Arnoldo Torres, Interim Chief Executive Officer
Appointed in June 2007 as the interim CEO, Arnoldo is moving aggressively to
build upon, expand, and reinvigorate the agency and its programs to
comprehensively meet the social, health, and mental health needs of South
Sacramento's residents.
"Maap is such a remarkable agency providing vital services to South
Sacramento's most vulnerable populations&and it is well understood by our Board
of Directors, our management team and me that a variety of focused and
concentrated efforts will enable Maap to expand and raise the quality of
services that are needed by this area's homeless, HIV/AIDS, and parolee
populations, as well as those with limited or no access to primary or mental
health care, and those with addiction problems."
It is the vision of Mr. Torres and his management team to restructure Maap
into an agency that will provide a continuum of comprehensive health and mental
health services targeting South Sacramento's poor, uninsured, African-American,
Asian and Latino communities. Under Mr. Torres' leadership, Maap is moving
toward full accountability, credentialed and professional services, specialized
management, self-supporting programming, cross cultural competent services, and
program services that will generate unrestricted revenues for the agency.
"It is imperative that we create a delivery model that is truly responsive to
the needs of the South Sacramento community which is the most medically
underserved area in the county and the most diverse. Maap serves an area
that has been designated by the federal government as a Medically Underserved
Area and as a Health Professional Shortage Area, and this is why our efforts to
build a new primary health care center is so vital. It will expand and
strengthen the work that Maap has done to date in providing basic primary health
care to working poor families".
Mr. Torres is a native of Sacramento, California and earned his B.A. from the
University of the Pacific in Stockton, California and his M.A. from American
University in Washington, D.C. Arnoldo served as the national executive
director of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) from 1979
to 1985 and was responsible for developing and executing its legislative
agenda. During this period, LULAC evolved into one of the most recognized
voices for Hispanic political and policy concerns in the nation. He was
instrumental in the debate and actions regarding the Immigration and Reform
Control Act (IRCA) of 1986 concerning immigration, temporary worker rights and
legalization, and was considered a national leader on legislative issues
involving civil rights, immigration, education, health, economic policy
impacting minorities and international concerns.
Mr. Torres is also partner in the public policy consulting firm of Torres
& Torres, which primarily assists nonprofit organizations and advocates on
behalf of indigent and ethic minority communities. Mr. Torres also serves
as the Executive Director for the California Hispanic Health Care Association
and has developed policy initiatives that have sought to bring doctors from
Mexico to serve rural, Spanish-speaking communities, expand the
cultural competency of health care professionals in California, and expand
access and insurance coverage for preventive and comprehensive primary health
care services to all working Californians.
Mr. Torres has been a guest on "Firing Line," "Crossfire," "CBS Morning
News," "Phil Donohue," CNN, Univision, Telemundo, and TV Azteca Spanish-language
networks. Mr. Torres was also one of the original hosts of California's
first Spanish-language political program, "Voz y Voto" from 1998-2005. He has
appeared on Univision national news programs providing political analysis of
Presidential elections, national and international political issues. He
has written op-ed articles in local and national publications such as the
Chicago Tribune, Arizona Republic, U.S. News & World Report, Sacramento Bee,
and Albuquerque Journal.