Bush Fellows Learning Logs

Martin Wera sees the relationships between good food and good jobs through his focus on hunger relief and workforce development at Ameriprise. He is passionate about exploring ways to unite the food service industry and the nonprofit sector to create a more sustainable future for consumers, employers and workers. Martin will use his Bush Fellowship to learn from other communities that have successfully engaged multiple sectors to mutually solve food insecurity and labor shortage issues and bring this knowledge back to the Twin Cities.

Every year, Kashif Saroya uses a week of vacation from his position with Ecolab to organize and volunteer at the Muslim Youth of Minnesota’s summer camp, where he advises and mentors youth. With the help of a Bush Fellowship, he now will turn to finding his own advisors to advance his abilities to promote diversity, engagement and inclusion in the business sector. He plans to pursue an MBA to increase the knowledge and networks he needs to play an executive leadership role in the corporate sector.

Jennifer Almanza has spent the last 10 years understanding the scope of what a woman might encounter during birth, especially women of color. She researched the birthing experience of women living on Leech Lake Reservation, served as a preceptor and charge nurse in the Regions Hospital Birth Center, taught infant massage, and cross-trained in postpartum, newborn nursery and the newborn intensive care units. Now, with her Bush Fellowship, Jennifer intends to earn her doctorate of nursing practice in midwifery to increase the pool of culturally responsive providers to serve women of color in the metropolitan area. Her goal: more engaging care and better health outcomes for mothers and babies — at less cost.

As a teen, Tou SaiKo Lee wandered down a troubled path before creative writing saved his life. His travels to Thailand with his grandmother to learn from Hmong people living in mountain villages further fueled his passion for the arts and his culture. Today, he uses the arts to encourage cultural identity and pride in youth in the Frogtown neighborhood. Tou SaiKo Lee wants to expand his impact by becoming a more adept cultural liaison to the arts. He will use his Bush Fellowship to build skills in business management, and to return to Southeast Asia to grow his ability to capture elders’ stories and make them relevant to young people.

In 1992, Abdi Roble found a manual camera at a flea market. Captivated, he began taking photography courses at a community college and documenting the Somali immigrant and refugee experience. Ten years later, he founded the Somali Documentary Project with more than 10,000 images of Somali people in the Twin Cities, Rochester, Saint Cloud, Willmar and Pelican Rapids. Through his Bush Fellowship, he will acquire the skills to create a professional archive that digitizes and catalogues these images — the first of its kind in the world. Guided by the motto “Ummad aan dhigaal lahayni, waa dhaayo aan arag lahayn," - "A nation without archives is like eyes without sight,” he also seeks leadership training to support and inspire young people to document and archive their communities.

Amelia Franck Meyer has learned a fundamental truth serving youth in the child welfare system: it takes healthy leaders to heal those they serve. She has transformed a small treatment foster care agency into an award-winning enterprise known for creating industry-leading outcomes in child placement stability, permanency and well-being. Now she will explore how to scale her ideas beyond individual youth to the bigger system. With the Bush Fellowship, she will focus on gaining the knowledge needed to advance her strategies for transforming the child welfare system.

When Mukhtar Ibrahim emigrated from East Africa to the U.S. in 2005, he spoke little English. Today, as a reporter with Minnesota Public Radio, he is the first Somali-American journalist in the state to work at a major news outlet. He is also the founder of Sahan Journal, an independent news source for East Africans and Somalis who live in the Twin Cities metro area. He wants to close the cultural gap between long-time and new Americans through more balanced, in-depth and fair storytelling about immigrants. With his Bush Fellowship, Mukhtar will complete a master’s degree in journalism at Columbia University to advance his knowledge of long-form narrative writing, investigative reporting, digital storytelling and radio documentaries.

State Representative Kim Norton introduced legislation and rallied support for the Destination Medical Center (DMC), an economic development project aimed at positioning Rochester as a premier location for health care. Kim wants to help lead Rochester through the dramatic changes ahead, making sure that DMC works for the entire community. Her Bush Fellowship will allow her to complete a master’s degree at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and grow her transformational leadership skills through the Women in Power executive education program at Harvard Kennedy School.

Julie Garreau has been the driving force behind the Cheyenne River Youth Project (CRYP), developing it from a fledgling experiment to one of the nation’s most successful Native youth development programs. After years of leading CRYP, she now wants to ensure its future success by mentoring emerging Lakota leaders who can succeed her. Julie will use her Bush Fellowship to study Lakota teachings and effective Western leadership models, leveraging both to foster the next generation of leaders.

Trista Matascastillo is one of few to have served in three branches of the U.S. military. Often, she was the only woman in her command. After 16 years of service in the Navy, Marine Corps and National Guard, she was compelled to form the Women Veteran’s Initiative, a nonprofit advocacy and networking organization. She wants to respond to the growing number of women vets nationwide and to guide her organization as it grows from a working group to a robust nonprofit. With her Bush Fellowship, Trista will pursue post-secondary and graduate degrees to strengthen her leadership skills.

Giovanni Veliz is the first immigrant police lieutenant in the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) and the former executive director of the Police Activities League. He is keenly aware of the challenges police departments have in building relationships with youth and communities of color, and is focused on juvenile outreach. Now, with his Bush Fellowship, he will deepen the strategic skills he needs to design solutions for improving youth health, development and leadership, and for enhancing the cultural competency of MPD officers. He will enroll in executive education programs at the Harvard Kennedy School and other educational institutions.

Lorrie Janatopoulos is the long-time planning director at Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency, a social services nonprofit. She also is an LGBT activist on the Iron Range who recognizes that true community change requires relationships, long-term engagement and cross-sector collaboration. With her Bush Fellowship, Lorrie will pursue post-graduate work at Stanford Graduate School of Business and Harvard Kennedy School. She will also work at the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board to expand her network and learn more about rural economic and community development.

As one of Minnesota's civic leaders, Hamse Warfa is concerned about structural integration challenges new immigrants face, particularly immigrants in the Somali community. He bridges cultures through leadership and peacebuilding training, and wants to increase his ability to influence cross-cultural understanding. With his Bush Fellowship, he will develop a new platform that links more immigrants to mainstream systems on issues of education, health, economic empowerment and civic leadership while leading civic conversations that create more vibrant communities for all Minnesotans.

As the youngest Native American ever elected to the South Dakota Legislature, and one of only two tribal members in the state’s House of Representatives, Kevin Killer is entering what must be his final term with his eye on the next generation. Who will succeed him, and how can he help build more leaders from Pine Ridge and other Native communities in his state? Kevin will use his Bush Fellowship to build the leadership skills he needs to inspire and amplify tribal voices in community decision-making and to provide Native communities with an asset-based approach to the future.

As a college student, Chris Francis learned personally the power of one effective teacher to inspire a student as both an artist and community member. Today, he is an artist, advocate and administrator deeply embedded in his South Dakota community. Chris would like to be that same kind of mentor to college students, particularly to help them understand the value and significance of the arts in communal life. He will use his Bush Fellowship to achieve a master’s degree that will provide him with the credentials to teach at the college level.

Psychologist Tami Jollie-Trottier knows that the arts offer a creative outlet for a young person to build self-confidence and cultural identity. Her goal is to create a beautiful and safe haven where the young people of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa can discover self-expression and connect with elders through the arts. With her Bush Fellowship, she will devote time to growing her knowledge of Native arts and expressive art therapy, and develop an art studio open to the community on her reservation.

Irene Fernando believes deeply that new leadership is integral to organizational success. That’s why she and her two co-executive directors at Students Today Leaders Forever designed a model that requires each of them to transition out of leading the organization. Her willingness to plan herself out of a job is rooted in a mission to help cultivate a new generation of civic-minded leaders. She imagines a world where an organization’s leadership model is as important as its operating and financial models. Irene will use her Bush Fellowship to further her education in the areas of leadership theory, management structures and organizational design.

In her community-based work, Elena Gaarder finds herself returning over and over to the same questions: What mix of policies, investments, partners and initiatives truly would shift the balance so that disadvantaged neighborhoods become opportunity-rich communities? And importantly, what can she do differently to be a more effective leader? These questions will drive her Bush Fellowship’s focus on deepening her abilities to build successful alliances and partnerships and on increasing her knowledge of social enterprise and worker cooperative models that have proven to transform the economics of communities across the U.S.

When Latasha Gandy was struggling to help her third-grade daughter with reading, she came to an important realization: not only was the system failing her child, but it had also failed her years before. Despite graduating with a 4.2 GPA from high school, Latasha still had to take remedial courses in college. This realization ignited her passion for educational equity and led to a leadership role with Students for Education Reform. She will pursue a JD and executive leadership training with her Bush Fellowship, expanding her network and skills to tackle the opportunity gap in education.

Born in Peru, Yuri Nakasato lived through a devastating earthquake, violent civil conflict and epidemics of tuberculosis and cholera. Despite the obstacles, he went on to earn degrees in medicine and business administration. With a “never give up and always get up” philosophy, he seeks to lead effective, large-scale change within the Sanford Health System to help patients get better, faster and on budget. To help him acquire the leadership skills to lead this change, Yuri will use his Bush Fellowship to pursue a master’s of consulting and coaching for change through a joint executive education program with Oxford University and école des Hautes Etudes Commerciales de Paris.

As a member of the Granite Falls City Council for nearly four decades and mayor for 20 years, Dave Smiglewski knows first-hand the challenges and joys of community service. He is witness to an alarming decline in civic and community engagement particularly in rural areas, and wants to encourage young adults in his region to reverse the trend. Through his Bush Fellowship, Dave will finish his bachelor’s degree and pursue post-graduate education, studying the best methods to incubate, model and drive civic engagement. 

As founder of the Harvest Network of Schools, Eric Mahmoud is using education as the lever for changing the narrative of what’s possible for African American and poor children. His work is strongly rooted in the belief that children from even the most challenging circumstances can achieve at high levels if the adults who teach them are bold enough, organized enough and have faith enough in their abilities. With his Bush Fellowship, Eric will pursue advanced education and training from the country’s most effective educational practitioners and shadow successful educational CEOs from around the country, using what he learns to expand his successful Harvest Network.

Susan Beaulieu teaches about adverse childhood experiences — ACEs — in Native American communities. Defined as traumatic events, ACEs can negatively impact child health and development and have long-term effects into adulthood. Susan is inspired by the power of resiliency and plans to explore traditional indigenous practices around mindfulness as strategies to promote greater wellbeing for Native American youth. She plans to use her Bush Fellowship to finish her Ph.D. and to invest in her own wellbeing, understanding that she must practice what she teaches to truly have a ripple effect in her community.

Ernesto Bustos knows that leaving an organization can be as challenging as running it. After more than a decade in multiple roles with Centro Campesino, including his current position as executive director, he is focused on who comes after him. He will use his Bush Fellowship to develop a system that inspires a new generation of youth leaders. He will grow his knowledge and skills through study and mentorship with innovative local and national leaders, transferring what he learns to his community to build the social, economic, political and cultural wealth of Latinos.

As executive director of Sacred Spirits First Nations Coalition, a program serving Native women, Lisa Brunner advocates for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and sex trafficking. She wants to learn more about how other indigenous communities protect and heal their people through their cultural beliefs and practices. With her Bush Fellowship, she will travel to indigenous communities across the U.S. and Canada to investigate successful community-based practices, and how she can apply them to her ongoing advocacy and leadership work.

Yuko Taniguchi was inspired by how fisherwomen in her native Japan used art to heal from the devastating grief and trauma of a tsunami. That inspiration fuels her work with the Arts at the Bedside Program at the Mayo Clinic, where she helps patients tap into their creativity to express fear, anxiety and grief. Through her Bush Fellowship, Yuko will explore the connections between art and resiliency both at the individual and community level. She will study with national experts who use the arts to connect mind, body and people.

Betty Gronneberg is a new American and a software engineer with one big goal: She wants girls to engineer the world they live in — quite literally. Betty sees the gender disparities in computing and engineering jobs, and knows girls can be the driving force in technology, not just the basic consumers of it. In response to what she sees, Betty wants to foster opportunities for girls to connect with the world of coding and introduce them to careers in technology by creating an enrichment program. She will use her Bush Fellowship to strengthen her leadership expertise, study model organizations in the field and research ways to attract more girls to science, technology, engineering and math.

Nevada Littlewolf was the first Anishinaabe woman ever elected to the Virginia City Council and, at age 31, the only council member under the age of 55. That influential experience encouraged her to establish Rural and American Indigenous Leadership (RAIL), a nonprofit focused on growing women’s leadership in rural and indigenous communities. She wants to grow her ability to build RAIL into a nonprofit capable of serving a national audience. Nevada’s Bush Fellowship will provide her with the time and resources to finish her bachelor’s degree, explore positive women’s roles in other global indigenous cultures and seek additional training and coaching to build leadership skills.

Predicting the future is something many sectors try to do—the government, military, and private sector, especially. But Trista Harris has learned futurism is not at the heart of the nonprofit world. As president of the Minnesota Council on Foundation, she intends to use her Bush Fellowship to study futurism and foresight, and to learn from forward-thinking leaders at such places as the Oxford Scenarios Program, Silicon Valley and Aspen Institute. Her goal is to work across sectors, learning how best to help the philanthropic community prepare for and shape the future.

As a child, Laura Connelly learned the importance of a compassionate community—the value of people who feed you when you are hungry, who give you shelter when you are fleeing violence, who support you without judgment. Her work over the past 12 years in the field of domestic violence has reinforced this need for community, but also for long-term economic security for women who leave violent situations. With her Bush Fellowship, Laura will strengthen her cross-sector leadership skills to be a more effective agent of change for rural families seeking freedom from domestic violence.

As a journalist, corporate PR manager and consultant, Syl Jones has spent his much of his career at the intersection of healthcare and communications. Merging that experience and his background as a playwright and producer of award-winning videos, Syl aims to address racial healthcare disparities by working with physicians and public health officials to craft films, theatrical presentations and journalism to move our region to create a more equitable health care system. To that end, he will use his Fellowship to pursue a master's degree in narrative medicine at Columbia University in New York City.

Even though Adam Perry is living with a degenerative eye disease that has taken most of his usable sight, he believes he has never lost his vision. As a senior program director at Arts Midwest, overseeing complex international initiatives with musicians, authors and filmmakers, he knows that his disability doesn’t disqualify him as a leader. But he also recognizes that much of the world does not necessarily have the same understanding about people with disabilities. With his Bush Fellowship, he will grow his competency in cross-cultural communications and nonprofit management to continue his transition from “operator” to “leader.”

David Whitestock understands what it takes to get well. Ten years ago, mired in drug and alcohol addiction, he began his recovery, learning what it takes to get and stay sober. Today, he has earned a law degree and is the nation’s first and only “addiction informatics officer,” working with Face It TOGETHER to lead the charge in using “big data” to promote a holistic approach to treating addiction. With his Bush Fellowship, he will explore ways to help nonprofits measure social impact and to be smarter at applying precious resources toward solving community problems such as addiction.