NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
|
|
|
16 Finalists Emerge for 2022-2023 Initiators Fellowship
Social Entrepreneurs from Central, Northwest, Southwest and West Central Minnesota in the running for two-year, $60,000 fellowship opportunities
|
LITTLE FALLS, MN—Sixteen social entrepreneurs have been chosen from a pool of 85 applicants to move to the next stage of the 2022-2023 Initiators Fellowship selection process. The finalists represent 53 counties and six sovereign tribal nations in Central, Northwest, Southwest and West Central Minnesota.
On Tuesday, Oct. 5, eight Fellows—two from each participating Minnesota Initiative Foundation region—will be selected for the 2022-2023 cohort. The Fellows will receive an annual $30,000 stipend during the two-year program, which also includes comprehensive programming, executive-level mentoring and leadership training, ongoing education and support from dedicated staff members to advance their mission-driven business or nonprofit endeavor.
“We were blown away by the many folks doing important social enterprise work throughout Greater Minnesota,” said Brian Voerding, Initiative Foundation vice president of inclusive entrepreneurship. “We had a tough job narrowing the pool, and we look forward to finalist day when we can meet the finalists and learn even more about their work.”
The Initiators Fellowship originated with the Little Falls-based Initiative Foundation in 2017 to help aspiring social entrepreneurs fast-track their ideas, grow their social and professional networks and further develop their business and community leadership skills. The first cohort of four Fellows graduated in December 2019. In December, seven Fellows will graduate from the 2020-2021 cohort.
The 2022-2023 finalists represent a diverse range of interests—from an entrepreneur with a goal to increase immigrant home ownership to an artist-in-residence program for rural communities to a social justice champion with a health and wellness business. Here’s a closer look:
|
|
Nora Hertel | Wright County | Community Journalism |
|
With fewer news outlets comes fewer opportunities to read inspiring local stories. Nora Hertel plans to launch the Greater Minnesota Optimist to use community journalism as a catalyst to unite people and to surface challenges and solutions in rural Minnesota.
|
|
|
Fardowsa Iman | Stearns County | Addiction Treatment |
|
|
|
Recognizing the role that culture and religion play in substance abuse recovery, Fardowsa Iman, a licensed alcohol and drug counselor and Somali immigrant, wants to open One Day Counseling, a culturally competent substance abuse clinic.
|
|
Brendan Mooney | Wright County | Renter Placement |
|
Brendan Mooney wants to reinvent the rental experience for renters and property owners through his company, Your Next Place. The goal is to help everyone find housing, regardless of their situation. Learn more at yournextplacemn.com.
|
|
|
Kelly Sayre | Sherburne County | Safety Training for Women |
|
|
|
With violence against women identified as a major health problem by the World Health Organization, Kelly Sayre wants to ensure women’s personal safety through situational awareness training, which boosts self-confidence, resiliency and mindfulness. Learn more at thediamondarrowgroup.com.
|
|
Northwest Minnesota Foundation
|
|
Erika Adams | Beltrami County | Sustainable Business Practices |
|
|
|
Inspired by the people and natural resources in the Bemidji area, Erika Adams wants to start Sustainable Solutions to help businesses and government entities discover economically sound and sustainable ways of doing business.
|
|
Daniel Barrientez Jr. | Beltrami County | Felon-Friendly Employment |
|
When Daniel Barrientez was released from incarceration in 2010, he struggled to find employment due to his record. While faced with many roadblocks—from employment to housing—he ultimately earned a degree in the culinary arts. His social enterprise idea is a food truck to create jobs for former felons.
|
|
|
Karie Kirschbaum | Norman County | Community-Building |
|
|
|
After spending much of her adult life on the West Coast, Karie Kirschbaum in 2010 moved back to her hometown of Gary, where she served as mayor from 2012 to 2020. Kirschbaum plans to draw on her networking experience with governmental agencies and community and nonprofit organizations to integrate young people and new Americans into the fiber of Greater Minnesota communities.
|
|
Brenna Rollie | Polk County | Wellness & Community-Building |
|
Brenna Rollie wants to use her business, Aham Love Yoga, to increase health and wellness for rural Minnesota communities by providing classes, community events and youth camps with an emphasis on healing, community-building and culture. Her dream is to create a community where all residents live in harmony with the land, water and each other.
|
|
|
Southwest Initiative Foundation
|
|
Khalif Ahmed Bashir | Kandiyohi County | Immigrant Homeownership |
|
|
|
Khalif Bashir wants to help make the dream of home ownership a reality for immigrant families. Through his business, KB Realtor, he will provide education, consulting and down-payment assistance for first-time home buyers.
|
|
Bethany Lacktorin | Kandiyohi County | Art & Inclusion |
|
After venturing out to explore the world, Bethany Lacktorin returned to her New London roots to build community and promote social justice through art. She hopes to create an artist-in-residence program to showcase art from historically marginalized groups and to revitalize Greater Minnesota.
|
|
|
Kristine Shelstad | Lac qui Parle County | Community-Building |
|
|
|
Madison is home for Kristine Shelstad—a place that nurtured her in her youth and brings her solace as an adult. To give back to Madison and its residents, Shelstad has launched Madison Mercantile—a home for art, innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship and all things in between.
|
|
Suree Sompamitwong | Nobles County | Mental Health |
|
Personal experience has taught Suree Sompamitwong that art can promote healing. She hopes to use her social enterprise, Creative Healing Space, to promote mental health through art and music therapy, yoga, socialization and more.
|
|
|
Sarah Chatelain-Gress| Clay County | Addiction Recovery |
|
|
|
Recognizing that support is a key component in substance abuse recovery, Sarah Chatelain-Gress helped found the Lotus Center, Inc., which offers holistic support resources for those in recovery. Learn more at thelotuscenterinc.org.
|
|
Leona Cichy | Otter Tail County | Outdoor Learning and Recreation |
|
Leona Cichy loves the land where she lives near New York Mills. She also loves helping children play and learn, no matter the weather. Cichy’s idea is to promote a deeper connection to nature through her Roots & Wings Wildlings Forest School business. Learn more at rwwellness.com/wildlings.
|
|
|
Alex Ostenson | Grant County | Food Access |
|
|
|
To end food insecurity in the Evansville area, which has lacked a grocery store for more than four years, Alex Ostenson founded Main Street Market. With a swipe of a key fob or a scan of the grocery store’s cellphone app, members can have 24-hour access. The store also offers traditional hours for non-members, fulfilling a community need while also providing locally produced food.
|
|
Noreen Thomas| Clay County | Sustainable Farming |
|
Caring deeply about the land she and her husband farm near Moorhead, Noreen Thomas wants to convert local food waste into fertilizer. The biodigester process, she said, would provide a community-based resource and eliminate the need to import fertilizer from miles or even continents away while also promoting clean waterways and sustainable farming practices.
|
|
|
About the Initiative Foundation
Celebrating its 35th year, the Initiative Foundation supports a 14-county service area that includes Benton, Cass, Chisago, Crow Wing, Isanti, Kanabec, Mille Lacs, Morrison, Pine, Sherburne, Stearns, Todd, Wadena and Wright counties and the sovereign tribal nations of the Leech Lake and Mille Lacs Bands of Ojibwe. Based in Little Falls, the Foundation exists to improve the quality of life and to build stronger communities in Central Minnesota by offering business loans, nonprofit grants, leadership training and donor services through its Partner Funds programs. Since 1986, the Initiative Foundation and its Partner Funds have invested multiple millions in the region through targeted grants and business financing investments. Visit ifound.org to learn more.
About the Funders
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
