Hilda Shirk’s professional career began in the southeast section of Lancaster City, working with Catholic Social Services, Spanish Division, when it was co-located with the Spanish American Civic Association. Her fluency in Spanish took her into the homes of city residents and brought her face-to-face with the realities of poverty and limited resources, complicated by language barriers. She saw firsthand that access to health care was a critical unmet need for those city residents.

Hilda then continued her career as the CEO of a private nonprofit outpatient behavioral health and child welfare agency where she had the opportunity to dramatically grow the organization to address new and expanding needs. More recently, Hilda has been self-employed, working under contract with numerous nonprofit organizations to administer projects and programs. One of the primary projects she has been involved with included working with a community partnership under the leadership of the United Way to address gaps in public health services in Lancaster County. 

Hilda has long admired the services provided by SouthEast, as well as the commitment from staff to deliver those services. Her eagerness to be a part of SouthEast was evident as she began her journey as SouthEast’s new CEO, beginning December12th, 2011. We are very fortunate to gain such a remarkable leader!