Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

By Karen Lee Ziner
Journal staff writer

PROVIDENCE -- Three months after the Center for Hispanic Advocacy & Policy's board of directors fired its executive director and took control of the agency, the board's president, Juana Horton, has resigned.

Horton said today, "It is a personal decision because of time commitment." She is president and CEO of Horton Interpreting, Inc., and chair of the Hispanic-American Chamber of Commerce of Rhode Island.

In a phone interview, Horton said there was no connection between her resignation and the firing in August of Miguel Sanchez-Hartwein, who ran the agency for three years.

"What happened with Miguel was the board was going in one direction and our executive director (Sanchez-Hartwein) was going in another direction," said Horton. "The board had specific goals and initiatives and the executive director was not in agreement with those, so that's what's called going in different directions."

Since the board was put in control of the agency, however, "CHisPA became a very time-consuming board commitment, since it is taking more time to run the organization," said Horton. "We don't have an executive director. It became very time-consuming to help run it."

Horton said she has served on the CHisPA board for five years, during which time "it has made many significant strides, raising funds, dealing with many organization issues. I find that the current board is very eminently capable of advancing CHisPA to its next level of development."

In a statement, the board said its vice president, Doris Blanchard, will temporarily serve as president pending an election. Blanchard could not be reached for comment.

Horton said she would not be leaving the board unless she felt it was in capable hands.

 Tags  Center for Hispanic Advocacy & Policy Juana Horton

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