THE ALLIANCE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder of the Major Taylor Bicycling Club of Minnesota
- Vice President / Major Taylor Bicycling Club of Minnesota
Anthony Taylor is a co-founder of the Major Taylor Bicycling Club of Minnesota, founded in 1999 with the commitment to increase the participation of the African American community in cycling for sport, transportation, and health improvement. He is also a member of the League of American Bicyclists Equity Advisory Council, co-founder and VP of the National Brotherhood of Cyclists, and the founder of Slow Roll Twin Cities. He is actively engaged in partnerships that use active living and the outdoors as a tool to build community, increase personal power, community safety, and improve the wellbeing of our youth and families with a special commitment in historically oppressed communities. He recently served as the Director of Adventures and Equity Programs for the Loppet Foundation and has been a consultant with The Sanneh Foundation, The YMCA of the North, and The Cultural Wellness Center, Minneapolis Park Board, HGA Architects and The DNR at the intersection of equity, the outdoors, youth development, and community development. He currently serves as a member of the AARP Executive Council for AARP MN and was appointed by Gov. Walz to the Governor's Council on Age-Friendly Minnesota and as a Commissioner on the Metropolitan Council Open Space Commission, responsible for funding and policy in the Regional Park Systems and the founder of Melanin In Motion leading outdoor adventures for BIPOC families and youth. He hopes to support the Alliance in directing the power of its membership in systems change that shows up as increased community agency and equitable public policy.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of New American Development Center
Asad Aliweyd is the Executive Director of New American Development Center, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting education, cultural awareness and economic opportunity for East African immigrants in Eden Prairie. Asad moved from Somalia to the United States in 1995. After earning his bachelor's degree in mathematics from Metro State University, Asad taught math at Eden Prairie High School. During his years as a teacher, he started a parent group to help improve outcomes for Somali students. NADC was born from that group. The organization soon expanded its reach as Asad realized that employment, transportation, health care, education and affordable housing were equally important to his community. He became involved with the Alliance when he began organizing around the Southwest LRT and the potential benefits its development could bring.
Job Titles:
- Communications & Programming Manager
Carolyn Szczepanski joined the Alliance staff in November 2018. She brings more than 15 years of diverse experience in advocacy and storytelling, starting her career as staff writer for alternative newsweeklies before transitioning to the nonprofit sector in 2010. As a director of communications for two national bicycle advocacy organizations in Washington, D.C., she co-created programs advancing gender and race equity in active transportation and, in 2016, co-founded The Untokening, a nationwide effort to create a multi-racial movement for mobility justice. After moving to St. Paul in 2016, she served as the Director of Research and Communications for the Minnesota Housing Partnership, managing reports and storytelling for the statewide affordable housing advocacy organization.
Carolyn has a degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia and, as the Alliance's Communications and Programming Coordinator, she is committed to centering and elevating community voices, reframing harmful narratives, and making information about regional equity accessible to a wide variety of audiences.
Job Titles:
- Longdon, Jr / Sierra Club North Star Chapter
Charles is a volunteer at the Sierra Club North Star Chapter and a founding member of the MN BIPOC EJ Table, an organizing cohort whose mission is to build a sustainable ecosystem of BIPOC community members that is values driven, radically imaginative, and generative in overall approach. He previously served as part of the Healthy Communities organizing program at the Sierra Club, working on a multitude of Environmental Justice issues across the Twin Cities including Zero Waste and recycling, land use, affordable housing & anti-displacement efforts. His work is heavily informed by his experience as the youngest son of African immigrants as well as his upbringing in rural Minnesota. Central to his work are components of community care and arts based organizing. In his time at the Sierra Club, he has been part of the development of several training modules such as "Ecopoetry- A study of Queer Ecology & Wordbuilding," "Community Care 101," and in collaboration with partners at the MN BIPOC EJ Table, "Intergenerational Dialogues." He hopes to continue to lead work around housing and anti-displacement. It is his belief that housing justice is environmental justice and that an environment in many ways is a physical manifestation of culture. It is that work of "cultural organizing" that drives him to innovate, to connect, and to imagine.
Hibo joined the team at Redesign in 2021, where her work focuses on developing, implementing and growing Seward Redesign's lending program including planning, budgeting, fundraising, implementing programs and operations, as well as program marketing. Prior to joining Redesign, she worked for African Development Center (ADC) where she was responsible for supporting a portfolio of businesses, as well as soliciting and servicing prospective and current clients to produce a variety of business loans. She was also involved with generating and managing a portfolio of non-loan business and corresponding relationships. She worked with loan officers to underwrite, structure and document loans per the ADC's policy and assisted loan officers by offering other appropriate services provided by ADC. She maintained relationship with all loan partner organizations and supported day-to-day business lending and operations for ADC and its subsidiaries. She holds a Master's degree (MBA) in International Business from Hamline University and a Bachelor of Arts in Health Science and Management from George Mason University, Fairfax, VA. She hopes to contribute a better understanding of immigrants' assets and contributions and how we can help them become a part of prosperous and inclusive community, as well as community wealth-building.
Ivory Taylor joined the Alliance staff in October 2021 as a Coalition Organizer. Since 2017, she has worked to advance and ensure the rights of renters in Minnesota by engaging in both grassroots organizing and local and state level policy and systems change advocacy. Driven by her personal experiences with housing instability, she served as an Americorps VISTA with Equal Justice Works and is the former Organizing and Capacity Building Director at HOME Line, where she developed and led an AmeriCorps VISTA tenant organizing program, expanding capacity for nonprofits and public agencies to support tenants through the creation of tenants associations, delivery of tenant rights education, and support for resolution around tenant-identified issues.
Ivory received an undergraduate and graduate degree from the University of Minnesota, as well as an Advanced Certificate in Equity and Diversity. She believes that housing is a human right and racial, economic, and disability justice issue. She aims to build power with low-wealth, BIPOC, and disabled communities at the forefront and is determined to see a shift in the dominant narratives and systems that deny justice for so many in Minnesota and beyond.
Job Titles:
- Creative Strategist
- Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers
Kadra Abdi is a Minneapolis-based creative strategist and human rights activist committed to advancing racial equity in Minnesota and imagining an alternative world centered on equity. She is co-Director of Public Policy and Field Building with the Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers. She is also a founder and curator of Ubuntu, a platform that spotlights emergent issues impacting the global black diaspora, and Synergy, a consulting business dedicated to helping BIPOC small businesses. She is deeply connected to the black and Muslim social justice community in the Twin Cities and her work and activism uplift equity, inclusion, and accessibility issues. She currently serves as a board member of the Center for Victims of Torture and the Twin Cities Media Alliance. She holds a Master of Public Policy degree with a minor in Human Rights from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and a bachelor's degree in Anthropology and Gender Studies from Luther College. As a board member of the Alliance, she hopes to support advocacy efforts for resources and policy changes for BIPOC small businesses and work to address racial disparities in housing.
Job Titles:
- Office and Events Coordinator
Lynn Tanaka joined the Alliance staff in July 2022 as the Office and Events Coordinator. Lynn was formally the Program Manager of Avivo's Community Support Program and has over 10 years of experience working in the non-profit sector, believing that the actions of one person can make a difference in people's lives. Lynn lives an artistic life. Professionally she has worked over 20 years in illustration, hand-lettering and graphic design. Currently she is in her happy place designing hand-crafted, one-of-a-kind creations using organic materials. Or combining found and natural objects and drawing elements in her fine art assemblages. Her work is currently showcased in venues across the country.
Malik is the Neighborhood Leadership and Organizing Program Coordinator at the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs at the University of Minnesota- Twin Cities. Prior to joining CURA, Malik worked as a Community Organizer with the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition to promote access, equity, and community benefits of bicycle infrastructure, policy, and engagement. He also served as the former Director of St Paul District 6 Planning Council for three years and former Executive Director & Economic Development Organizer of North Minneapolis's Harrison Neighborhood Association for 11 years leading community engagement projects, racially equitable development initiatives, business development, and land use planning. He received an undergraduate degree in Liberal Arts in Human Services with a minor in Sociology from the University of Minnesota Morris. Malik was a member of the Board of Directors for the Headwaters Foundation for Justice and its past Grant Review Committees. He was a long-standing member on CURA's Kris Nelson Community Based Research Program Grant Review Committee, a 2004 graduate of MCNO's Neighborhood Organizing Training Program, and a past member of the MCNO Advisory Committee. He is currently on the Nexus Community Partners Grant Review Committee, the Bryant Neighborhood Organization Board Chair and Board member of the People's Anti-Racist Global Committee. Malik is a native of Chicago but has lived in Minnesota for more than 13 years. His life has centered on community, spirituality, music and dance, his wife and son, and his love for learning, community capacity building, systems change, racial equity, and direct service.
Job Titles:
- President of the Housing Justice Center
- Treasurer / Housing Justice Center
Margaret Kaplan is the President of the Housing Justice Center, a non-profit public interest legal and policy advocacy organization dedicated to upholding the right to safe, stable, affordable housing free from discrimination. Margaret has over 20 years of experience in the field of affordable housing and community development, starting out as a community organizer with All Parks Alliance for Change. She began her legal career with the Housing Preservation Project, and subsequently worked for All Parks Alliance for Change and the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs at the University of Minnesota. Prior to joining HJC, Margaret spent six years as the Community Development Director at Minnesota Housing. Margaret has expertise in local, state, and federal housing policy and programs and is dedicated to using law and policy as a tools to effectuate community articulated outcomes for a more just and equitable society.
Maura Brown joined the Alliance staff in May 2000. Maura ensures that each Alliance campaign emphasizes grassroots organizing, strong research support and strategic capacity-building that unites organizations in building an integrated approach to achieving regional equity. Her work to ensure that Alliance initiatives reflect the values of many people, particularly low-wealth people and people of color, has been nationally recognized.
Maura has a degree in political science from Swarthmore College. Before joining the Alliance, she served as the executive director of the Harrison Neighborhood Association in North Minneapolis, where she honed her skill at strategic organizing around divisive issues and building sustainable partnerships and collaborations. Prior to that she organized low-income tenants at Central Community Housing Trust (now Aeon).
Nelima Sitati-Munene represents African Career, Education & Resource, an organization that promotes culturally competent solutions that help Africans, African Americans, and other communities of color achieve social and economic independence. She currently serves as the Executive Director of the Summit Hill Association, a St. Paul district council, is a member of the Metropolitan Council's Housing Policy Plan Work Group, and serves on the city of Brooklyn Park's core planning team. Nelima has a long history of community organizing, including work at the North Minneapolis-based Harrison Neighborhood Association. She is a member of the Equity in Place table convened by the Alliance and the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs to secure more equitable investments in the Twin Cities region.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of the Harrison Neighborhood Association
Nichole is the Executive Director of the Harrison Neighborhood Association. Since 2017, she has been working to advance HNA's mission to create a prosperous and peaceful community that equitably benefits all of Harrison neighborhood's diverse racial, cultural, and economic groups. Nichole has nearly 20 years of experience in advocacy, policy, and community organizing work. After receiving her Bachelor's degree in Political Science and Spanish Studies from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, she worked with the Resource Center of the America's El Centro de Derechos Laborales, advocating for workers without documentation as they faced discrimination and abuse in the workplace. She received her law degree from Hamline University School of Law with a focus on Employment and Labor Law, and has been a practicing attorney since 2010, working with clients on a sliding-scale fee or in a pro-bono capacity on cases involving employment discrimination, unemployment claims, tenants' rights, and criminal defense. From 2014 to 2017, Nichole served on the boards of the West Bank Community Coalition and the Cedar-Riverside Neighborhood Revitalization Program where she found her passion for place-based community organizing. In 2017, Nichole helped form the MSP Airport Rapid Response Team in response to the Muslim Travel Ban which worked nonstop to train, schedule, and deploy over 300 attorneys at the airport, meeting every affected international flight arriving at MSP for six weeks. For her work on that volunteer effort, Nichole received the Advocates for Human Rights Special Recognition Award. Nichole was also an active volunteer organizer for the 15 Now! campaign in Minneapolis, and later served on the 15 Now!-St. Paul Board of Directors where she helped organize a major win for workers in their struggle for livable wages.
Job Titles:
- Director of Organizing & Policy
Owen Duckworth joined the Alliance staff in May 2012 as a coalition organizer. He brings with him years of organizing experience, and a deep commitment to fighting racism in our region. At the Alliance, Owen organizes coalitions working to ensure that public investments in our region are made in partnership with the communities they affect and advance racial equity.
Growing up in a biracial family in the segregated city of Milwaukee, Owen desired to understand race and space, culture, and politics early in his life. His curiosity led him to pursue a degree in political science at Macalester College. Since then, Owen has worked on the successful campaign for the 2006 Minnesota transportation amendment and an electoral campaign with the Sierra Club. Most recently, he was a community organizer for Transit for Livable Communities, where he worked with community members to advance a common goal of increased transportation access.
Ricardo Perez joined the Alliance staff in July 2019. Ricardo was born and raised in Mexico and moved to the United States in 2004. Ricardo has more than 10 years of experience working in the non-profit sector alongside community on issues that disproportionately impact immigrants and people of color.
Most recently, Ricardo helped to lead the Suburban Hennepin Housing Coalition which, with the help of organized community, was able to pass ordinances in multiple cities to protect and produce unsubsidized housing; and create tenant protections.
Ricardo is an alumni of CURA's Neighborhood Now program and the Wilder Foundation Community Equity Pipeline cohort. Ricardo loves his family, art and the resiliency and creativity of humanity.