La Fonda starts foundation for assistance of hourly workers

La Fonda on the Plaza this week unveiled a new La Fonda Foundation with the aim of improving the prospects of hourly workers.

The foundation will start working with La Fonda’s 280 hourly workers, but the ambition is to assist workers at other hotels, restaurants and, ultimately, retail and any other hourly workers, La Fonda chairwoman Jenny Kimball said.

The foundation launched with $500,000 raised from La Fonda on the Plaza and the hotel’s ownership group, Cienda Partners, but Kimball said the dollar amount is not stopping there. La Fonda owners are pledging $500,000 a year for five years, and community fundraising will build the fund.

“I would say the sky is the limit,” Kimball said. “The more money we raise, the more employees we can help. If I had my way, we would have $10 million in the first five years to spread around.”

For many years, La Fonda had scholarships for employees to attend the College of Santa Fe, and it has subsidized classes at Santa Fe Community College and offered other assistance to its employees.

The foundation brings formal structure to the employee assistance programs, with the ambition to make the program communitywide. Leticia Bernal, who was director for the Santa Fe area of the United Way of Central New Mexico from July 2020 to July 2023, is the executive director of La Fonda Foundation.

“I really believe in the vision of Jenny and John Rizzo [a foundation advisory board member],” Bernal said. “I was impressed with their willingness to invest in the community of Northern New Mexico. I feel my role is to be an advocate for the employees.”

Kimball said she knows salaried people in the workforce have a much easier time building a life, specifically buying a home and securing a home loan.

“What I have seen with the hourly employees is they have a hard time getting ahead,” Kimball said. “They can’t get a bank loan. They have multiple families living in a home. The point is we ought to have some vehicle to help them move beyond the hourly wage to a [salaried] job.”

Bernal is already setting up a financial literacy workshop for La Fonda employees with Guadalupe Credit Union to address budgeting, credit building and getting a mortgage.

“I’m trying to find out what the employee needs are,” Bernal said. “We have to be listening and pivoting to their needs.”

The foundation intends to offer language literacy courses, education initiatives and skill development services.

Kimball said many community programs are already available to improve one’s life, but they typically rely on people to take the initiative. Bernal intends to initiate with employees and anybody who applies for foundation services.

“We’re going to make it so easy for them that it’s hard for them to say no,” Kimball said.

The foundation will start by working with La Fonda employees, but other hourly workers can apply for assistance at lafondasantafe.com/la-fonda-foundation.

“A lot of families don’t know there is a solution for their problems,” Rizzo said.