First 5 LA Veteran Armando Jimenez

Born and raised in Bakersfield, Armando traveled south to attend the University of California, Los Angeles, where he received a B.A. in Psychobiology and his Masters in Public Health with an emphasis in Behavioral Science and Public Education. After receiving his MPH, he began work on improving the health of Angelinos through research and evaluation. For eight years Armando held various evaluation-related leadership positions at the Los Angeles Department of Health Services (LADHS). He also continued post-MPH coursework at UCLA, while simultaneously working at LADHS, with a particular interest in cancer education.

In 1996, he decided to change his job as well as his role at UCLA; stopping coursework, he became the evaluation and research coordinator for the Public Health Program's technical assistance group.

Armando joined First 5 LA as it was just getting off the ground and helped First 5 LA grow to be the teaming organization it is today. In an interview, we asked Armando how his informed perspective on the growth of the Commission has impacted his overall outlook. His humble response was that now, when he encounters a struggling family in the street or on the subway, he asks himself, "What have I done today to make that family's life better." He shared that he identifies with the struggles of regular families by remembering his own family's struggles as he was growing up. This personal perspective enables him to keep the well-being of children and families in the forefront of every decision, and allows the sometimes frustrating minutia of every day work to take a back seat to the larger goal of strengthening families.

Click on the link below to hear more about how Armando came to First 5 LA, and what excites him about his work.

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