Allen Sánchez

CHI St. Joseph's Children

Allen Sánchez is the President of CHI St. Joseph’s Children. He led the implementation and startup of the largest Home Visiting Program in the state and one of the largest in the nation. After the sale of the St. Joseph Hospital, Allen led the organization through the transition into a community health organization and facilitated the development of a strategic plan that created the goal “that children reach kindergarten with the health and family capacity necessary to support learning”.

Allen has advocated on behalf of CHI St. Joseph’s Children and the New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops as a leader in the repeal of the death penalty, protecting the rights and services of undocumented immigrants, and has joined others in the urgent call to resolve the plight of the children of New Mexico. He has been a voice for equity in education and social services for children. He led the New Mexico Truth campaign, educating the public on the disparities of our children. Allen was instrumental in the banning of cock fighting, the reform of the lottery scholarship, of the minimum wage, and protecting families from predatory lending. He has served on numerous task forces on issues of poverty and early childhood. Allen served as a member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Migration and Refugee as a consultant.

As an entrepreneur, Allen has been a dairy farmer, a real estate developer of residential and agricultural properties, and a founder of a treatment center for alcohol and chemical dependency. He led the Archdioceses of Santa Fe through a 5 year process called RENEW, creating over 4,000 small faith-sharing groups with 41,000 individuals participating, and served as a motivational speaker for RENEW International.

Allen is the Petitioner of the Cause for Sainthood of Sister Blandina Segale, the founder of the first public school and health care system in New Mexico.

Allen earned a BA in Pastoral Services from the College of Santa Fe, New Mexico, an S.T.B. in Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and an MA in Spirituality from the Pontifical St. Thomas Aquinas University in Rome.