2012 COHORT
Shaina Abraham
Jenny Wright Collins
Kari Dennison Cunnien
|
Kari has nearly 20 years of experience as a youth worker, youth program manager, builder of collaboratives and as a community organizer. She has held leadership roles as director of the statewide afterschool network to advance afterschool policy and professional development statewide. Kari also spent seven years at the City of Saint Paul advancing Mayor Chris Coleman’s bold educational vision, and also as the founding director of Sprockets, the city’s afterschool network.
A contributor to numerous whitepapers and a frequent presenter at industry conferences, Kari studied youth policy and public and nonprofit management at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs and was trained at the Organizing Apprenticeship Project (now Voices for Racial Justice) and the National Training and Information Center. |
Shaun Kelley Walsh
Cheryl Meld
Deena McKinney
Angel Peluso
|
Angel is a compassionate social justice community youth worker. She brings those values into the workplace through her supervision, partnerships, and collegial relationships as well as with young people and families. These values-based behaviors have been at the heart of Angel’s action research since 2009. Being aware of her privilege and majority status as a white woman in a social work field, Angel’s inquiry focuses on using quality youth work values and approaches to encourage equity in leadership development and professionalism of direct service youth workers.
Angel was a fellow with Afterschool Matters in 2009 and 2013, and with NorthStar in 2011. She then applied this research in a NorthStar E-Study module for the Humphrey Project on applying a youth worker lens to supervision in 2017, and the paper “Practice What We Preach: Supervisory Practice for Youth Worker Professional Development” published March 2017 in the Journal of Youth Development. Angel hopes to grow her own ability to lead youth work field-building systems in ways that are inclusive and representative of diverse communities. |
Lindsay Walz
|
Lindsay began her career in youth work when she was just a young person herself. At sixteen, she was invited to serve as a leader in her community on the board of directors for a local nonprofit. That experience motivated her to be an adult ally who could see young people's existing capacities and lift up their voices as leaders today, rather than focus on who they will become someday.
Lindsay's youth work experience has ranged from prevention and intervention work to education and leadership development. She currently works with youth to co-lead Courageous heARTS, the art studio she founded in 2013. In addition to the myriad of hats she wears to keep heARTS operational, she also works as a consultant, leading workshops and org-wide capacity building for trauma-informed service delivery. Lindsay also does project management work for NorthStar. |
2014 COHORT
Kara Bixby
|
Kara is co-owner and evaluation director at WithInsight, bringing expertise in program evaluation, data analytics and research. She is passionate about evaluation capacity building - helping others leverage the power of data and processes to learn and improve their work. Kara has trained hundreds of nonprofit organizations to strategically use data for continuous improvement. Her unique approach to evaluation brings life and new perspectives to traditional evaluation tools like logic models and evaluation plans. Kara believes that when done well, evaluation can give voice to students and families, empower staff to learn and develop their skills, and change systems to become equitable and effective. Learn more about her work at: withinsightgroup.com.
|
Jamie Grilz
|
Jamie Grilz oversees Planned Parenthood’s Education and Outreach activities in the Twin Cities and Central Minnesota, including culturally-responsive youth and adult programming within African immigrant, Latino, Southeast Asian and LGBTQ communities. In her tenure at Planned Parenthood, Grilz has implemented dozens of peer education and parent-child programs and has taught hundreds of sexuality education presentations to diverse audiences. She is a certified trainer in the Foundations curriculum; a standardized, national model for training teachers to deliver sex education created by Answer and Cardea. As a NorthStar Fellow, she explored the issue of authority and autonomy in the field of youth work and has a breadth of knowledge in the areas of youth development, community building, and organizational leadership.
|
William Kiadii
Ryan Kirk
Jen Lindwall
|
Jen is interested in changing education systems so they support the growth and development of all students. After spending 10 years working in the youth development field, she moved into a position in higher education where she works to support students from underrepresented groups seeking STEM degrees. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Applied Development Psychology and enjoying life in the pacific northwest with her two kids and husband.
|
Chris Ochocki
|
Chris has been working with youth, family and adults for over 20 years in a variety of therapeutic settings. His overall passion is about discovery, both of self and for others, and to gain the mastery to overcome any barriers in living the life each individual truly desires. He explores this through providing therapy, writing, creating music and generally engaging fully and presently, in the world around him.
|
Arlana Lame Omaha
Phil Rooney
Emily Scribner-O'Pray
|
Emily Scribner-O’Pray, BA has worked for over 25 years to promote the safety, health and well-being of young people and their families. Emily knows that centering young people as experts is the key to successful youth work and has worked with youth in a variety of settings including a runaway shelter, schools, street outreach, clinics, after school and leadership programs. Emily is an experienced and effective program manager with expertise in adolescent sexual health, youth development, parent education, community partnerships, creating adolescent-friendly clinic environments and building youth-adult partnerships. In her current position, Emily is working to decrease teen birth rates and promote adolescent sexual health in Hennepin County by maintaining strong partnerships with community based organizations, continuous quality improvement, grant management and training on evidence-based interventions and best practices in sexuality education.
|
Maggie Whitman
Jocelyn Wiedow
|
Jocelyn Wiedow found her passion for youth work as a camp counselor at an early age. In 1998 she had the opportunity to pursue her love for youth development in a full-time capacity. Since then, she has served as a front-line youth worker, case manager, program manager and coordinator for a citywide system focused on increasing quality in out of school time. Jocelyn melds her past experience and knowledge of the OST field to support youth workers to strengthen skills around youth work practices. Jocelyn has her Master’s Degree in Public Nonprofit Administration and an Individualized Studies Bachelor of Arts Degree focusing on Community Program Management.
|
2015 COHORT
Rebecca Edmunds
Rachel Katkar
|
Rachel is motivated everyday by youth’s energy, potential, and creativity. Her work in the NorthStar Fellowship culminated in the publication of an article titled, “Youth’s Right to Fail.” She brings a M.A. in Science Education from Hamline University and a B.A. in Biology from St. Olaf College. The most interesting projects she collaborated on with youth include building bluebird houses to survey nest sites, taking arial photographs using kites designed by middle schoolers, and translating cell biology experiment instructions into Spanish, Hmong, and Somali. In every job, Rachel has co-developed a Youth Leadership Team to promote youth voice, choice, collaboration, and strategic planning. Rachel is a lifelong learner and youth advocate.
|
Ellie Kunkel
Monica McDaniel
|
Monica has been a dedicated youth worker since she was a young person herself. She works in partnership with youth and adults to facilitate action towards positive change in communities. After obtaining her Bachelor of Arts degree at Linfield College in Oregon and L’Université de Gaston-Berger in Sénégal, she returned to her youth work roots in Minnesota. She has worked in a variety of roles and organizations in rural, urban and suburban communities. As a NorthStar Youth Worker Fellow, she strived to better connect research with practice and published her article “Social Justice Youth Work” in the Journal of Youth Development. In 2018, she received a Masters in Social Work from Augsburg University where she further explored the impacts of social, political and economic systems of oppression and privilege in public policy and organizational development. Monica is also an avid vegetable farmer who uses sustainable and regenerative practices based in permaculture.
|
Julie Richards
|
Julie brings nearly 20 years of leadership, curriculum design, staff training/development, and program implementation through evaluation to conversations rooted in equitable family and youth development. Professional experiences across juvenile justice, children’s mental health, and public and private education, have given Julie the comprehensive lens necessary to help organizations create equitable and sustainable programming. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Howard University in English and Secondary Education. Julie also has a Master’s degree in Education Policy, Organization and Leadership with a focus on Diversity and Equity from University of Illinois, Champagne-Urbana. She currently resides in St. Paul, and has lived in Washington, DC and Portland, OR as well. You can learn more about her and her consulting business, Inquire, Decipher, Progress LLC at www.inquiredecipherprogress.com.
|
Nou Vang
|
After becoming the first in her family to earn a bachelor’s degree, Nou served as an AmeriCorps member for two years with College Possible as a high school coach. Seeing her students pursue their college dreams motivated her to go teach and live abroad in France. For seven months in France, Nou worked as an English teaching assistant with high school students. After returning home to Minnesota, she went back to doing something she loves: helping students prepare for college. Through the Get Ready program in St. Paul, Nou gained valuable experience and knowledge that were instrumental in paving the way for her current position as the AchieveMpls Career & College Center Coordinator at Patrick Henry High School.
|
2016 COHORT
Angela Bonfiglio
|
Angela has experience in community-based organizations working with youth in mentoring, out-of school time programs, leadership development, faith formation and employment. She also has skills in organization, facilitation, taking initiative, relationship-building and program development. Angela is passionate about and has experience in equity and inclusion work across race, class and religion. She currently works in higher education with international students from over 35 different countries.
|
Megan Hartman
Steve Palmer
|
Steve is the Grant Writer for YouthLinkMN. Prior to this, he worked as the Grants Writer/Coordinator for Planned Parenthood MN, ND, SD. A member of the 2015 Northstar cohort, his work centered on implementing equity and youth voice in grantmaking. This connected directly to his work as Grant Writer with Athletes Committed to Educating Students, an after-school tutor/mentor program, where he additionally served as a school Site Leader and Volunteer Coordinator. Prior to ACES, he worked as an Americorps VISTA with the Saint Paul Public Schools Foundation. That followed a year in the English department of United International College, in Zhuhai, China. He graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College in 2010 where he received a B.A. in History.
|
Kathryn Sharpe
|
Kathryn is an Extension Educator with the University of Minnesota Extension Center for Youth Development, based in the Metro area. Her primary focus in youth development is on advancing cultural competence and equity through efforts such as a statewide Diversity and Inclusion cohort and a Cultural Exchange program that she piloted, and on building the capacity of caring adults to work with young people through youth worker and volunteer training. In addition, Kathryn has led the development of many civic engagement/youth leadership clubs and experiences focused on engaging traditionally underserved communities, especially immigrant communities. Her graduate research in human geography focused on immigration and social movements.
|
Brandon Tice
|
Brandon is passionate about advancing public policies that will improve opportunities for everyone in Minnesota to learn, contribute, and thrive. He's currently serves as the Policy and Communications Project Manager at Ignite Afterschool, where he manages the communications, research, and policy initiatives designed to build public support for high-quality afterschool programs.
Brandon received his Masters of Public Policy (MPP) from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs in May 2018, with a focus on Public & Nonprofit Management and Social Policy. His graduate work inspired him to continue advancing policy solutions and programs that create opportunity for everyone. It has also increased his concern about the trends of increasing political polarization and decreasing social mobility in society. Brandon intend to use his career to address these challenges in order to make society more equitable and less divided. |
2017 COHORT
Jazmyn Becker
|
Jazmyn has a passion for gender equity programming and strategy. A former educator and Challenge Detroit Fellow, she believes in supporting girls in discovering their passions and developing leadership skills. She is trained as a YPQA External Assessor, DOS STEM Assessor, and in the Stanford D.School Design Thinking Model. Jazmyn also enjoys volunteering at Dress for Success as an Image Coach.
|
Grayson Carr
Misha Evertz
|
|
Misha is an accomplished program developer and evaluator with an emphasis on curriculum, data, and grant writing. Born and raised in Saint Paul, Misha attended Saint Paul Public Schools before getting her BA in Geology at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. Misha’s youth work career started as an AmeriCorps VISTA member with the Saint Paul Public Schools Foundation, where she served as a Tutoring Program Coordinator at Ramsey Middle School. Misha continued her career with ACES, where she has filled a variety of roles including direct service; program coordination; and most recently evaluation, curriculum development, and grants management. She is passionate about delivering high-quality youth programming through continuous improvement. Outside of work, Misha is an avid sports fan, soccer player, and geology nerd.
|
Therese Genis
|
Therese Genis received a Masters in Environmental Public Health and a Graduate Certificate in Complementary and Alternative Healing Practices from the University of Minnesota. She is also a certified yoga instructor. Therese works in community health and has a passion for holistic health, tackling health disparities and working with the Latino community.
|
2018 COHORT
Alyssa Costopoulos
|
I am a painter, activist, and Teen Technology Coordinator at Brian Coyle Community Center. I’ve been working in makerspaces since 2014, pursuing opportunities to engage teens in creative STEM learning and promoting them in expressing themselves through digital means. I am very passionate about giving young people choices and resources to meet their goals in our current technological environment.
|
La'Shante D. Grigsby
|
La’Shante Grigsby is a youth support specialist at YWCA St. Paul. Previously, she was engaged in youth work internationally, utilizing the arts as a framework for expression and community building among young people. La’Shante has a bachelor of arts in sociology/criminal justice from Clark Atlanta University, and graduated with her master of education in youth development leadership from the University of Minnesota. She also enjoys spending time at coffee shops, book stores and writing poetry.
|
Jennifer Horton
|
Jennifer has 7 years of experience working with young people, in housing and shelter settings, who have been impacted by homelessness. To her, the best part of her work is being involved in the everyday lives of resilient youth.
|
Molly Jackson
Molly Jackson grew up in the central neighborhood of South Minneapolis and has worked in the field of Early Childhood Education and youth programming for 20 years. In addition to working with STEP-UP interns at Kaleidoscope Place, Molly's two adult children were participants of STEP-UP, so she knows firsthand how important youth employment opportunities are to our youth, families and communities. As a recent graduate from Metropolitan State University with a focus on Life Span development, Molly is acquainted with the challenge of prioritizing professional development in her own life. This is similar to the dynamics of implementing innovative professional development options for our youth amidst busy work environments and full schedules. Molly is committed to collaborating with youth work professionals, parents, business partners, research professionals and importantly the youth themselves to align youth training opportunities to college and career readiness.
Sophia Maceda
|
Sophia Maceda received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Criminal Justice in 2017 from Hamline University, and began her career in Youth Work with YMCA Youth Intervention Services. She has a passion for working with system involved youth, and has practiced Sexual Assault & Domestic Violence Advocacy for 5 years. Currently, she provides 1-1 supportive services to sexually exploited or trafficked youth through the pilot program Enough., in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Health. She hopes to go on to receive her Masters in Social Work.
|
Zack Pierson
|
Zack is a Library Associate and Homework Center Coordinator at the Rice Street Library in St. Paul. He has also been a teacher—from middle school to adult basic education and graduate-level courses—and is a PhD candidate in literacy education at the University of Minnesota (Twin Cities).
|
Nicole Pokorney
|
Nicole Pokorney has been an Extension Educator with the University of Minnesota Extension Center for Youth Development. She has a Masters in Education in School Counseling from Winona State University and has been involved with youth work for over twenty-five years.
|
Ellen Saliares
|
Ellen Saliares is the Director of Sexuality Education at the Annex Teen Clinic. In this role, she provides leadership, supervision, training, and program management as well as the facilitation of sexuality education and youth development programming. Ellen has a MPH in Community Health Promotion.
|
2019 COHORT
Rozlyn Anderson
|
Roz works alongside young people at the Minneapolis Beacons program to transform schools into active community centers afterschool. Her favorite thing about youth work is seeing young people explore their passions and discover their power.
|
Ieshia Dabbs
|
Ieshia is a Program Facilitator for the Youth Training and Opportunity Program ran by Appetite For Change, a nonprofit organization that uses fool as a tool to build health, wealth and social change. She also participates and a youth research group by the name of YoUth Roc Research Team. Ieshia facilitates community engagements, youth and adult trainings, and is helping develop youth spaces in the North Mpls Community.
|
Leah Eby
|
Leah is the Girls Inc. Eureka! Program Coordinator at YWCA Minneapolis. In this role, she facilitates girl-specific youth programming and provides leadership, supervision, training, and program management.
|
Dena Luna
|
Dena is currently Program Executive of Teen Thrive for the YMCA of the Greater Twin Cities. She enjoys coffee, gardening and spending time with her husband and children (both biological and non-biological.) She has spent her life dedicated to working with underserved communities to eliminate barriers, systemic and otherwise.
Email Dena: |
Rebecca Peeper
|
BECKY currently works as Outreach Coordinator at the Good Neighbor Center tutoring and mentoring program in Saint Paul.
|
Jocelyn Pickreign
|
Jocelyn is the manager of Children and Youth Services at Simpson Housing Services. She supports a team of incredible youth workers and has the privilege to work with amazing young people.
|
Joseph Rand
|
Joe has been an Extension Educator with the University of Minnesota Extension Center for Youth Development for 7 years. He has a Masters of Education in Youth Development Leadership from the University of Minnesota and has been involved with youth work for 20 years in non-profit settings. Joe has a passion for creating safe spaces for marginalized youth in order for them to engage authentically, learn deeply, and grow relationships with peers and mentors.
|
Kaela Schweisthal
|
Kaela is a Korean adoptee raised in southern rural Minnesota. She currently serves as a Case Manager with The Link Juvenile Supervision Center. Kaela graduated from the University of Minnesota with a Master's in Youth Development Leadership. She continually seeks challenges for personal and professional growth. For self-care, she loves cross stitching, origami, and journaling.
|
Farji Shaheer
|
Farji is the Youth Program Developer for the Next Step Program at Hennepin County Medical Center where he acts as a liaison for both the families and the health care team and is assisting with rewriting a policy within the hospital surrounding victims of violence to develop a stronger connection between the medical staff and families.
|
Hallelujah Tamene
|
HALLELUJAH is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Youth Studies program. Ultimately, her vision for the young people she works with is for them to take control over tasks that impact them. She believes sharing ownership of the program with young people, allowing them to delegate the work and how the program funds are used is radical and real power sharing.
|
Logan Tootle
|
LOGAN is a Safe Harbor Youth Worker with the Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center, serving primarily Urban American Indian Youth experiencing or at risk of experiencing commercial sexual exploitation. She holds a B.A. in International Studies and Sociology from Macalester College. In her free time, she enjoys searching for new ways to score free points towards flights and trying up-and-coming restaurants in the Twin Cities
|