Maria A. Martin, MSW CCHW
Maria A. Martin served as a panelist on Palmetto Perspectives: Saving Moms Part 2.
Maria A. Martin has a MSW from the University of South Carolina and is a SC Certified Community Health Worker. Maria has always sought to utilize and share her passion and skills for public health, social and mental health, education, and for social justice for the betterment of underserved and vulnerable populations. Maria has 26 years of leadership and non-profit/public programs administration and community health worker model experience in South Carolina.
Maria A. Martin is Executive Director at PASOs, a homegrown and statewide community-based organization hosted at the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina. Founded in 2005, PASOs supports Latino communities and service providers work together for healthy Latino communities contributing to a stronger and healthier South Carolina.
Maria has been PASOs’ Executive Director since March 16, 2021. As Executive Director, Maria works collaboratively with the PASOs leadership team in leading the mission and vision of the organization. Maria is responsible for ensuring high quality service delivery, maintaining, and procuring financial sustainability, and leading the continued development of a successful and efficient organization. She enables and guides the organization in achieving short and long-term goals and objectives aligned with the organization’s mission and vision.
As PASOs’ Director of Programs and Co-Interim Director from February 2018- March 2021. As Director of Programs, Maria played a critical role in helping PASOs achieve its vision to provide high quality programs locally by working with and providing leadership development, coordination oversight and support to PASOs’ programs, site team members, and site partner organizations. With her leadership, she supports team members to make consistent and progressive steps towards organizational and programmatic consistency and sustainability. Two of the PASOs programs that Maria has been instrumental in developing and were under her purview, have received the highest recognition and have been awarded alongside only 14 other programs nationwide as Best Practice, was the PASOs Health Connections program, as a Promising Practice, was the PASOs Connections for Childhood Development Program. These designations have been awarded by the National Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs. This speaks to the dedication Maria has for ensuring the quality of services and programs provided to our Latino communities in our state.
Beginning in 2011, PASOs became involved with the Early Childhood Comprehensive Services Coalition and Children’s Trust of South Carolina Home Visitation Coalition and in response to their need to reach Latino families, PASOs sought and was awarded funding in 2013 to start a statewide Early Childhood Initiative. In May of 2014 Maria was chosen as the new Early Childhood Initiative Coordinator because of her experience in administration and development of public statewide programs. During her time as Early Childhood Initiative Coordinator, Maria was able to embed an early childhood focus across all of PASOs’ current programs, as well as designed and developed several new programs and models addressing the needs of Latino early childhood children and families such as the PASOs Connections for Childhood Development Program.
Maria’s past work experience comes from her time with the SC Primary Health Care Association (SCPHCA) a non-profit member organization formed in response to the need of providing health care services in medically underserved areas across the state. At the SCPHCA Maria specifically worked under the SC Migrant Health Program as the Senior Manager of Administration and Outreach for the Program. The Program offers comprehensive primary health care and enabling services designed to improve the accessibility of quality, culturally appropriate health care services and reduce health disparities for our state’s farmworker communities without health insurance. Primarily her job duties were to manage the day-to-day operations of the Program to ensure the efficient administration of the Program. In addition, she administered the outreach component of the Program and coordinated the Outreach and Advocacy Network for the SCPHCA, which is designed to provide networking and training opportunities to staff from 22 statewide Federally Qualified Community Health Centers and the communities they
serve. The Network fosters professional growth, competency building, the exchange of ideas and statewide capacity building. The Network also helps improve access to quality primary health care services and reduce health disparities for all medically underserved populations in South Carolina.
Maria’s community work experience began at PRO-Parents of South Carolina as a Latino Outreach Program Coordinator. In this capacity, Maria provided training and information to Latino parents and guardians of children with special needs to help them understand the services that should be offered to them in the public school system through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Being a sibling of a brother with Down syndrome, Maria understands the importance of parents being the best advocates for their children. During this time, Maria formed one of our state’s first Advisory Councils to help guide and drive the work of one of the few Latino population reaching programs in South Carolina.
Since her days at PRO-Parents, Maria has been a pioneer in the work addressing the health and early childhood needs of our Latino families for the past 20 years. She has served on many of the early task groups, coalitions, advisory councils, and boards throughout her efforts to help bring the voices of our Latino communities to decision making tables that impact their lives and well-being.
Maria is a social worker who has a heart for community work and understands how to meet our communities where they are and how to build upon their strengths.
Maria was born in El Paso, Tx. and raised in the U.S. by Mexican and Puerto Rican immigrant parents pursuing a better life in the States. Maria comes from a proud military family background which has afforded her to be a well-rounded and versatile individual with capacity to engage with diverse communities with cultural humility and grace. She is an individual who has always sought to utilize her skills for the betterment of all populations and specifically Latino communities.
