Nichole Rogers says she’s going to use her experience inside and outside the system to help her constituents. 

Rogers was tabbed by voters in a Dec. 12 runoff election as the City Councilor for District 6. This sprawling district incorporates the University of New Mexico, Nob Hill, Mesa del Sol and the International District which is culturally diverse. She participated in her first council meeting Monday night.

Rogers, a former city employee, said that she decided to run for office after seeing the barriers to the change District 6 residents need.

“I didn’t see anyone that reflected me,” said Rogers, the first Black woman on the Albuquerque City Council. “I have never seen anyone that reflected me.”

She said that she chose to take her own advice and be the change she wants to see in the community. Rogers said she plans to throw herself into her role on the council, though members are technically part-time.

“This is a full-time role for me,” she said. “We have full-time issues we’re facing.”

Among those, she said, is finding solutions to a dearth of retail options in the district after the closures last year of a Walmart store on San Mateo Boulevard and recently of a nearby Walgreens.

Rogers said that without those stores, the area has become a food and pharmacy desert, meaning residents have to travel farther to get those services, and likely pay more.

She said the difficulty is multiplied for those who rely on public transit, who can carry less and have to make more frequent shopping trips.

“It’s a huge burden for people who are already overburdened,” Rogers said.

She said that she’ll be looking for both short- and long-term solutions and hopes to have something to review by the time Mayor Tim Keller presents his proposed budget in April.

“We don’t have time to meet for a year to address this,” Rogers said.

One thought she shared was that a closed store could host a winter farmer’s market, allowing residents year-round access to fresh produce.

Part of Rogers’ approach will rely on what she calls “strategy sessions” with stakeholders on major issues. She said she doesn’t want them to be forums at which people gripe and complain, but rather a setting for brainstorming among parties with a shared understanding of the issues.

Other issues she says are important include housing and public safety. On the former, Rogers said she’d like to see various groups working together on plans for increasing housing supply.

She said that a similar all-hands-on-deck effort is needed regarding public safety — the Police Department needs the help of the Fire Department, Albuquerque Community Safety and the Metro Security Division.

“We need to fund those departments at the same level as the Police Department,” Rogers said. “I’m not saying to take funding away from the Police Department.”

She said that the district needs a new fire station, as its two existing stations are among the 15 busiest in the country, though their response times are similar to the others in Albuquerque.

“That’s taking a toll on our firefighters,” Rogers said.

Rogers is a single mother of two children and has an associate degree in integrated studies from Central New Mexico Community College. She’s also the founder of the nonprofit Westland Foundation and owned a financial advising concern, through which she has several certifications.

Before running for office, Rogers served as community and business liaison, in the city’s Office of Equity & Inclusion; other jobs she’s held include staff development coordinator at University of New Mexico Hospitals and compliance coordinator for health, wellness and public safety at CNMCC.

She said that her experience navigating the systems from different angles — as an employee, a student and a client, for example — gives her a perspective that will be useful in finding solutions for District 6.

She said that her goal is to help residents in crisis meet their immediate needs, but follow that up by helping them acquire the skills they need to maintain self-sufficiency. One example, she said, is providing housing vouchers to help people get into apartments, and connecting them with workforce development so they can make enough money to keep those apartments.

Rogers said she also wants to help clear barriers keeping people from getting help with mental health issues. Part of that would be finding ways to increase the number of local providers who can accept Medicaid, which is heavily used in New Mexico.

Rogers said she wants to hear from all of her constituents, whether or not they voted for her, and connect them with the services they need.

“I’ll be responsive to everybody in our community,” she said.