Twenty Minnesota community leaders, ranging from a suburban mayor seeking to make public safety more equitable to nonprofit officials boosting culturally specific mental health and Hmong language skills, have received Bush fellowships to further their education and training.
The St. Paul-based Bush Foundation on Thursday announced the latest recipients of its prestigious annual fellowships. The winners — selected out of nearly 500 applicants from Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and 23 Native American nations in the three states — will each get up to $100,000 to fund leadership opportunities.
"These folks are change agents, the change makers among us," said Damon Shoholm, the grantmaking director for the foundation. "This is a way for them to step into their own power."
Minnesotans who received the fellowships were Kaltun Abdikarani, New Brighton; Jaime Arsenault, Bemidji; Rose Chu, Little Canada; Prince Corbett, St. Paul; Comfort Dondo, Plymouth; Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay, St. Paul; Rebekah Dunlap, Esko; Mike Elliott, Brooklyn Center; Devon Gilchrist, Minneapolis; Emilia Gonzalez Avalos, Richfield; Bradley Harrington, Onamia; Abdiaziz Ibrahim, St. Paul; Rania Johnson, Woodbury; ifrah mansour, Woodbury; Hoang Murphy, St. Paul; Rahel Nardos, St. Louis Park; Shirley Nordrum, LaPorte; Artika Tyner, St. Paul; Pahoua Yang, Cottage Grove; and Pang Yang, New Hope.
Others receiving fellowships were Tashina Banks Rama, Pine Ridge, S.D.; Erin Griffin, Sisseton, S.D.; Janice Richards, Porcupine, S.D.; and Lori Walsh, Sioux Falls.
