“But going to prison, and experiencing first-hand the inner workings of the justice system, state and federal, is why I got involved with advocacy.”
Adam made his home in Santa Fe in 1998, and began working for a Mitsubishi/ Nissan repair shop, before moving on to Subaru. After just three years, he had become a Master Certified Technician, and opened his own shop in 2007.
Still battling his addiction to the altered state induced by drugs and alcohol, he started transporting cocaine from Santa Fe to El Paso, Texas, as a sideline. It wasn’t until 2018 that he finally decided enough was enough; it was time to quit both, once and for all. He has remained sober and drug free ever since, but that date, June 26th. 2018, is forever embedded in Adam’s memory for a completely different reason, because two days later, June 28th. he was picked up by the Feds in El Paso, and charged with drug possession.
During his time in the federal system, Adam was connected with a therapist who helped him to understand that he could actually get a lot done while he was in prison.
“It was an opportunity to ground myself and figure out a plan as to what I was going to do when I came out,” he recalls. “So that’s what I did; I worked on myself and made a game plan.”
The first thing he wanted to do was get a job, which turned out to be quite a challenge for someone who had just spent 23 months behind bars. As he points out,
“At that time I had about 20 years’ experience working on cars, but nobody would hire me. I couldn’t even get a job at Walmart.”
As luck would have it, Adam had previously worked for a car dealer in Santa Fe, who offered to take him on, but he had no credit and needed a place to live. Miraculously, everything came together when the father of his local church pastor said Adam could stay in his spare room until he got back on his feet.
They say that if Santa Fe wants to keep you, it will find ways to support you; if not, it will toss you aside. Since Adam has now been here for almost 30 years, the City Different clearly had his back and wanted him to stay. That became clear from the start, because that job brought him into contact with a lot of different people, many of whom became friends. One of them was so impressed with Adam’s expertise that she thought he would make an excellent teacher and invited him to come and teach at the Community College. He told her she must be kidding, as he had just got out of prison. She just shrugged and said, ‘I don’t care.’
That was soon followed by another customer who got Adam involved with the advocacy that has since become an important part of his life.
“It all started with her making me an ACLU Fellow, and we were instrumental in passing the Voting Rights Act for the State of New Mexico,’ he recalls. “That included restoring the right of previously incarcerated individuals to vote when they were released from prison. That got me hooked and I’m still very active with the ACLU.”
On a personal level, he then met a realtor who told him she was going to get him accredited and would sell him his first house. She meant it, too, and they began looking at houses. Just eighteen months after being released from prison, Adam became a homeowner.
But wait... there’s more! A student in his first class at the Community College turned out to be the President of a local Credit Union. When he heard that Adam was interested in opening his own shop, he gave him a business card and said he would be happy to help make that a reality. He, too, was as good as his word, and wrote Adam a substantial check after helping him to get a second mortgage on his home. That made it possible for him to open Adam’s Automotive, the successful car repair business he has owned since 2023.
Adam Griego is not your average guy. Making the transition from alcoholic, drug addict, and felon serving time for drug possession; to clean, sober, successful business owner, homeowner, adjunct college professor, community activist, family man, and one of the first recipients of the Santa Fe mayor’s Challenge Medal, is, to say the least, an impressive turnaround. We invite you to join us in celebrating Adam’s achievements with the launch of this website, and the first of a regular series of posts that will take you behind the scenes in his activism. If you feel inspired by what you see, hear and discover, there will be opportunities for you, too, to become part of these endeavors, should you wish to be involved.