Community. Culture. Healthcare. Finance. Civil Rights. Women.
As a woman and a student of leadership I am consistently awed by the breadth and depth of the impact women are making all over this country. When I was in Minnesota (a few weeks back) I had the honor of meeting women making a difference across the board impacting directly the day to day lives of those who live in Minnesota.
Community. Roxie Speth and Abby Jensen are two young women in their twenties. Each moved to Minnesota to make a new life for themselves. They met and quickly formed a social circle. Roxie had traveled quite a bit and fell in love with the community markets she encountered along the way. She wanted desperately to bring such a market to her new home. Roxie started to talk to her new peer group and as they began to dream of streets filled with happy people, vendors selling homemade crafts and the smells of food prepared from the area markets they decided to figure out what it might take to make a go at it.
Roxie and Abby both admitted that they did not quite understand the political nature of such an undertaking but neither did that stop them. They began to go to the neighborhood meetings and pitch their ideas. While the neighborhood leaders did like the idea they also gave the girls a dose of red tape reality. Again, the girls were not dissuaded.
When I met with them they had just celebrated their first market and it was a success. Though the winds were strong, the rain fell and tents blew over, people came out, people shopped and the community that began to form was ready for the next market day.
Attributing some of their success to youthful energy and the absolute unwillingness to listen to the word “no” the Uptown Market has begun. Roxie and Abby both have visions of a permanent location with permanent stalls for the artists and farmers but for now they take it one market day at a time and know that they are forming a strong community.
Culture. Theater is only for the wealthy, or so many in the neighborhood surrounding the Minneapolis theater complex believe. Home to the Minneapolis Children’s Theater this complex is situated in one of the poorer areas of Minneapolis and the staff of the theater worked hard to dream up a concept where they could provide more than superficial access to the theater for their lower income and immigrant neighbors. Understanding that language, money and transportation were among the major issues the Neighborhood Bridges project taking place in both the local public schools and at the theater complex was born.
Maria Asp a local actor and woman of passion was hired as the director and as she put it, it is her dream job. Combining her love for theater and her desire to give children a voice Maria and her team go into the schools and conduct workshops with the students. In these workshops students rip apart fairy tales to their core and discuss what other endings may be possible, they discuss what the characters may be thinking, they connect the ancient tales to the stories in the local and national news today. The students leave the workshops with a new understanding of what theater is and with a new ability to dissect stories and infuse them with their own voice.
As the students begin to get their voice, Neighborhood Bridges reaches out to the families and explains the ease and access to the theater. Neighborhood Bridges continues to extend theater and growth opportunities to all who live nearby and hope to dispel the nasty tale that “theater is only for the rich.”
Healthcare. As a woman who has worked everyday since I was 14 years old and has always understood the need for quality healthcare and medical insurance one of my saddest moments this past year as I trek along this Journey was when my daughter gave me her holiday wish list and item number 1 was insurance for Mommy. Even at 8 years old she understood that since Mommy could not afford health insurance bad things could happen. Debra Holmgren of St. Paul, Minnesota found herself in a not dissimilar situation.
A business and community leader, Debra decided it was time to branch out on her own and start a business. Startled at the cost of insuring herself she began to become intimately aware of the problem we have in healthcare. She became one of those people who makes enough money to not be eligible for state and federal insurance programs and too little money to be able to afford the cost of self insurance. Not being one to turn her back on a problem she decided she would be the one to find a solution. Over ten years ago she founded Portico Health Net.
The challenges have been great but Deb has put together a team who helps identify those who are in this sticky middle ground and together they have been able to match people up with services and affordable healthcare options. When they are having a particularly tough day and wondering if they are truly making a difference they remember Annie.
Annie was a cab driver in St. Paul. One day as Deb was forming Portico Health Net she met Annie. As soon as Annie heard about it she gleefully signed up and tearfully told Deb how she had been self employed as a cab driver her entire adult life and never had any access to medical insurance. She was excited to go in for a physical and excited for the ability take control of her life that this new found access to medical insurance would afford her. Annie was the third person to sign up for the program.
As she had proclaimed, Annie went to see the doctor as soon as the insurance came through. Tragically, for Annie it was too late. At her very first appointment her new physician discovered that Annie had cancer and it was a matter of months before she passed. For Deb and her team Annie is the symbol of the urgency in their work. While we debate healthcare on the local and national stage, Deb is out there “in the trenches” seeking out those in need of medical access before it is too late. How different Annie’s story may have been had she, an ordinary hard working American, had regular access to affordable healthcare.
Finance. As the nation begins to stabilize from the rockiest financial ride in recent memory many are blaming American’s lack of understanding of credit and budgeting. Indeed our own local governments around the country are having to look and relook at their own budgeting abilities as states like California write IOU’s and at home in Colorado we are yet again cutting out of the budget important line items like behavioral health. Nicole Middendorf a financial analyst was exposed in her youth to a program called Best Prep. She was not a young girl who dreamed of becoming a financial analyst but the Best Prep program gave her an insight and exposure to the world of financial decision making that lit a spark under her.
Today, many years since her experience with Best Prep, she leads her own financial firm, has authored a book with simple answers to financial questions, hosts a local talk show about the industry and sits on the board of Best Prep.
Focusing on the youth, Best Prep arms students with an understanding of the necessity of budgeting, saving and responsible spending. Nicole, mother of a young son, understands that providing students the access to such tools may create a future where state governments run by adults given a foundation in finance may avoid the budgeting crises we see today.
Civil Rights. Growing up in Mexico City Luz Maria Davis said separation of church and state was reality not just something talked about. In fact, when she married in Mexico she had a civil marriage recognized by the government and a religious ceremony for her family. Today her life is much different.
Living in Minnetonka, Minnesota with her partner Theresa, her relationship is not recognized by her state. In fact, when she and a group of other concerned citizens did their research they found that Minnesota had 515 laws on the books which discriminate against same sex couples. Thus, Project 515 was born.
What Maria and her team are seeking is simply the same rights afforded by the state to any other couple living in a committed relationship, sharing a household and paying taxes. This year Project 515 was successful in their efforts at the state government in reversing one of the discriminatory laws and they feel they have begun to make a dent. One by one they hope to make civil rights a reality for all the people of Minnesota, no matter whom they choose to share their life with.
There you have 6 women in 5 different areas of our world making the choice to make a difference.
NOTE: So sorry to have been delayed on this ladies! Minnesota was a very full non-stop state. Thank you all so much for your passion and for your commitment.