The first phase of the website is to see if the attitudes, beliefs and behaviors of Albuquerque residents mirror the findings in the studies around the country about local business giving back. Please help us know what you think by filling out the consumer survey. We also welcome any additional comments or questions you may have. If you are interested in showcasing your business or want further information, please email us with your feedback at joya@thriving-together.com. Thank you.

Businesses, you can help too. Fill out our business survey to provide us with an overview of your concerns and needs.

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Thriving-Together.com is the brain child of Joya Querencia and has been 3 years in the making. Joya has worked in the social services area for the past 15 years helping on various causes: people living with HIV/AIDS, poverty and hunger, women's health issues, the chronically and transitionally homeless, including those displaced by the 1994 Northridge earthquake in California. Like so many others working in social services, fundraising was a large part of Joya's duties.

While working with businesses to obtain sponsorships and strategic partnerships, Joya learned a lot about the obstacles local businesses face in trying to survive - competition from big box corporations, long hours, balancing personal life and professional life, the feast or famine/up and down cycles, endless red tape, and an overwhelming number of requests for donations from charitable organizations.

She also saw many local businesses fall under the pressure. Besides affecting the lives of the business owners she had grown to know and love, it was also having a negative effect on the local economy.

It was around this time Joya met Computer Engineer Scott Lombard. Scott started Handy-Online-Services in 1999 as a web hosting company and integrated the idea of helping consumers find local businesses on the internet by developing an easy-to-use, highly visible local search engine for residents in a small community located in Central California.

Joya and Scott had several conversations about the financial plight of local business and charitable organizations. Out of these discussions, they were brought to a, still, little known marketing technique employed by many successful yet, philanthropic businesses known as Cause-Related Marketing.

The result of these discussions led the current website, thriving-together.com to showcase Albuquerque area businesses who are giving back to the community.