SESSIONS
11:00am Civic Tech: Hackers, Makers, and Everyone Else for Social Good
Maker culture is a popular idea these days; the DIY mentality and hacking- both computers and physical things (like IKEA furniture)- is everywhere, and technology is making it easier to share, build, and mash-up creations collaboratively. The civic technology community has been leveraging this trend, activating software developers to create technology for social good. The next step is to engage everyone in this process, integrating anyone who is interested in contributing their unique ideas, skills, knowledge, and expertise to projects that build a better society. This session will include a brief overview of the civic tech movement followed by an interactive workshop that uses fancy technology (like cardboard, markers, scissors, maybe some string) to collaboratively build prototypes of solutions to social problems.
Roxanne Johnson is a research analyst with the BlueGreen Alliance, a coalition of labor unions and environmental groups that work together to build the green economy. In February she joined Open Twin Cities (OTC), a local group that collaboratively uses and creates technology for social good. She joined in the hopes of learning some programming for data analysis to use at her job, and since then she has become interested in bringing more non-tech folks to the group. Roxanne recently organized an event (ClimateHackTC http://bit.ly/1r9lfck) that aimed to introduce the civic technology community to environmentalists/local activists and their work on climate change, hoping to see future collaboration between the two communities.
11:00am Moving Beyond Minnesota Nice
Minnesota is known for being nice, but as we think about the future of our state is “being nice,” good enough? This session is a call to action – let’s be Minnesota Brave instead of just Minnesota Nice. Whereas niceness focuses on politeness, surface-level interactions, and conflict avoidance – being Minnesota Brave means delving deeper, being vulnerable, and valuing authentic dialogue as a way to share and cultivate our generation’s passion and potential. In this session, participants will examine the limitations of Minnesota Nice and through story-sharing and self-work begin to develop their capacity to be Minnesota Brave.
Aeriel and Kyle Ashlee are a powerful co-facilitative team, a dynamic speaking duo, and highly interactive inclusion trainers who seek to foster brave spaces for bold conversations. Life and business partners, the Ashlees have a combined 14 years experience engaging individuals, communities, and organizations in important conversations around identity, diversity, and creating vibrant and inclusive communities. The Ashlees are deeply passionate about social justice, have lots of love for Minnesota, and are thrilled by the opportunity to share their Minnesota Brave call to action with Minnesota Rising!
11:00am Public Benefit Corporations – Ready, Set, Incorporate!
On January 1st, 2015, Minnesota’s entrepreneurs will, for the first time ever, be able to incorporate their social businesses as Public Benefit Corporations (PBC). But what are PBC’s and how can the corporate form help social businesses? Why would an entrepreneur choose this form? How do PBC’s fit into the larger economy and what does this mean for foundations, investors, partners, and customers?
Jeff Ochs is a successful Minnesota social entrepreneur. He first founded and directed Breakthrough Twin Cities, a nonprofit college access and teacher training program. He then invented and commercialized Snake Oil, a hit educational party game that won the prestigious Mensa Select award and was licensed by Out of the Box Publishing. Currently Jeff serves as the Executive Director of Gopher Angels, a network of accredited angel investors, and runs his own social business, Cornerstone Stories, which won third place in the 2013 Minnesota Cup social entrepreneurship division. Jeff has an MBA and MPP from the University of Minnesota, serves on the Social Enterprise Alliance Twin Cities board, and played a leadership role in drafting and advocating for Minnesota’s Public Benefit Corporation statute.
11:00am The Big, Long, Wandering “How”: Thoughtful Engagement in the Process of Leadership and Making Change
How do we engage thoughtfully in the process of change? How can we sustain ourselves when change takes time? How can we approach change-making from an asset-based perspective? Though we often get caught up in where we’ve been and where we’re headed, a life of community-engaged leadership is also a big, long, wandering “how.” Starting with a series of original video interview clips from the Civic Leadership Initiative Online (CLIO) that reflect diverse voices and many ways of engaging in public life, we will discuss how we young Minnesotans engage our own personal leadership to make change and how we can share the wisdom of our experiences with others through creative commons licensed digital resources.
Sinda Nichols is the Program Director at Minnesota Campus Compact, a nonprofit coalition of two-year, four-year, public and private colleges and universities that have made a commitment to realizing the civic mission of higher education by preparing students for work, life, and citizenship, broadly defined. She leads experiential and interactive workshops on a range of community-engaged leadership topics and is a skilled group process facilitator. She previously served as Project Manager of the Speak Up! Speak Out! youth action civic program sponsored by the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life at the University of Texas at Austin. Sinda has a BA from Carleton College, is a HECUA alum, and has an MSSW from the University of Texas at Austin.
11:00am VoteRunLead: #GoRun
VoteRunLead: Milllennial women are poised to finally turn the tide for women’s representation with our internet and social media savvy and networks. How can we leverage our access to the internet to increase our voices and support diverse perspectives? Discuss how we have the power to decide elections as voters and achieve positions of power and influence to change policy. Hear from Lulete Mola of VoteRunLead about ambitious efforts to tap 1/2 million women leaders by 2016 with Invitation Nation and get involved with online and in person training opportunities like GO RUN women’s political leadership training for women in Minneapolis on November 21- 23. Participants will get a sneak peak of a campaign plan training from National Go Run and be offered a special scholarship! Get ready- the system as we know it will never be the same! Go Vote, Go Run, Go Lead, Go Girl!
Lulete Mola is the 2014 National Go Run Community Organizer helping to deliver an interactive, highly-rated, national women’s political leadership training with a focus on participant management, engagement and experience. At the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, Lulete currently holds the Reatha Clark King Fellowship and serves as the foundation’s Program Coordinator. She is devoted to help advancing women leaders and brings a deep commitment to young women’s empowerment, diversity, and encouraging women to invest in themselves.
12:00pm Anticipating Future Change: Living, Working, and Being in the 21st Century
What will the future be like for today’s young Minnesotans? What changes can we anticipate? How do we make sense of all of this? And importantly, how can we develop strategies that encompass emergent uncertainty and complexity? Join us as we take a whirlwind tour of the changing nature of change, examine the methodologies of futures research, look at disruptive technologies and demographic trends, and enter the realm of multi-paradigmatic worldviews. Expect a fast-paced journey into the future of work, leisure—and personal enhancement, as we enter the new millennium.
George Kubik is president of the Anticipatory Futures Group, LLC and co-president of the World Future Society-Minnesota Chapter. He is an international consultant for governments, leading corporations, and federal agencies in the areas of strategic futures thinking, advanced innovation practices, and the future of work. George is a frequent presenter in the areas of strategic futuring, anticipatory decision-making, high-performance entrepreneuring, change theory, leading-edge innovation, advanced technology developments, and sensemaking strategies under uncertainty and complexity. George earned his doctorate at the University of Minnesota in Organizational Leadership and Policy Development (EdPA) with specialties in Futures Research and Education. He has lived internationally and is widely published in international journals.
12:00pm Face:Face – Getting Real about the Complexities of Nonprofit Service
You donate your time on a nonprofit board; commit to international or domestic service; lead as an executive director of an organization. No matter how we choose to serve, why do we do it? To whom are we accountable? How do we demonstrate our accountability? Join us for a conversation that will 1) realistically explore the complexities of service, 2) ask you to engage with all of your identities in order to understand how they shape the way we do our work, and 3) deliver the necessary tools to get yourself accountable and keep your peers accountable.
E. Coco
Coco works as VISTA Project Coordinator at the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits (MCN.) She served two years as an AmeriCorps member, first at a school in North Minneapolis, and then as the New American Nonprofit Specialist at MCN. In her free time, she volunteers for Headwaters Foundation for Justice.
Liz Lassiter
Liz engages and empowers youth and youth artists through out-of-school-time programs. She served as the Academic Programs Coordinator for the Oromo Community of Minnesota in Saint Paul with the City of Saint Paul AmeriCorps VISTA program. When she’s not geeking over data, she enjoys writing and performing music and creating new programs with fellow artists of color around the twin cities.
Shauen V.T. Pearce
Deeply rooted to Minneapolis and Chicago, Shauen has served countless communities across the country and beyond in the fight for economic and racial equity, including service, the UN and a host of community members, business owners, spiritual leaders, educators, and emerging leaders. Shauen most recently joined the Harrison Neighborhood Association as Executive Director. Shauen enjoys action & sci-fi movies (like Transformers), cooking gourmet meals, and drawing in their free time.
12:00pm How to Navigate the World of Neighborhood District Councils
This session will explore a brief history of the Twin Cities’ District Council System, their role in decision making, and how millennials can play a greater role in their neighborhood government. Small but important decisions are being made at the local level that will have a large collective impact on the lives of community members. This session will discuss the participation barriers, culture of councils and why councils do not always reflect the diversity of their respective neighborhoods. Attendees of this session will walk away with the understanding and tools of how to change the future of their communities.
The son of Saint Paul neighborhood organizers, Adam’s first appearance speaking at community hearings came when he was 13 years old. After attending the University of Minnesota, Morris, Adam was employed at the United States Senate. Currently, Adam works at Grassroots Solutions as an organizer, and serves on the West 7th Fort Road Federation Board. In his spare time, Adam enjoys long bike rides along the Mississippi River, going to concerts and theatrical performances, playing with his dog, eating ice cream whenever possible, and bragging about Saint Paul to anyone that lives in Minneapolis.
Ashley and Akhilesh have almost a decade of combined-years-of-experience working with students across the Midwest. They are both passionate about change at a grassroots basis and encourage their constituents to act through leadership in service. Ashley is a graduate of Western Illinois University and Akhilesh of Michigan State University. Both work for Students Today Leaders Forever and work to empower young people to make a difference everyday.
As the Dalai Lama has said, “The world does not need more successful people. The world desperately needs more peacemakers and healers, restorers and storytellers, and lovers of all kinds.” The world is in need of change and many great leaders have called us to action. How we approach this call to action, and thus our future, is of upmost importance. Mindfulness offers the opportunity to look inward, create space between our thoughts so we can examine our values, open doors to creativity, become effective leaders, and approach our individual, community and global problems with compassion. Though an individual practice, it has the power to impact the world. By practicing a lifestyle of mindfulness you can change your brain, change your life, and change the world.
Kathleen Sprole has been working in the mental health field since 2002 and currently works as a therapist in the Twin Cities area. In January 2014, Kathleen founded One Moment Center LLC, to pursue her passion and desire to share the powerful benefits of Mindfulness for individuals, communities, and the world. Kathleen has a playful approach to teaching and living a mindful lifestyle, as well as helping others get to the heart of their authentic selves and living the lives they’ve desired. The vision of OMC is to provide for individuals opportunities for self-growth and discovery, balanced living, and well-being through a mindfulness based approach.
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