Soria honored as April Employee of the Month

It is with pleasure that we honor Dr. Matilda Soria, Program Coordinator in the Early Care & Education department, as the April 2019 Employee of the Month.

Matilda is regularly engaged in seeking grants for the early care and education students and teachers of the Office of the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools. She recently landed an $11 million grant to provide expanded professional learning to early care teachers of STEM. That type of incredible accomplishment is not unusual for Matilda.

In her current role as the Program Coordinator, she is responsible for many services for children ages 0 to 12 years. Because early learning has caught the attention of local, state and federal policy makers as the most impactful level of education in which to invest, there are many new and innovative opportunities for the program to consider. In most cases, Matilda’s department takes the lead in the community for securing new grants, assisting in writing master plans for community initiatives and providing feedback to consultants to drive community agendas.

Because Matilda has considerable research, analysis, writing and evaluation skills, she is called upon to lend her expertise to the task. Matilda graciously gives of her time, talent and connections to improve the community from large agencies such as Fresno State to community collective impact groups such as Cradle to Career. She is a rare educator who is devoted to the work and understands the impact her contributions will make on the short- and long-term outcome for children.

“Anything that helps me help children reach their full potential is how I know I’m doing the right thing,” said Matilda of her job. “It’s a blessing to do something I love, giving back to the community and getting paid for it.”