News
Early Childhood Educator of the Year 2025
Michelle Melendez, Care-A-Lot Family
We are thrilled to celebrate Michelle Melendez as ECI's Early Educator of the Year! Michelle’s dedication to her work is a living example of our core values: equity, innovation, and deep collaboration. We are so grateful for the heart and expertise she brings to our community every day.
Congratulations, Michelle!
Michelle is extremely creative, responsible, flexible, and deeply reflective in her practice. She brings an inclusive and strengths-based approach to her work with young children. She meets children where they are, fully accepting each child for who they are while remaining intentional and mindful about their next developmental steps. She skillfully scaffolds learning experiences based on individual needs, interests, and abilities, ensuring that every child feels supported, challenged, and valued. Her ability to design inclusive environments and responsive learning experiences for children of diverse ages, backgrounds, and abilities makes her an exceptional model for other early educators.
In addition to her work with children, Michelle has always been a natural mentor within her program. She provides ongoing guidance and support to her staff, meeting with them on a daily basis to reflect on children’s developmental profiles and collaboratively design activities that meet individual and group needs.
Michelle is an exceptional early childhood professional whose practice reflects the values of inclusion, reflection, collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement.
Early Childhood Educator of the Year 2024
Roxana Flores, Roxana's Day Care Owner/Director
We are delighted to announce Roxana Flores as ECI's Early Educator of the Year for 2024! Roxana’s work truly reflects ECI's vision of equity, quality, and inclusion in early learning. Congratulations and thank you for all that you do for our community!
Roxana's nominator writes:
Roxana is a staunch advocate for family child care home educators. As part of the Shared Services Implementation Team, she helped create pathways to uplift the voices of educators across the county by planning and hosting the FCCH Policy Summit in March 2024 and the FCCH Leadership Conference in November 2024. She also serves on the California Department of Social Services' Equity-Centered QRIS Advisory Panel, giving voice and advocating for the needs of children, families, and educators for a more just, equitable Quality Rating Improvement System that works for all.
