On July 1, 2025 Carmen Benson became the Executive Director of Santa Fe-based nonprofit Cooking with Kids, just the third Executive Director in the organization’s 30-year history. Five days later, as the Trump Administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) took an ax to federal spending, Cooking with Kids lost nearly half its annual revenue. It was baptism by fire, and Benson met the challenge head on.
Executive Director Carmen Benson Talks How Cooking with Kids Fights Food Insecurity in Santa Fe
“We were on a trajectory of growth to partner with more schools in neighboring rural counties. While that expansion has been paused for now, I’m incredibly proud of our team and partners as we continue bringing joy-filled food education to 8,000+ kids,” Benson says. That means programs in Santa Fe and parts of both San Miguel and Rio Arriba counties will continue as Benson and her team rebuild the revenue that they lost.
“Community support has been incredible, with donation income doubling this year…Thanks to ten years of planning by the people behind this work—our staff, board, and partners—we’ve built responsible reserves and diversified funding, even though SNAP-Ed once made up nearly three-quarters of our funding,” she shared.
SNAP-Ed was the nutrition education program a part of the overall Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and funded by the federal government. It aimed to promote healthy eating habits among young people and at a national level, to combat the ongoing obesity crisis in America.
At a more macro level, Cooking with Kids plays a critical role in the overall food security environment throughout Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico. There was stress on that system of food security prior to COVID, but the economic fallout of the pandemic further illuminated a serious food security crisis throughout our state.
Carmen has seen personally how food intersects with health and income instability. In 2010, as an engineer, the Army National Guard deployed her to Afghanistan for fifteen years to address food insecurity in the country. After acquiring a PhD in Agricultural Education from Texas A&M, she worked on behalf of the U.S government on food security programs around the world.
The Future of Cooking with Kids
With the assistance of former Cooking with Kids Executive Director, Anna Farrier, who stayed on as a Senior Advisor to assist with the transition, Benson is full of optimism and energy for the future of the program. That optimism coincides with a move into a new space that will support the organization well into the future.
“Along with the financial challenges, the building we’d been in for 17 years sold, so one of my first tasks with the team was finding a home for our scrappy, growing operations. We landed in a great space—larger, better suited to our programs now and into the future, and even at a lower cost per square foot” she says.
The new space occupies two floors of a retail front near the Rufina neighborhood and has functional space for programs on the first floor and for staff offices on the second floor. “We have a roll-up door,” Carmen says with glee. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to move pallets of fresh produce and thousands of cans of beans a year through a regular doorway?” The new space should be ready for occupancy before the next school year begins.
“Our talented Educators lead cooking classes and cafeteria tastings for 430 classes in 33 partner schools, and we remain committed to our children, their families, and our communities,” Carmen said. “I feel grateful to be leading Cooking with Kids at this critical time. I’ve always believed in doing work that matters—and I get to do that alongside an incredible team and community.”
Story by Bill Smith
Photos Courtesy of Cooking with Kids
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