Kaltun Abdikarani found healing from childhood trauma through faith and community. She believes in the power of human connection and the group environment to cultivate wellness in a culturally responsive way. She seeks to support the faith, well
Jaime Arsenault has a gift for the challenging work of repatriation, reconciliation and healing. She believes that painful past experiences can be important teachers. In her work with Indigenous nations on repatriation of sacred items, preservation
Tashina Banks Rama (Oglala Sioux Tribe, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe) comes from a family committed to the ancestral language revitalization movement and to living and teaching the Lakota worldview and philosophy. She envisions a vibrant Oglala
Rose Chu, Ph.D., is on a mission to transform the public narrative about the teaching profession. She believes that teachers uncover the brilliance of students and are a pillar of democracy. Yet she observes that too few people are entering the
Prince Corbett is a formerly incarcerated individual who is determined to end the income and wealth gap for Black residents in the Twin Cities. As the Racial and Health Equity Administrator for Ramsey County, he understands how government systems and
Comfort Dondo uses her powerful personal story to break the stigma and silence around childhood trauma and childhood sexual abuse in African immigrant communities in Minnesota. She seeks to establish culturally specific mental health healing services
Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay believes artists can be bold architects of social change. As a leader in Lao American theater and one of the country’s most successful Lao playwrights, she recognizes the tremendous impact that theater has on
Rebekah Dunlap (Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior) is determined to reclaim and revitalize traditional Ojibwe practices related to parent and child health. She seeks to integrate what she has learned as a certified nurse midwife with her Anishinaabe
Mike Elliott wants Brooklyn Center’s transformative approach to public safety to serve as a model for systemic change. As the first mayor of color of Minnesota's most diverse metropolitan city, he has worked to ensure problems are addressed with
Devon Gilchrist is on a quest to reimagine the child welfare system in Minnesota, where racial disparities are some of the highest in the country. In his role in the African American Child Well-Being Unit in the state’s Department of Human Services
Erin Griffin (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate) envisions Makoce ataya Dakota Oyate kin Dakota iapi kte, a future where the Dakota Oyate will speak the Dakota language everywhere. From an early age, she wanted to understand and speak Dakota but found it
Bradley Harrington (Nazhike-awaasang; Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe) has a powerful vision to pair technology with Anishinaabe culture to reinvigorate traditional knowledge and language. He wants tribal nations to have access to the tools and spaces they
