Leadership Cloudcroft 2026

What makes Cloudcroft tick?

Its water supply. Its seasonal economy. Its long-term planning challenges. Leadership Cloudcroft is the door that takes you behind the scenes — and gathers residents who want to understand this community more deeply and take action. Year two: fewer sessions, deeper substance, real time with the people running the village. A great way to plug-in to helping out.

Topic One

Water & Water Systems

Field Day · Wells & Springs Tour
Tuesday, July 14 · Led by JJ · Ends at Ski Cloudcroft

How Cloudcroft gets, stores, and protects its water — from the wells and springs to the tanks above town. Led by the people who actually operate the system.

The signature field experience: a behind-the-scenes water-infrastructure tour through the village's wells, springs, and tanks — closing with lunch at Ski Cloudcroft and a conversation with the ski-area owners on water, snow, and Forest Service realities.

Topic Two

Responsible Tourism

Mid-August · Village venue TBA

How a small mountain village grows tourism without overburdening its resources or losing the character that draws people here in the first place. A working forum on sustainable tourism for Cloudcroft — practitioners, officials, and participants in structured, constructive dialogue about what the village's tourism future should look like.

Five days. One application.

applications due Wednesday, May 27, 2026. The cohort and full event schedule are announced together, so you'll know your dates from day one — starting with the invite-only kickoff at The Distillery on Thursday, June 11.

Deadline Wed, May 27, 2026

Kickoff Thu, June 11 · The Distillery

Who can apply Residents & regional stakeholders

Open to village residents, seasonal residents, business owners, and school families. The program wraps with an informal graduation coffee at the Cloudcroft Library and a $100 participation stipend.

A foundation built on how the village really runs.

Last year's cohort didn't just sit in a room and listen to lectures — they got out. Fourteen participants spent six class days, June through October 2025, on the issues that most shape Cloudcroft's future: governance, infrastructure, fire, economic development, healthcare, and schools. Speakers included people from Village municipal leadership roles.

Field experiences ranged from a Wastewater Treatment Plant tour with Scott Powell and a deep-dive Emergency Management forum to a public mayoral debate between King and Wiley. The Cloudcroft Reader's launch announcement laid out the original brief: a formal pipeline to identify and prepare the volunteers who run a small mountain village. Year one shaped the year-two redesign — tighter, fewer scheduling conflicts, sharper focus.

14 Inaugural participants

7+ Village leaders & speakers

6 Class days · June–October

This program has been both a wonderful learning opportunity and a real eye-opener to the challenges Cloudcroft is facing. I've come away with a deeper understanding of how important it is for us to work together for a better future — bringing our individual strengths to the table, setting aside pride, and building a community that truly represents and serves its people. I've also learned that while we need to take these challenges seriously, we can't lose sight of joy.

Leadership Cloudcroft is such a gift to this community — it not only equips leaders but enriches life for every resident.

Andrika Ruiz Local author, business owner, Village Library Advisory Board Chair · 2025 LC cohort

A program built by Cloudcroft, for Cloudcroft.

Leadership Cloudcroft is a civic leadership program for the Village of Cloudcroft, New Mexico. We build engaged community leaders by exposing them to how the village operates, the people who run it, and the issues shaping its future — water, tourism, economic development, and the long-term health of a small mountain community. Beyond the cohort itself, the program is a pipeline into village service: internships in the water clerk, court, and administrative offices, and on-ramps to formal civic roles.

2026 Leadership

Amy Coor 2026 Co-Chair, Board Member · 2025 LC Alumna

Rick Donnelly 2026 Co-Chair, Board Member · 2025 LC Alumnus

Hannah Dean Executive Director, Board Member · Editor, Mountain Monthly