriCorps VISTA Volunteer, captured the highlights in these short videos. Follow the links to each category.

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