At a moment of expansion for MinnPost, I’m thrilled to share that we’re adding nine community leaders as new members to our nonprofit’s board of directors.

Babette Apland has over 30 years of experience leading strategy, and launching and growing new services and products to improve health and wellbeing for individuals and society. Babette was the founder of American Public Media’s Call to Mind, a national media initiative focused on mental health. Early in her career, Babette partnered with ophthalmologists to create the Phillips Eye Institute in Minneapolis. As senior vice president of health management at HealthPartners, Babette spearheaded the development of nationally recognized health and well-being programs. As COO of the Melrose Center for Eating Disorders and vice president of Behavioral Health, she led major growth and innovation in mental health services.

Judy Yates Borger is an award-winning journalist, whose work has appeared in MinnPost and other Minnesota and national publications since 1976. Her three fictitious mysteries, set in the Twin Cities, are published by Nodin Press. She has served as chair of the Twin Cities chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and Open Book. She and her dog, Peanut, live in Minneapolis.

Wendy Holmes is the president of Wendy Holmes Consulting, with over 30 years of experience in real estate, arts management, fundraising, and community engagement. She has led projects in over 300 U.S. cities, focusing on creative infrastructure and space-related challenges. Passionate about equitable community development, Wendy, a lifelong Minnesotan with Illinois roots, is known as a “community whisperer” who excels at solving complex community development puzzles and amplifying creative voices. Outside of work, she enjoys biking, walking her dog, Donut, singing, and connecting with creative individuals.

Jennifer Martin is the president/executive director of the Martin and Brown Foundation and an active community volunteer. She has previously served on the boards of Planned Parenthood North Central States, Westover School, Growth and Justice, Mental Health Association of Minnesota, and the ACLU of Minnesota. She currently serves on the board of the Walker Art Center. She has a B.A. from Northwestern and an MBA in accounting from the University of Denver. Jennifer is returning to MinnPost’s board of directors having previously served as the organization’s treasurer. She’s a strong believer in MinnPost’s mission. In her own words: “Independent journalism with stories written by thoughtful, smart journalists are needed now more than ever.”

Ruth Mickelsen, J.D., MPH, is a senior lecturer at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and affiliate faculty of the Center for Bioethics. Ruth practiced health law in the public sector, in private practice and as in-house counsel for over 25 years. She is a former Bush fellow and has been named an Alumni of Notable Achievement by the University of Minnesota. Ruth has served on the Health Partners Board of Directors, is a past trustee of the Mitchell Hamline School of Law and a past board member of the Hazelden Betty Ford Graduate School.

Alberto Monserrate is a leading expert in multicultural communications and marketing and the CEO and co-founder of NewPublica, where he focuses on media relations, crisis management, community engagement, and public affairs campaigns. Previously, he co-founded Latino Communications Network, publishing La Prensa de Minnesota and Vida y Sabor, and managing Spanish radio stations La Invasora 1400 and 1470 AM. Alberto has served as chair of the Minneapolis School Board and was the board chair for Great Minnesota Schools, with extensive experience across education, strategy, and nonprofit leadership.

Benjamin Toff is an associate professor at the Hubbard School of Journalism & Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota where he is also director of the Minnesota Journalism Center. His research focuses on the public’s changing relationship with news as well as its political implications, and he is co-author of “Avoiding the News: Reluctant Audiences for Journalism” (2023, Columbia University Press). He holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a B.A. in social studies from Harvard University, and in between he worked for six years at The New York Times.

Sharon Kennedy Vickers is a tech leader committed to infusing love into the co-creation of digital solutions that support shared abundance and collective liberation. She is the CEO of Software for Good, a company at the forefront of the Tech for Good movement. Previously, Sharon served as chief information officer for the City of Saint Paul, where she led efforts to ensure digital services were equitable and accessible to every resident. She leads with intuition and inspires her team to cultivate their unique gifts and unleash their genius in purposeful service, shaping a world where technology is built with love — the highest good for all. A co-founder of Techquity and organizer of the civic hackathon Code Switch, Sharon is dedicated to tech equity and inclusion. A fourth-generation farmer from Georgia, she also co-owns HK Farm, which practices sustainable farming and land stewardship.

Anna Wasescha has been the president of West Central Initiative since 2017. Prior to returning to Minnesota, she served as president of Middlesex Community College in Middletown, Connecticut. In addition to decades of work dedicated to higher education in both private and public colleges and universities, she also spent a dozen years organizing a community gardening project in St. Paul called Farm in the City.

While we welcome these new board members and their leadership for MinnPost’s next chapter of growth, we’re also thanking several members who are rotating off the board, but who leave a legacy that has ensured MinnPost is a model for nonprofit news organizations across the country. Many thanks to Fran Davis, Jack Dempsey, Nancy Feldman, Max Musicant and Rebecca Shavlik for their many years of service!

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, MinnPost has a board of directors — all volunteers — to oversee the governance and advancement of our mission. The board plays no role in editorial direction or decision-making.

Tanner Curl

Tanner Curl is MinnPost’s executive director. He oversees the organization’s management, strategy and revenue development.

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P.S. I worry you might think I’m exaggerating when I say every dollar and cent make a difference. Believe me, they do! MinnPost is honored to be a story of growth when so much of the narrative around local news focuses on decline. But we can only do this work with you on our team. Are you with us?

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When MinnPost was founded in 2007, we had a lot of doubters. No print edition? No paywall? You ask readers for donations to make it all possible? At the time, we were among a small handful of local, startup nonprofit news outlets in the country.

Now, a little over 17 years later, the nonprofit journalism movement that we helped start has exploded to 450-and-growing orgs across the country (and Minnesota!). As part of this hopeful work to rebuild local news, we’ve demonstrated that our 501(c)(3) is much more than an IRS designation. We prioritize our community — not the desires of corporate shareholders or billionaire ownership — and provide all of our reporting at no charge, without a paywall, directly through our site and through free republication partners across Minnesota. 

But we’re also not resting on our laurels or standing still. In fact, I’m thrilled to announce that in 2025, we’re embarking on a new chapter of expansion.

Spurred on by a matching challenge gift of $1 million from our founders, Joel and Laurie Kramer, we’re two-thirds of the way toward raising a major capital infusion of at least $2.2 million to increase the size and talent profile of our newsroom and build capacity to engage and reach new audiences in the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota. 

What does that look like? By this time next year, our newsroom will be 50% bigger. But it’s not just about the size of our team. Several of these new roles will be senior staff writers that will allow MinnPost to become a destination for enterprising, entrepreneurial journalists who exemplify what we do best: taking audiences beyond the “what and when” of daily coverage to serve as trusted guides into the “how and why” of the most pressing challenges and opportunities facing the Twin Cities metro and all of Minnesota. (Of course, we’ll continue our reputation for identifying and developing promising early-career talent, as well!)

We’re also expanding our audience team to focus on building meaningful relationships with Minnesotans across the state, surfacing unique information needs, particularly for underserved communities, and finding ways for the wide and diverse range of voices and experiences that make up Minnesota to be reflected in our journalism. This work will also offer an incredible opportunity to deepen our collaborations with local outlets — many of which already utilize our free republication policy — across Minnesota. 

As we make these additions in the year ahead, you’ll see new bylines and new ways you can connect with the incredible journalists who make up our team. We’ll highlight new initiatives as we launch them and innovate how you can interact with our reporting and other MinnPost audience members. If you’ll pardon my language, MinnPost is a community for people who give a damn about Minnesota’s future. We’re excited to make our journalism an even more central part of how you can understand and look to shape that future.

With all of these exciting investments in our nonprofit newsroom and mission-driven programming, there are myriad ways you can be a part of this chapter of expansion and paywall-free journalism. In fact, we’ll need you with us to pull off this ambitious growth!

Member support is the lifeblood of MinnPost. Donations of all sizes, whether one-time or recurring, will be the bedrock for this growth. We’re in the midst of our year-end drive, so your support right now in any amount is critical. Thanks in advance for your tax-deductible donation before Dec. 31!

If you’re in a position to make a major philanthropic investment at the $5,000+ level, either directly or through a fund, you can help us finish the homestretch of the matching gift on the table and join our leadership circle as a way to connect with our nonprofit newsroom. (Please feel free to contact Laura Lindsay, our advancement director, to discuss further!)

Organizations that sponsor or advertise with MinnPost get a two-fer: You get your message in front of hundreds-of-thousands of highly-engaged, highly-active Minnesotans who give a damn and you make our paywall-free journalism possible. (Brian Perry is always happy to discuss the many options available for all budget sizes.)

And there are ways to be a part of MinnPost and what we’re building that aren’t financial. Sign up for one of our many free newsletters. Follow (and share!) our work on social media (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X/Twitter, Bluesky). Come to a MinnPost event (including our marquee people and ideas festival set again for Fall 2025!).

However you join us in this exciting next chapter of growth, we’re honored to have you with our nonprofit newsroom. It’s a perilous time for local media and our civic culture generally, but we’ve shown throughout MinnPost’s history that together we can do incredible things. I’m confident that, standing arm in arm, we’ll continue that legacy in this next chapter of growth and innovation.

Let’s go!

Tanner Curl

Tanner Curl is MinnPost’s executive director. He oversees the organization’s management, strategy and revenue development.

The post MinnPost is embarking on a major expansion in 2025 appeared first on MinnPost.

The narrative around local news across the country is a sad one of decline. Even here in Minnesota, many outlets have dwindled or closed altogether.

I’m proud — and I hope you are too! — that MinnPost stands against this disheartening trend. In the vanguard of the nonprofit journalism movement, we’re looked to by peers around the country as the gold model of how to rebuild local news.

But we’re not resting our laurels. In fact, we’re growing.

We’ll soon be announcing a significant expansion of our newsroom starting in 2025. Backed with special support from Minnesotans, we’re adding more journalists to our team who can ask the tough questions, tell impactful stories and bring the complexities of Minnesota to life.

But this growth isn’t just about the size of our newsroom, it’s about what MinnPost does that’s unique: serving as a trusted guide for Minnesotans with insightful, paywall-free journalism on the challenges and opportunities shaping our state’s future.

This vital work, particularly the paywall-free part, is only possible thanks to philanthropic support for our 501(c)(3) nonprofit newsroom. Will you be a part of MinnPost with a tax-deductible donation right now?

MinnPost needs you in our corner to do this work and fuel our expansion at a critical moment. With a donation right now, in any amount, you’ll be standing with our growing team of journalists to do the work that only independent reporting can do to make our communities stronger.

Will you be a part of our 501(c)(3) mission with a donation today?

P.S. The complexities of the challenges and opportunities facing Minnesota are immense. We’re bringing on more journalists to equip you to be a part of shaping our state’s future. We need you with us to make this possible. Any amount makes a big difference. Let’s do this!

The post Will you be a part of our newsroom’s growth? appeared first on MinnPost.

We’re highlighting conversations from MinnPost Festival 2024, including this discussion on dialogue across differences on college campuses in Minnesota. The conversation, moderated by Citizens League Executive Director Jake Loesch, featured insights from Dr. Jacqueline N. Font-Guzmán, St. Catherine University; Dr. Duchess Harris, Macalester College; Tane Danger, Danger Boat Productions; and Rachel Leatham, Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.

You can watch all sessions from MinnPost Festival on our YouTube.

Thank you to our speakers, sponsors and volunteers for making the Festival happen!

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The post WATCH: Fostering Dialogue Across Difference on College Campuses at MinnPost Festival appeared first on MinnPost.

We’re highlighting conversations from MinnPost Festival 2024, including a discussion on the GOP in Minnesota, which has not won a statewide election since 2006.

The conversation was recorded as a live episode of The Break Down podcast, co-hosted by Michael Brodkorb and Becky Scherr. They were joined by former state Senator Michelle Benson and Minnesota Jobs Coalition executive director John Rouleau.

You can watch all sessions from MinnPost Festival on our YouTube.

Thank you to our speakers, sponsors and volunteers for making the Festival happen!

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The post WATCH: Reviving Republican Success in Minnesota at MinnPost Festival appeared first on MinnPost.

We’re highlighting conversations from MinnPost Festival 2024, including a panel discussion on Minnesota’s stagnant population growth, troubling trends for the state’s future and what could help ensure more Minnesotans move to Minnesota.

The conversation featured insights from State Demographer Susan Brower, Explore Minnesota Executive Director Lauren Bennett McGinty and Center for Economic Inclusion CEO Tawanna Black. MinnPost Executive Director Tanner Curl moderated the discussion.

You can watch all sessions from MinnPost Festival on our YouTube.

Thank you to our speakers, sponsors and volunteers for making the Festival happen!

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The post WATCH: Why Minnesota Needs More Minnesotans at MinnPost Festival appeared first on MinnPost.

We’re highlighting conversations from MinnPost Festival 2024, including a discussion on finding hope and purpose for Minnesota’s climate future featuring Dr. Kenny Blumenfeld, senior climatologist at the Minnesota DNR, and Jothsna Harris, founder of Change Narrative LLC. MinnPost Executive Director Tanner Curl moderated the conversation.

Thanks to McKnight Foundation for making this conversation possible.

You can watch all sessions from MinnPost Festival on our YouTube.

Thank you to our speakers, sponsors and volunteers for making the Festival happen!

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The post WATCH: Minnesota’s Climate Future with Dr. Kenny Blumenfeld and Jothsna Harris at MinnPost Festival appeared first on MinnPost.

We’re highlighting conversations from MinnPost Festival 2024, including Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Rohde in a discussion about his new book, “Where Tyranny Begins,” which investigates the strategies that former Pres. Donald Trump used to manipulate the country’s two most powerful law-enforcement agencies. Tane Danger moderated the conversation.

You can watch all sessions from MinnPost Festival on our YouTube.

Thank you to our speakers, sponsors and volunteers for making the Festival happen!

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The post WATCH: David Rohde discusses Pres. Donald Trump and the Department of Justice at MinnPost Festival appeared first on MinnPost.

We’re highlighting conversations from MinnPost Festival 2024, including the closing keynote, Climate, Equity and the Outdoors: A Path to a Just Future, featuring Ben Jealous, executive director of the Sierra Club and Tonya Allen, president of the McKnight Foundation.

Moderated by MinnPost Editor Elizabeth Dunbar, the discussion drew on both of the experiences of these leaders as they’ve centered equity and climate justice in their work.

You can watch all sessions from MinnPost Festival on our YouTube.

Thank you to our speakers, sponsors and volunteers for making the Festival happen!

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The post WATCH: Ben Jealous and Tonya Allen talk climate and equity at MinnPost Festival appeared first on MinnPost.