Founder & Chairman
Antonio Ibarria Sr., born in Cuba, arrived in the United States in 1955 with no possessions—driven by ambition, discipline, and an unwavering work ethic. Antonio Ibarria Sr. began working as a door-to-door milk deliveryman and steadily built a career that would span entrepreneurship, media, and community service across New York and New Jersey.
Antonio Ibarria Sr. transitioned into retail through a series of hands-on roles—working as a hairdresser, then operating a bakery and a department store—before becoming the owner of a chain of furniture stores known as Tony House. Through Casa Tony, Antonio Ibarria Sr. extended credit to thousands of newly arrived Cuban families who otherwise could not access it, helping them establish stability as they began new lives in the United States.
Antonio Ibarria Sr. expanded civic involvement alongside business growth. In 1961, Antonio Ibarria Sr. was elected president of the Cuban Club and subsequently created the Information Center for Immigrants. Antonio Ibarria Sr. later served as a personal advisor to then-Elizabeth Mayor Tom Dunn and held leadership roles with organizations including the Chamber of Commerce, the Boy Scouts of America, and the Federation of Hispanic Merchants, among other business and humanitarian institutions.
In the 1970s, Antonio Ibarria Sr. expanded into publishing by launching the Spanish-language newspaper El Clarín as a test product. During that same period, Antonio Ibarria Sr. founded an advertising agency and opened two movie theaters called Tony Cinema. In the early 1980s, Antonio Ibarria Sr. published El Especial, a weekly Hispanic entertainment newspaper that became an immediate success in the New York tri-state area and later in Miami.
In 1987 and 1988, Antonio Ibarria Sr. launched The Bergenline Carnival in Union City, New Jersey—recognized as the largest free Hispanic event in the city’s history—attracting more than half a million spectators. The event underscored Antonio Ibarria Sr.’s long-standing commitment to cultural visibility and community-building.
Motivated by the lack of basic information and resources available to newly arriving Hispanics, Antonio Ibarria Sr. founded Save Latin America, Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to providing free access to education, health, and opportunity, with special emphasis on children. The organization operates nine programs, provides 35 associated services, and has helped more than 202,189 underserved individuals.
Its flagship education initiative, Reaching Our Dreams, has served more than 137,000 students (grades 3–12) across New Jersey and New York City’s five boroughs, engaging more than 8,500 parents. In addition, more than 1,725 students have received Essay Awards. Save Latin America has also delivered free medical information and health services, including screenings for more than 156,000 men, women, and children.
In 1998, Antonio Ibarria Sr. achieved a major professional milestone with the launch of HOY, a Spanish-language newspaper that debuted in New York and New Jersey on November 16, 1998, in partnership with Times Mirror and Newsday. Antonio Ibarria Sr. managed the operation from staffing through printing and distribution, and the paper quickly gained traction; in 1999, Antonio Ibarria Sr. sold his interest to Newsday.
Antonio Ibarria Sr. later launched El Especialito, a weekly, geo-targeted publication focused on dense Hispanic neighborhoods in New York, New Jersey, and Miami. With a weekly distribution of 320,000 copies, El Especialito reaches more than 1.3 million Hispanic readers across multiple New Jersey counties and key New York City neighborhoods. Antonio Ibarria Sr. also launched Personalidades, a community newspaper dedicated to highlighting local role models.
Antonio Ibarria Sr. played a pivotal role in the creation of Pan American Bank, the first Hispanic bank in Hudson County, New Jersey, helping expand professional opportunities and representation in the financial sector. Over decades of work, sacrifice, and perseverance, Antonio Ibarria Sr. has received hundreds of accolades recognizing achievements as both a business leader and humanitarian—among them, the naming of 38th Street in Union City as Antonio Ibarria Way.
Executive Director
Henry Acosta, MA, MSW, LSW is an entrepreneur and behavioral health professional with more than 35 years of direct service and administrative experience working with children, adults, and families in both clinical and social service settings. He is a nationally and inter-nationally recognized trainer, author and multiple award-winning leader in Hispanic mental health and racial and ethnic minority behavioral health issues. Additionally, he has achieved success in not- and for-profit business development and management, event planning, fundraising, strategic planning, cultural competence, policy development and advocacy, and community development. He is also a motivational speaker and a former Adjunct Faculty member at Miami-Dade College, Miami, FL, where he served as a Professor of Psychology and Student Life Skills (2018 to 2023). Mr. Acosta also served at City College, Miami, as an Adjunct Professor of Psychology from 2017 to 2020, and Everglades University, 2021.
Mr. Acosta currently serves as the Executive Director of Save Latin America, Inc., (SLA) a multi-purpose non-profit organization based in Union City, NJ. SLA’s mission is to improve the quality of life for vulnerable and underserved populations by providing access to resources such as healthcare, education, business, legal and employment opportunities. Mr. Acosta has been involved with SLA since 2001, first as a volunteer, and subsequently as a consultant and then Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Acosta has been instrumental in developing new program services at SLA and is committed to addressing additional community needs during his tenure.
Since 2005, Mr. Acosta has operated a highly successful consulting firm, Acosta Consulting, LLC. As President of Acosta Consulting LLC, Mr. Acosta has worked with numerous organizations across the United States to assist them with strengthening their ability to provide high-quality, culturally competent, effective and efficient services. Mr. Acosta has experienced great success in grant writing, strategic planning, board, project, and staff development, fundraising and event planning with an array of organizations across the nation. Mr. Acosta has also worked with several TV, film and sport celebrities to strengthen their respective organization’s abilities to meet an array of social and human service needs. A proven, results-oriented professional, Mr. Acosta continues to work with entities across the nation to help them achieve their envisioned goals and objectives.
Mr. Acosta has an extensive history of working in the behavioral health arena and formerly served as the Chief Executive Officer of Multicultural Alliance Health Care Solutions, Inc. in Fort Lauderdale, FL, and as the Founder and Executive Director of the highly respected National Resource Center for Hispanic Mental Health, an outgrowth of the award-winning and nationally and internationally recognized Changing Minds, Advancing Mental Health for Hispanics program. Mr. Acosta served as the Changing Minds… Project Director since its inception. In addition to serving as the Changing Minds… Project Director, a project of the New Jersey Mental Health Institute, Mr. Acosta also served as the Institute’s Deputy Director. In the role of the Founder and Executive Director of the National Resource Center for Hispanic Mental Health (2006-2012) Mr. Acosta aimed to address the nationwide lack of availability of, access to and the provision of quality mental health services for Hispanics, and to heighten awareness, acceptance and understanding of mental illness among the Hispanic population. Mr. Acosta also served as the Deputy Director of the New Jersey Mental Health Institute, Inc., an organization founded by the New Jersey Association of Mental Health and Addiction Agencies, Inc., the parent agency of both aforementioned entities from 2001-2012.
Mr. Acosta holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology from Montclair State University, a Masters of Arts in Social Sciences with a concentration in Psychology from William Paterson University and a Masters of Social Work in Administration, Planning and Policy with Children and Families from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Mr. Acosta has completed all in-class coursework and internship requirements for a Doctorate in Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Social Work in Social Policy Analysis and Administration at Rutgers University. Mr. Acosta has not completed his qualifying exams and dissertation to date due to health issues but hopes to complete his studies in the future.
Sought nationally and internationally as an expert/leader on Hispanic mental health issues, Mr. Acosta has been involved in numerous private and public advisory groups, boards, task forces, and/or commissions. Mr. Acosta was appointed by former Governor Richard J. Codey to serve as an inaugural member of the New Jersey Governor’s Council on Mental Health Stigma, where he served from 2005-2013. Additionally, Mr. Acosta served on the State of New Jersey Board of Social Work Examiners for approximately six years – having been appointed to the board by three different NJ Governor’s, and where he served as the Board’s Vice-Chairman for nearly three of his six years of service. In addition, Mr. Acosta was appointed by former New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine to the New Jersey Health Care Access Study Commission. Previously, he served as Chair of former New Jersey Governor James E. McGreevey’s Hispanic Advisory Council on Policy Development Initiatives’ Health Subcommittee Mental Health Work Group and as Co-Chair of the Health Subcommittee. Mr. Acosta previously served as a member of the New Jersey Department of Human Services, Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services Multicultural Services Advisory Committee. His work on Hispanic mental health has appeared in numerous professional publications and he is a frequent speaker at local, state, national and international events regarding Hispanic mental health issues, racial and ethnic minority behavioral health, and cultural competence. In addition, he had a column entitled, Point of View, in a quarterly bilingual newspaper on Hispanic mental health titled, Salud Mental, throughout the paper’s existence.
Mr. Acosta serves or has served on the Board of Directors of several non-profit organizations, and on several statewide advisory committees, including the NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) National Board of Directors, where he was elected 2nd Vice-President in July 2011, the Puerto Rican Family Institute, Inc.’s Board of Directors (New York and New Jersey – having served on the executive committee of both boards including President of PRFI New Jersey for nearly five years), the March of Dimes New Jersey Chapter State Board, the March of Dimes New Jersey Chapter’s Statewide Hispanic Advisory Committee and the Central New Jersey Boy Scout Council Board of Directors. He also served as the Chair of the National Hispanic/Latino American Agenda Summit Mental Health Issues and Platforms Committee in 2004, and is the founding Chair of the Alliance for Latino Behavioral Health Workforce Development, a strategic partnership of the leading national Latino behavioral health professional organizations, and other key leaders in the Latino health and behavioral health professions, and workforce development.
Mr. Acosta has also served as a volunteer in many capacities, such as a mentor for a teenage inner city youth, as a Local Coordinator for the 2000 Million Mom March, and as the 2004 Million Mom March Tri-State Captain for Spanish-Speaking Communities. For his work on the 2000 Million Mom March event, Mr. Acosta received a State of New Jersey Senate Resolution recognizing his work, and was invited to the White House for an event recognizing many of the individuals who helped organize the event. A NJ certified firefighter, Mr. Acosta also served as a volunteer firefighter for several years and assisted for nearly a month at Ground Zero with the search and recovery efforts after the World Trade Center terrorist attacks.
As a result of his personal and professional accomplishments, Mr. Acosta has received numerous awards for local, state and national private and public institutions. His most recent honors include a 2014 Hispanicize Positive Image Award, a 2012 United States Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) VOICE Award for Peer/Consumer Leadership, the 2012 Dr. King Davis Award from ACMHA: The College for Behavioral Health Leadership, The 2012 Leadership in Mental Health Award from the Puerto Rican Family Institute, a 2011 Ann Klein Community Advocate Award from the Community Health Law Project (NJ), a 2010 Maria DeCastro Blake Community Service Award from the New Jersey Hispanic Research and Information Center at the Newark Public Library, being named one of the “Top 20 Latinos in America 40 and Under” by Latino Leaders Magazine, December 2009/January 2010 Issue, One of the “100 Most Influential Hispanics in America” by Hispanic Business Magazine, October 2008, the United States Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health’s 2009 Minority Health Community Trailblazer Leader Award for the Latino community, a 2008 Eli Lilly and Company Welcome Back Award for Destigmatization, a 2008 Dr. Edward J. Ill Excellence in Medicine Award for Community Service, a 2008 NJBIZ Healthcare Hero Award for Education Efforts as an Individual, a 2007 Advancing Minority Mental Health Award from the American Psychiatric Foundation, a 2007 “Forty Under 40” Award from NJBIZ Magazine, and a national leadership award for Latino Mental Health Advocacy from the Latino Behavioral Health Institute. Additional awards include a Certificate of Recognition Award from the American Psychiatric Foundation in May 2006, a 2006 National Association of Social Workers – New York City Chapter and New York Latino Social Work Task Force Leadership Award, the National Association of Puerto Rican/Hispanic Social Workers’ Leadership Award in November 2004, and the 2004 Rookie of the Year Award from the March of Dimes North Jersey Chapter.
Mr. Acosta is a graduate of the Middlesex County Fire Academy (NJ). Upon graduation from the academy, Mr. Acosta served as a volunteer firefighter for the Keasbey Fire Protection Company #1.