Louis Alemayehu is an educator, poet and a multicultural spiritual elder. Lately in particular, he has been learning from the Ethiopian Oromo people who live both in Ethiopia and Minnesota. He lives between the worlds of Ethiopia and Turtle Island. Oromo's traditional ways of life resonate with the indigenous values of his Native American relatives and friends who are Dakota and Anishinaabe. He has been exploring Indigenous values from around the world as that feels like his life work now. He is collecting stories about the indigenous wisdom, values & practices from elders in the US, West & East Africa, Bangladesh and New Zealand. In most of these places he is considered an Elder relative like a brother, uncle or grandfather. In most of these places the younger generations call him “Baba”. As a board member of Partners in Progress he will share his life experiences as he learns from the communities Partners works within and help them see that the solutions to their most challenging problems are already with their cultures blood, bones and lived history. One of his elder mentors, Meridel LeSueur once told him that ancient seeds found in caves in the Southwestern United States after thousands of years, if given good soil, sunlight, water and care would grow again. She even said as long as people could still dream, the eternal wisdom could return. He have been blessed with Elders already from multiple cultures. He must pass on what has been given to him: reclamation of Indigenous wisdom as well as Matriarchal values and practices are essential for survival in the 21st Century. He is on his way back to Ethiopia now to sit with and learn from traditional Oromo Elders of the ancient Gadaa System of Kushitic people.

Theresa "Tee" McClenty has witnessed the impact of the climate crisis first-hand. Her youngest son was born with asthma and continues to experience complications from it as a young adult. This story, she knows, is not unique. Many communities of color are hardest hit by the negative impacts of climate change. McClenty became the executive director of MN350 in 2022 in a continuation of her career as a servant for all communities. She has dedicated her life to ensuring that all communities have all the resources available provided to them. She has worked more than 18 years in emergency medicine, seeing first-hand the impact of climate on people’s health. She has also worked in labor, advocating with school workers and health care union sisters and brothers for improved working conditions. In her most recent role, McClenty connected the community to necessary resources in mental and behavioral health, dentistry, and human services. Get involved with MN350 using the volunteer form.

Contact Theresa at: tee@mn350.org

Hannah Jo King (she/they) is social sciences PhD student and environmental justice scholar in the Natural Resources Science and Management program at UMN-Twin Cities. Hannah Jo is a former research fellow with the CREATE Initiative, where they worked in partnership with the Gullah/Geechee Nation on community and ecological justice projects, and a current student researcher with the Kawe Gidaa-naanaagadawendaamin Manoomin Collaborative, a tribal-university program practicing community-driven research methodologies to protect Manoomin/Psiη (Wild Rice). Hannah Jo is an organizer struggling for causes such as anti-racism policies at the university and legal personhood rights for Mississippi River. Hannah Jo hails from Chicagoland and is obsessed with her plant pals (even more than her cat companion). They are committed to Black and BIPOC liberation and believe that healing our relations to both human and non-human beings is an essential part of liberation. (http://hannahjoking.com/)

Contact Hannah at: king1306@umn.edu