By Father Jesus Martinez for Las Cruces Sun News

I am the parish priest of Santa Rosa de Lima in Las Cruces, and I believe that our community must speak up to preserve the Gila River. Recently, a group of our parish's youth took a trip to hike along the Gila River and understand the threats to the river and its habitat. We learned that the Gila River is the last natural and free flowing river in New Mexico, and is a tremendous resource providing water to irrigate farms and ranches, a home for wildlife, and a place for people to enjoy the beauty of God's creation.

Tax season is upon the country, and for many immigrants –documented or otherwise– filing taxes can be difficult due to language barriers that cause complications and miscommunication during the process. Because of this, PRNewswire indicates Hispanics often are the unknowing perpetrators of tax fraud or deliberately avoid filing taxes all together, and these indiscretions can have a negative impact on health. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is designed to grant health insurance access to millions of people in the United States, and Hispanics, as one of the largest uninsured populations in the country, stand to gain hefty benefits from the reform law.

Hispanic Access Foundation in interviewed on San Bernardino's Radio Nueva Vida about the tax education program in partnership with H&R Block.

Hispanic Access Foundation aired a 30 minute, live radio "workshop on taxes on  Univision KLAT in Houston.

Hispanic Access Foundation has partnered with First Book to provide Hispanic children in need with new books that will help build organizational and home libraries, develop literacy skills and celebrate these youth’s Hispanic heritage. Over the last month, Hispanic Access Foundation enrolled over 50 of our partner organizations, made up of Catholic and Evangelical churches, schools and parent organizations with First Book, so that they could receive 2,500 books worth over $10,000.

Maite Arce’s 950-mile tour of national parks in Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico—which included hiking, biking, rafting, and video blogging—was equal parts family vacation and social media campaign. Its goal was to raise Latinos’ awareness about conservation. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is extending the comment period for the proposed revisions to the agricultural Worker Protection Standard for an additional 60 days, until August 18, 2014, in response to requests from growers, industry, farmworker advocates and states for additional time to provide input.

Southern New Mexico's Organ Mountains Desert Peaks region will be protected by President Obama as a national monument on Wednesday, and rightfully so. Spanning thousands of years of human history and use, the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument chronicles New Mexico's history and culture and is a place from which the stories of so many Americans originate. Now, with monument protection, these stories will be kept accessible and can be handed down for generations to come.

In keeping with the subject of the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, May 17, 2014 marks the 60th anniversary of the issuance of the decision on Brown v. Board of Education.  Brown is a landmark case in which the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously found that, contrary to the legal doctrine of separate but equal, “separate education facilities are inherently unequal” and ended segregation in the United States.