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Until Spring 2011, Maria Sotero was the Research Associate for the Asset Building Program in California. She worked to support the program and its work through research, writing, and event planning. She blogged about financial empowerment strategies for low-income Californians and managed the program's social media outreach, working to build and maintain a virtual warehouse of asset policy resources for policymakers and stakeholders in California and other states.

Before joining New America, Ms. Sotero studied at the San Diego Association of Governments as a Policy Analysis intern, authoring a paper on planning relationships between local governments and Indian tribes. Her experience also includes proposal writing, creative work, and research for ProProse, a Sacramento social marketing firm, where she focused on social and environmental outreach projects for state and local agencies.

Ms. Sotero holds a bachelor's degree in Urban Studies and Planning from the University of California, San Diego. She returns to the New America under Asset Building after completing an InterExchange Abroad program in Spanish studies and volunteer work during an extended stay in Cuzco, Peru. She previously supported New America as an intern for the California Program.