Staff & Board
Wokie Weah
President — wokie@youthprise.org
As President of Youthprise, Wokie provides executive leadership and vision, works in partnership with the board of directors and brokers relationships to accelerate leadership, innovation and systems for underserved Minnesota youth. Read more …
Marcus Pope
Vice President — marcus@youthprise.org
Marcus Pope currently serves as Vice President for Youthprise. In this role, Marcus works closely with the President, overseeing grantmaking, development, communications, policy advocacy and special initiatives. Read more …
Salah Ali
Senior Program Administrator, Somali Youth Development Fund — salah@youthprise.org
Salah manages the Somali Youth Development Fund (SYDF) and is committed to ensuring that ALL Minnesota youth are given the opportunity to thrive. Salah is currently pursuing a Master of Art in Education and Secondary Mathematic Initial Licensure. Salah is also local entrepreneur and operate tax preparation and consultation business. You can reach out to Salah to learn more about the Somali Youth Development Funds or if you would like to talk about educational policies and reforms.
Guiding Quote: “ Mathematics is the most beautiful and most powerful creation of the human spirit.”
Irina Barrera
Research Director — irina@youthprise.org
Irina leads research to inform best practices in evaluation and working with young people. Irina leads Youthprise’s YPAR (youth participatory action research) network, grants and programs. Irina earned an MSW from the University of Minnesota and is a visual artist dedicated to producing affordable and accessible art in collaboration with her community. You can reach out to Irina to learn more about our research work or to learn from her extensive knowledge of herbal healing.
Guiding Quote: “Our duty is to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains.” -Assata Shakur
Christa DeBoer
Nutrition Program Director — christa@youthprise.org
Christa leads the vision and builds the capacity of Youthprise’s Nutrition Program. She is responsible for all aspects of the program and supports Youthprise’s network of Nutrition Program participants. Christa earned a degree in Dietetics from Iowa State University and has a background working in food service and nutrition education. You should reach out to Christa to learn more about our Nutrition Program and to tap into her extensive nutrition expertise. As a young person Christa credits her relationships with strong independent women for helping her to succeed.
Claire Dunlap
Director of Organizational Effectiveness — claire@youthprise.org
Claire leads and implements strategies to advance overall organizational effectiveness at Youthprise. This includes setting the evaluation agenda to measure external organizational impact and improving internal organizational functioning by advancing solutions around structure, human relations, power, and culture. Claire has an MA in Organizational Leadership and Evaluation and is trained in teaching therapeutic yoga. You can reach out to Claire to learn more about organizational strategy; yoga and alignment; or her dogs, Luis and Remington.
Guiding Quote: “Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed; happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.”
Sheila Gothmann
Chief Financial Officer — sheila@youthprise.org
Sheila provides oversight on all aspects of finance, operations, and human resources. Sheila is a leader who is committed to the principles of
community-based enterprises working to improve lives. You can reach out to Sheila to learn more about coding invoices, monitoring expenses, and working within compliance.
Guiding Quote: “We all do better when we all do better.” -Paul Wellstone
Colleen Jordan
Nutrition Program Assistant— colleen@youthrpise.org
As the Nutrition Program Assistant, Colleen monitors and supports meal sites for Youthprise’s Nutrition Program. She is responsible for conducting site visits, assessment, daily compliance paperwork, and site staff trainings. She graduated with a degree in Nutrition in 2015 and served with Americorps in Utah as a Meals Manager. You can reach out to Colleen to learn more about regulation, interest in becoming a site, and an occasional bad joke.
Guiding Quote: “To live is one of the rarest things in the world, most people just exist.” -Oscar Wild
Alejandra Lemus Rivera
Mission Advancement Manager — alejandra@youthprise.org
Alejandra has a well seasoned background in administration and working with diverse populations. As Mission Advancement Manager, Alejandra plays a lead role in creating opportunities for various stakeholders to get more engaged with Youthprise’s mission. She is experienced in big picture planning, strategic and analytical thinking, and creating an atmosphere of harmony and calmness.
Guiding Quote: “If you don’t live by the applause of man, you won’t die by their criticism.”
Adeeb Missaghi
Brand Manager — Adeeb@youthprise.org
Adeeb acts as the visionary for the Youthprise brand and identity. He is the designer of functions and visuals that work together to tell a story. He is responsible for working collaboratively with all departments of Youthprise to better build capacity of staff to serve and engage youth through creativity, technology, and design.
Guiding Quote: “The pressure is good for you.” -Adam R. Garcia
Melissa Mitchell
Director of Partnerships — melissa@youthprise.org
Melissa oversees management, technical support, and the cultivation of positive relationships with private and grassroots partners at Youthprise. She has a rich background in youth development, project management, and capacity building. Her strengths and interests include positivity, connectedness, being a mother and positive role model for young people, exposure to culture, ballet, and sushi.
Guiding Quote: “And these three remain, faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.”
Tracey Mittelstadt
Controller — tracey@youthprise.org
Tracey conducts the majority of financial transactions and ensures that all staff are compliant with standards. In addition to a B.S. in accounting and over 5 years of experience in non-profit accounting, Tracey brings her expertise in memes to all staff emails and updates. Outside of her commitment to cute kittens, you can reach out to her to learn more about non-profit accounting and the management of restricted funds.
Guiding Quote: “Every new day is a chance to change your life.”
Neese Parker
Youth Engagement Manager — neese@youthprise.org
Neese coordinates youth engagement at You
thprise. This includes providing support to the young people partnering with Youthprise and facilitating programmatic initiatives such as YouthBank and the YPAR network. Neese previously served a term with the Minnesota Youth Council and is trained in Design Thinking facilitation. Contact Neese to learn more about her knowledge of art history or to learn about how to infuse youth voice in design thinking.
Maurice Nins, Jr.
Grants & Compliance Officer — maurice@youthprise.org
Maurice has over twenty five years of experience working in the fields of non-profit and government. During much of that time, he focused on youth development, racial justice, and public safety issues. He is responsible for providing funding, resources, and technical assistance to oganizations that work on youth development issues. You can reach out to Maurice to learn more about funding and all things related to barbecue.
Guiding Quote: “Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
Libby Rau
Chief Innovation Officer — libby@youthprise.org
Libby Rau develops a statewide infrastructure for youth engagement in philanthropy and is responsible for providing strategic thinking and innovative strategies for engaging youth in all areas of the organization. She has 15 years of experience with youth service organizations, specifically in program management and philanthropy. She is responsible for identifying strategies, program opportunities and partnerships that will advance the mission of Youthprise.
Guiding Quote: “Step forward into growth or step back into comfort.”
Lizzy Shramko
Communications Director — lizzy@youthprise.org
Lizzy works alongside the communications team to share the many stories of Youthprise. Lizzy uses a digital-first approach to storytelling and works with community-based artists to bring grantee and partner stories to life. All communications work is done in partnership with youth. Lizzy has a graduate degree in Gender Studies and approaches communications with a media justice framework and a feminist perspective.
Guiding Quote: “Let’s be gentle with ourselves and each other and fierce as we fight oppression.” -Dean Spade
Board of Directors
Officers
Joseph Stackhouse, Co-Chair
Director of Sales, Land O’Lakes, Inc.
Renelle Mensah, Co-Chair *
Student, Breck School
Chad Lassen, Treasurer
Principal, Clifton Larson Allen LLP
Antonio Cardona, MPA, Secretary
Director, Urban Institute, Pillsbury United Communities, Public Allies
Directors
Maher Abduselam *
CPA, AGM Financial
Rev. Kelly Chatman
Senior Pastor & Executive Director, Redeemer Lutheran Church
Kelly Elkin
Senior Vice President, Nonprofit Banking, Anchor Bank
Peter Gabler
Financial Advisor, UBS Financial Services
Erin Gavin
Program Director – Education & Learning, The McKnight Foundation
Rena Hall
Communications Chair, Minneapolis Women’s Rotary
Daniel Haugen
Retired, President of the Adler Graduate School
Luis Salado-Herrera *
BrookLynk Coordinator
Phuc Nguyen *
Student, Macalester College
Senuri Rauf *
Student, U of M
Brian Smith
Director of the Innovations Team, City of Minneapolis
Elizabeth Zalanga *
Student, St. Paul College
Executive Staff
Wokie Weah
President & CEO, Youthprise
Alejandra Lemus Rivera
Mission Advancement Manager, Youthprise
*Denotes youth Board Directors