Alma Torres never imagined she’d be leading the City of Fresno’s animal shelter—not as a highschooler, when she started at the City as a student aide, or during the years she spent working her way to Deputy City Manager. Now, as Fresno Animal Center Director, Alma’s people-first approach is shaped by decades of experience in public service and a passion for supporting her community. (Another good reminder to rethink animal welfare-specific or other job requirements that make us miss out on amazing candidates!)
Here are three big-picture leadership lessons Alma shared with us at last week’s Multicultural Engagement Community of Practice:
- Don’t fill in the blank. Recognize when assumptions or stereotypes about pet guardians or communities might be driving decisions or influencing mindsets, and get curious instead. “In my earlier career,” Alma said, “there were times in which I did not ask questions, and my brain filled […] the scenarios and answers. What I learned from that is that it doesn’t actually get us anywhere.”
- To make the most of precious resources, get clear on shared priorities. When facing budget constraints, define and prioritize essential services and programs that directly benefit your community and align with your mission. Alma embraces partnerships with community organizations—from spay/neuter clinics and rescue groups to churches and schools—to maximize resources and achieve the goal of becoming a resource center.
- Keep learning—and adapting—together. Encourage continuous learning and evaluation within your team, drawing lessons from both successes and mistakes. Seek out opportunities to learn from community members. One-on-one conversations can inform and improve services and messaging and also ensure you’re connecting with more pet guardians, prospective volunteers, adopters, and fosters.
Watch the recording to hear about Alma’s approach to successful spay/neuter conversations and removing Return-to-Owner and adoption barriers—and discover how a special memory of her mom inspires the way she thinks about pet ownership.
Related resources
- Spay/neuter benefits flyer in English and Spanish (Oakland Animal Services)
- Maddie’s® Tail Wag, a free collection of activities and coloring pages for animal lovers of all ages, available in English and Spanish. (Maddie’s Fund)
- A celebration of Latino Pets
- Sample Shelter Site – ready-to-use messaging in English and Spanish (UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program)
- To help California shelters implement welcoming practices for Latine communities, Cal for All Animals is fully subsidizing Spanish translation services. Email Patitas y Palabras for more information.
Alma on takeaways from her current role:
One of the things that I have learned is the amazing community that is animal welfare. […] I haven’t been been in this field for very long, but the people that I have reached [out] to, I feel like they’ve been my friends forever, because that is how helpful so many people in this field have been. […] The thing that I have learned is that the people that care for animals, you know, also care for humans, and that is just amazing. If there was so much more of that, I can just imagine the endless possibilities.
Alma Torres nunca se imaginó que estaría al frente del Refugio de Animales de la Ciudad de Fresno—ni siquiera cuando era estudiante de secundaria, cuando comenzó a trabajar en la ciudad como asistente estudiantil, ni durante los años que trabajó para llegar a ser subdirectora de la Ciudad.
Ahora como Directora del Fresno Animal Shelter (Refugio de Animales de Fresno), Alma tiene un enfoque centrado en las personas primero que está moldeado por décadas de experiencia en el servicio público y su pasión por ayudar a su comunidad. (¡También es un buen recordatorio que hay que repensar los requisitos que a veces pedimos que nos hacen perder candidatos increíbles!)
Aquí hay tres lecciones generales de liderazgo que Alma compartió con nosotros en la reunión de la Comunidad de Práctica de Compromiso Multicultural:
- No supongas cosas. Reconoce cuando las suposiciones o estereotipos sobre los dueños o comunidades de mascotas podrían estar guiando decisiones o influyendo en mentalidades, y en lugar de eso, ten curiosidad. Alma dijo: “En mi carrera anterior, hubo veces en que no hice preguntas y mi mente llenaba las respuestas o imaginaba los escenarios. Aprendí que eso no me llevaba a nada.”
- Para aprovechar al máximo los valiosos recursos, hay que tener claras las prioridades compartidas. Cuando se enfrente a limitaciones presupuestarias, defina y priorice los servicios y programas esenciales que beneficien directamente a su comunidad y se alineen a su misión. Alma fomenta la asociaciones con organizaciones comunitarias, desde clínicas de esterilización/castración y grupos de rescate hasta iglesias y escuelas, para maximizar los recursos y lograr el objetivo de convertirse en un centro de recursos.
- Sigan aprendiendo y adaptándose juntos. Fomenten el aprendizaje continuo y la evaluación dentro de su equipo, extrayendo lecciones tanto de los éxitos como de los errores. Busquen oportunidades para aprender de los miembros de la comunidad. Las conversaciones individuales pueden informar y mejorar los servicios y los mensajes, y también garantizar que se conecten con más tutores de mascotas, posibles voluntarios, adoptantes y familias temporarias.
