From Pride to Mental Health: How FYI+ Shows Up for LGBTQ+ Communities

In a place like Las Cruces, where community is often built one relationship at a time, organizations that create space for care, belonging, and dignity can have an outsized impact. For nearly five decades, FYI+ has quietly become one of those organizations.

Many longtime residents still remember the organization by its earlier name, Families and Youth Incorporated. But the story of FYI+ stretches back even further—to 1977, when it began as Children in Need of Supervision, focused largely on helping vulnerable youth. Over the years, the organization evolved alongside the growing needs of southern New Mexico, eventually becoming Families and Youth Innovations Plus, or simply FYI+, a name that reflects a broader and more inclusive mission.

Today, FYI+ has grown into one of the region’s most important behavioral-health and family-support organizations, serving people across Doña Ana County and beyond. From mental-health counseling and crisis intervention to housing support, youth programs, nutrition services, and harm-reduction work, the organization has become a major part of the area’s social safety net.

What makes FYI+ especially meaningful within the LGBTQ+ community is that its support goes beyond symbolism. In a region where affirming spaces for queer youth and young adults can still feel limited, FYI+ has made visible efforts to create environments where LGBTQIA+ people are not simply tolerated, but welcomed and celebrated.

Programs like La Vida Project and House of Kahlo are central to that work. Rather than treating LGBTQ+ inclusion as a side initiative, FYI+ integrates affirming care directly into its broader behavioral-health and youth-support services. The organization describes House of Kahlo as a community-centered space offering advocacy, support groups, social activities, education, and success coaching for LGBTQ+ youth and young adults. La Vida Project, meanwhile, focuses on connection and self-expression through activities like art, cooking, dance, and peer community-building.

That matters.

For many queer young people—especially in smaller or more rural communities—finding even one affirming environment can change the trajectory of their mental health and sense of belonging. Programs that provide safe adults, peer connection, and identity-affirming care are often the difference between isolation and community.

FYI+ has also helped expand LGBTQ+ visibility in public ways. Through support for events connected to Southern New Mexico Pride and the Las Cruces Pride Parade, the organization has helped reinforce the message that queer residents are part of the fabric of southern New Mexico—not outsiders to it. That kind of visibility may seem simple on the surface, but in practice it can reduce stigma, encourage other organizations to become more affirming, and make it easier for people to seek support without fear.

The organization’s broader behavioral-health work has also become increasingly important in recent years. FYI+ is now recognized as New Mexico’s first Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic, a designation that has helped expand crisis care and coordinated treatment services throughout the region. Recent federal funding and the launch of a 24/7 mobile crisis response team in Doña Ana County have further strengthened access to care for residents facing mental-health or substance-use emergencies.

For LGBTQ+ residents, that intersection matters too. Queer communities often experience higher rates of mental-health stress, housing instability, and barriers to healthcare access. Organizations that understand those overlaps—and respond with practical, affirming services—play a critical role in community well-being.

And perhaps that is the clearest story of FYI+ after nearly 50 years in Las Cruces: evolution. What began as a narrowly focused youth-services organization has grown into a broad community-health institution rooted in compassion, accessibility, and inclusion. In doing so, FYI+ has become more than a provider of services. For many people across southern New Mexico, it has become a place where support, safety, and belonging are easier to find.