| Posted by Michael-jon Pease on Aug 01, 2017 |
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President Jerry Faletti called the meeting to order at 12:15 p.m. Ed Coleman led the members in singing “God Bless America” with Doug Hartford at the ivories. Special note: Dr. Bob Jones has donated his keyboard for the club to use now that the hotel has given up their piano. Those looking to build their resume in piano moving (60 lb only!) are asked to help move the keyboard to and from meeting locations within the hotel. Jon Cieslak offered an inspirational minute (timed to the second!) Bo Aylin introduced visiting Rotarians and guests. Thanks to our today’s greeters: Linda Mulhern and Scott Van, and today’s scribe, Michael-jon Pease. Susan O’Neil, St. Paul Fire Foundation, will be Thursday’s Fellowship speaker at the Boy Scout Office. Please note these upcoming dates: The “Old Timer’s Dinner” (for those in Rotary 20+ years) will be Aug 23 and the Past President’s Dinner will be Sept 13. More information is available on our website. Elyssa Weber, who declined the agenda’s suggested promotion to the US Dept of Education, introduced new member Dr. Meagan Johansen (all are encouraged to call her Meg despite what her nametag says). Meg is a licensed psychologist in private practice working in forensic psychology. Although born in Minneapolis, she and her husband Kaj (pronounced “Kai” for all you non-Danes), love the capital city and make their home in Saint Paul (insert widespread cheers). In addition to outdoor adventures, backpacking and archeology, her hobbies include croquet. She currently serves with club member Michael-jon Pease on the Varsity Blues Croquet team of the University Club of Saint Paul and is captain of the 1006 Society team (the 1006 Society supports the preservation of the Governor’s Mansion). Linda Mulhern introduced outbound youth exchange student Violet Baker, headed to Nagasaki this week for our 43rd year of youth exchange with our sister city and sister Rotary Club. Violet lives in Minneapolis and goes to the lake every day with her dogs Asterix and Appollo (Greek history, anyone?). Born in Alaska, Violet has lived in several US states and loves travel. She volunteers for environmental causes and will carry our club banners proudly to clubs in Japan. Jay Pfaender promoted next week’s program: Steve Osman speaking on Fort Snelling’s Civil War history and his new book, which will be available for sale and signature. Ed Coleman encouraged all to attend Rotary night at the Lynx next Tuesday, with music and pre-party at Wilde Thymes across from Park Square Theatre. Valdi Stefanson gave a shout out for our next generation of Rotarians, our vibrant Rotaract Clubs. Twin Cities Rotaract raised $3,000. With our club as official sponsor, they were able to secure an additional $2,131 in order to purchase 854 books that will be distributed to seven neighborhood sites in the Northside Achievement Zone. These materials will help educate 325 young scholars from local families! The David Fesler Award for volunteer leadership in Saint Paul was presented by BJ Fesler, Jerry Miegs, Nancy McKillips and Jay Pfaender to a surprised and honored Valdi Stefanson. The award presents a $1,000 Paul Harris fellowship in the recipient’s name. BJ spoke about how her late husband David was “born, bred and breathed” Saint Paul. His daily two mile walks (even in record snowstorms, during which he stopped to help the public works department) are more than matched by Valdi’s one way drive of 30 miles to attend our club from Stacy, MN. |
Program: The Role of Foundations in Creating Communities Nancy Brady introduced today’s speaker, Dr. Eric Jolly, President of MN Philanthropy Partners and former CEO of the Science Museum. Dr. Jolly opened with the traditional greeting for youth from his native Cherokee culture. The phrase means “Hello, are you full of joy?” Upon receiving a less than enthusiastic answer, it is the adult questioners job to help that youth find a moment of joy. This outlook defines Dr. Jolly’s work as a professional nonprofit leader and the work of foundations such as those under the MN Philanthropy Partners umbrella (The St Paul Foundation, the MN Foundation, the F.R. Bigelow Foundation, the Mardag Foundation, 1,700 individual donor advised funds and 17 community endowments). MN Philanthropy Partners is also home to GiveMN, the “most annoying day in email” that helps raise $20 million for Minnesota charities in just one day. That amount is equal to 40% of the combined operating budgets of the small and mid-sized organizations who participate (with budgets from $500k to $1m). Asking New Questions In addition to asking grant applicants who benefits from their work and the projected impact/outcomes, MN Philanthropy Partners now asks “who informs the work (sets the agenda)?” and “who forms the work (decides the method or approach)? These questions are vital to advancing the Foundation’s goals for advancing equity and building a healthy community. One powerful example is the statewide reading test administered for local fourth graders but developed by someone from outside the community who did not understand that we are home to the world’s largest Hmong population. A standard multiple choice question asks students to choose the word that is a “real word” versus a nonsense syllable. Currently, all of the non-English syllables are actually words in the Hmong language! The Role of MN Philanthropy Partners Dr. Jolly defined the collective role of the foundations in several ways: - To build coalitions.
- To both “plant seeds” and “prepare the soil” for community development and change
- To invest in the agencies and projects that move the community toward foundation goals.
A great example of long term coalition building was MPP’s work on the Green Line Coalition. By bringing together stakeholders across the community, light rail was installed to University Avenue and 99% of the small family owned businesses open before the four years of construction were still open upon its completion. In addition to nonprofit grants, MPP also offered loans and training, helping small businesses create 300 new jobs. In response to the community unrest after the shooting of Philando Castile, MPP helped train members of the Black Lives Matter movement in best practices for political organizing and peaceful protest (“planting seeds”) and worked with law enforcement on managing expectations and safety (“preparing the soil”). After a brief Q&A, President Faletti adjourned the meeting with a recitation of the Four Way Test. Respectfully submitted, Michael-jon Pease |
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| Posted by Jodi Erickson on Aug 01, 2017 |
- The hallmarks of great communities include a sense of belongingness, power, and the ability to effect change.
- Dr. Jolly will explore concrete ways that foundations and philanthropists, strengthen the fabric of our community.
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Eric joined Minnesota Philanthropy Partners in 2015, after 11 years as the president and CEO of the highly esteemed Science Museum of Minnesota. He is a former Kellogg Leadership Fellow, where he studied international philanthropy and first wrote professionally about the realities and differences between donor interests and community need. His work leading MN Partners gives him the opportunity to apply his unique perspective, which has been honed over the years through service on many prestigious boards and councils. Eric has a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Oklahoma, and is chair of the National Academies of Science Expert STEM Panel, where he advances national policy in education especially for engineering and the STEM disciplines. He has a background in higher education and has lectured around the world on the importance of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education in contemporary societies. The binding theme of his professional experience has been the human experience and expanding his sphere of influence to give voice to those without. Eric moved to the Twin Cities in 2004 to take the Science Museum of Minnesota leadership position and likely will never leave St. Paul: “It’s tame enough for the elder in me, curious enough for the professor in me, and community oriented enough for the change-agent in me.”
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| Posted by Linda Mulhern on Jul 26, 2017 |
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President Jerry Faletti opened the meeting at 12:15 pm at the Intercontinental Hotel. Without help from a piano this week, Chuck Field was able to lead the club in a hearty rendition of God Bless America. President Jerry thanked the greeters this week, Lindsay Weier from the Minnesota Wild, Heather Christopherson from People Incorporated and the scribe, Linda Mulhern from Collins Electrical. During the invocation, Bob Cardinal recited a number of quotes from Paul Harris, about friendship and the ability to make the world better. It was noted that Ken Crabb, Jerry Meigs and Jerry Faletti will speak at the Thursday Fellowship breakfast about their experiences at the Rotary International Convention in Atlanta. The Thursday meeting is 7/27 at 7:30 am at the Boy Scout Building. |
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During introductions, Jim Kosmo introduced two of our Second Century Scholars, Chidy”Aonga” Shalita and Adriana Cortez Mendosa. Aonga just graduated from Macalester College with a degree in biology and will be working with an organization called “Rise” for the next year working with underprivileged youth and then will be entering medical school. Adriana formerly from Open World high school in St Paul, will be starting her studies at St Catherine’s University this fall and looking forward to all of the new opportunities that the scholarship provides. Jim Delameter was able to provide a few “happy dollars” between announcements. Upcoming events include the following: Lynx Promo – On August 22nd, we have the opportunity to watch the Lynx play Phoenix. The evening will begin at Wild Times, between 5:30 pm and 7 pm. The tickets are $35.00 of which $15.00 will come back to the club. The first 50 people to purchase tickets will have the opportunity to get autographs from Lynx players after the game. Kristin Monpetit will be sending out additional information to all members about the game shortly. Our Next meeting on 8/1 – Nancy Brady announced that our next speaker will be Dr Eric J Jolly from the St Paul Foundation. He will be speaking about the role of foundations in creating great communities. The Chuck Roast and Toast – We will be honoring Chuck Whitaker for his year as president of the St Paul Rotary club on August 16th at the White Bear Yacht Club. The social hour will start at 5:30 pm with dinner to follow at 6:30 pm. Chuck Standfuss also announced that the Rotation Day will be Tuesday, October 31st and one of the work places to host the event will be the Hazeldon/Betty Ford Foundation. Kristin Monpetit was then able to get a few more “happy dollars” from members after the announcements. Jim Hart from the University of Minnesota, School of Public Health introduced our speaker Gordon Goodwin, GARE Midwest Regional Project Manger at Center for Social Inclusion. Gordon has lived in many cities within the United States, but started out in Detroit and remembers how the riots in the late 1960s changed the dynamics of the city. He had lived in an integrated community, but after the riots the mix of people changed as people moved to the suburbs due to the riots. He is working with a group of close to 150 cities, counties and state entities to bring people together to create outcomes to achieve for a community. Gordon talked about how we all know the phases “liberty and justice for all” or “all men are created equal” or “government of the people by the people for the people”, but by definition these phases related to a certain group of people during our history. We have inherited these phases, but can we dismantle their definitions as to who they represented originally? Changes often occur due to great movements within society such as women’s suffrage or demand for civil rights in the 1960s. He is looking to end discrimination within institutions, often it is historically there but it often doesn’t occur to people that there are biases within a government entity. A good example would be setting up an impound lot for cars near a low income neighborhood. It is easy to tow cars from the area to the lot, but for many of these same people in order to retrieve a vehicle, it becomes a major obstacle to pay the costs incurred while also trying to get to work or school. We as a group need to focus on race equity and in turn can also address other issues such as sexism and gender inequality. In closing the gaps between these inequities, we can close the gaps and improve the outcomes for all. Gordon pointed out that we all have biases and patterns that are developed from our family and/or our culture that become subconscious behaviors. In order to understand these biases though, we need to collect data so we can see how we can improve. A good example would be collect data on how individuals are given prescriptions and see if certain groups are given less or more than needed and how to overcome the biases, so we can in treat all patients the same without bias. Currently at all levels of government, leadership is needed to advance equity for all, and in turn will help everyone. President Faletti thanked Gordon for his presentation and gave him a certificate of appreciation. The meeting was adjourned at 1:16 pm and concluded with the Four Way Test. 
Linda Mulhern Scribe
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Please join us to celebrate our Immediate Past President, Chuck Whitaker, on Wednesday, August 16 at the beautiful White Bear Yacht Club. The "Bar will be Open" at 5:30 p.m. for a social hour with a delicious dinner starting at 6:30 p.m. A "Chuck Roast" will commence following dinner. It is sure to be an exciting and fun evening as we look back on all of our club's activities, meetings, and memories under the astute direction of President Chuck! Don't miss out on great Rotary Fellowship! Sign up today! Click Here for Member Registration Click Here for Nonmember Registration
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| Posted by Jason Bradshaw on Jul 21, 2017 |
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Calling all Rotarians! We are now moving into a new Rotary year and a big CONGRATS to our new President Jerry Faletti. Todd Nicholson is now taking over at Sergeant at Arms for club and will be lining up the volunteer roles for each meeting. Let’s help him get off to a great start and fill the schedule for the next couple months. We currently have openings for Greeters, Introducer of guests, Scribes, Giving the inspirational minute, and Leading song. Having these roles filled each week makes for a well run meeting and keeps us all active in the club. So the answer to "how do I sign up to help out at a meeting?" is "click this link and sign up." http://vols.pt/hd7EGu You do not need to create yet another login and there are no passwords to remember! Just follow the link, confirm your email and start signing up for meeting teams. SignUp.com will send you reminders, and will let me know where the needs are for upcoming meetings. Attention new members: serving as a greeter and taking the microphone, either to offer the inspirational moment or to introduce guests and visiting Rotarians, is an excellent way to network and get your face in front of the club! We are urging every member to sign up for a few spots in any of the roles available. Through SignUp.com you can view the open spots for all upcoming meetings in any of the 6 roles and sign up for what works in your schedule and what you would enjoy. It’s easy to sign up and help from everyone makes us a stronger club. Thank you for whatever you can do to make our weekly meetings a great experience! Thank you, Jason Bradshaw |
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