Americas for Conservation + the Arts (AFC+A)

A nonprofit organization
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25 donors

2% complete

$250,000 Goal

CONNECTING COMMUNITIES TO THE HEALTH SERVICES OF NATURE AND THE ARTS

Latina founded and led, Americas for Conservation and the Arts (AFC+A) has worked for 17 years at the frontlines of the nonprofit ecosystem to empower the wellbeing of families and youth through innovative programs fostering human-nature connections, tree equity, climate resilience, and cultural enrichment. We are still here thanks to the support of visionary donors like you who value the power of social capital. This support is responsible for AFC+A’s recognition:

SHIFT 2020 Award | Colorado Environmental Education Innovation 2018 Award  | City of Denver Office of Sustainability Community Builder 2016 Love This Place Award | City of Denver Mayor's Awards for Excellence in Arts & Culture 2017 Imagine 2020 |Colorado Governor Proclamation 24

THIS 2025 YOUR GENEROSITY WILL HELP US:

Scale existing grant-funded projects to serve more community members directly and fill the vital needs of brown-led DEI advocacy THROUGH our three award-winning, flagship programs:

ECOCULTURA En Acción, CONGREGATES community and features the monthly show series at The Bug Theater (12th edition) , the annual Americas Latino Eco Festival (14th edition), the semi annual LUNA (3rd edition)

Mandel Vilar Press DOCUMENTS the needs of our community by advancing diversity and conservation in the book economy, publishing its 85th title in 2025.

Promotores Verdes Corps | Nature Health Workers ACTS with and on behalf of BIPOC communities to promote conservation and public health through community science arborism, climate literacy, outdoor recreation, and human-nature health connections, planting 1187 trees in 685 homes in 2022-2024 between Denver and Aurora.

AFC+A’s programs offer bold solutions for racial and economic disparities in conservation and the arts, including,

  • BIPOC citizens make up close 40% of the US population but only 8% of environmental organizations (Green 2.0 Report)
  • Only 4% of what is published in the United States is from a minority voice/writer. Further, less than 1% of what the average US citizen reads is from a book in translation, compared to most social democracies of Europe which are reading above 33% in translation. (UNESCO Translation Index)

2022-2024 IMPACT

  • 1187 Trees planted in 685 Residences
  • 5800 Home Tree Equity Education Canvassing
  • 6 Community Science Arborism Workshops
  • 26 Forest Bathing Wilderness Family Hikes
  • 612 participants in 2 LUNA Latino Ultra Nature Adventures
  • 2600 participants in 13th ALEF & Eco Cultura en Accion at Bug Theater
  • 14 Books published by our Mandel Vilar Press & 4 Book Awards
  • 115 Planting Brigades Volunteers
  • 2 schools and 214 student Tree Keepers
  • 2024 Colorado Governor Jared Polis AFCA Proclamation


DONATE TODAY TOWARDS OUR 250,000 GOAL!

  • Finalize our new website Promotores Verdes | Nature Health Workers Online Academy with Community Science Arborist Certification. www.afcanatura.org
  • Conduct tree health checks and monitoring on the 1k plus trees planted 
  • Hire an Education Programs Manager, Volunteer Coordinator, Development Officer
  • Launch a Capital Fundraising Campaign
  • Protect and Grow our Eco Cultura en Accion programs (Bug Theater, Raices, ALEF, LUNA, Wilderness Family Hikes)

Onward & with gratitude,

Irene Vilar
AFC+A Founder & ED

We’ve earned our Platinum Seal of Transparency with Guidestar! Get updates on our impact through our CANDID PROFILE




Mission

AFC+A's mission is to advance healthy communities through environmental and cultural justice. At AFC+A, we believe in the power of community, arts, and nature to advance recreation, conservation, and public health. Our three flagship programs reflect our commitment to fostering human-nature connections and cultural enrichment.

Background Statement

In 2008, Latina founder and executive director, Irene Vilar, recognized a need to create space for Latino American leaders and fellow BIPOC colleagues to come together and incubate collaborative projects capable of helping bridge equity gaps in both the creative and conservation workspaces. In 2011, she created the inaugural Americas Latino Eco Festival (ALEF), paving the way for thoughtful, community-based environmental action that is rooted in arts and culture.

Since then, through ALEF and Promotores Verdes Community Corps, AFC+A has connected an average of 8,000 people each year to the outdoors, created leadership opportunities, and established a workforce pipeline to improve BIPOC representation in the field of conservation.

In 2014 AFC+A launched Mandel Vilar Press, the organization's publishing arm, dedicated to advancing diversity and conservation in publishing. In 2025, the press will publish its 85th title. Having acquired two prestigious presses as imprints (Moment Books and Fig Tree Books), received eight book awards, and dozens of national book reviews, MVP is positioned to claim a top place in DEI-led independent, nonprofit publishing.

Organization Data

Summary

Organization name

Americas for Conservation + the Arts (AFC+A)

other names

AFC+A Americas for Conservation + the Arts

Year Established

2012

Tax id (EIN)

32-0261204

Category

Environment

Organization Size

Medium Organization

Address

3555 Pecos Dr
Denver, CO 80211

Service areas

Denver County, CO, US

PR

MX

Boulder, CO, US

Phone

303-330-6597

Email

irene@americasforconservation.org

Website

http://www.afcanatura.org

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