Events

Peggy Flanagan is Minnesota’s 50th Lieutenant Governor. At the center of all her work is advocating and making progress for children, working families, communities of color and Indigenous communities, and Minnesotans who have historically been underserved and underrepresented.

A St. Louis Park native, Peggy is proud to be a graduate of St. Louis Park Public Schools. In 2002, she earned her bachelor’s degree in American Indian studies and child psychology from the University of Minnesota. 

She served on the Minneapolis Board of Education from 2005 to 2009.

She went on to work at Wellstone Action, the organization founded to carry on the work of the late Senator Paul Wellstone, for nearly a decade. As one of the original trainers of Wellstone Action’s signature program Camp Wellstone, she trained thousands of progressive activists, community organizers, elected officials, and candidates – including Governor Walz.

Following her work at Wellstone Action, Peggy served as the Executive Director of Children’s Defense Fund - Minnesota, a non-profit child-advocacy organization working to level the playing field for all children in our state. 

In 2015, Peggy Flanagan was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives, serving her own community of St. Louis Park, as well as Golden Valley, Plymouth and Medicine Lake. While in office, Peggy served as the DFL lead on the Subcommittee on Child Care Access and Affordability. In 2017, she joined her DFL legislative colleagues to form the POCI (People of Color and Indigenous) Caucus. Together, the caucus works to improve the education, health and economic opportunities of people of color and Indigenous communities across the state.

Peggy brings her experiences of building coalitions and advocating for children and families to the Lieutenant Governor’s Office as she works in close partnership with Governor Tim Walz to build One Minnesota.

A member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, Peggy lives in St. Louis Park with her husband, Tom, her daughter, Siobhan, and their pets, Reuben and Yogi.

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We Minnesotans take pride in our state and how it ranks “first” in many categories relative to quality of life and the opportunities for success that many enjoy. However, many of those “firsts” only apply to white-color Minnesotans, not to those who identify as black or brown or as being from other marginalized communities. When you dig into the data, the disparities become glaring. This talk isn’t intended to shame anyone about those disparities, nor is it intended to make anyone feel guilty about having a white skin color. Rather, I believe that most people want to do the right thing; it’s just that most aren’t aware of how bad the skin color-based differences are and many don’t have any idea of how to work for concrete, positive change. With this talk, Ellie seeks to shed some light on the gravity of the problem and offer some ideas on how to fix things. She welcomes your thoughts and ideas on this important topic.

Ellie Krug: In 2009, when she was a civil trial attorney in Cedar Rapids with 100+ trials, Ellen (Ellie) Krug transitioned from male to female; she later became one of the few attorneys nationally to try jury cases in separate genders. The author of Getting to Ellen: A Memoir about Love, Honesty and Gender Change (2013), Ellie has trained on diversity and inclusion to court systems, law firms, Fortune 100 corporations, and colleges/universities on nearly 1000 occasions. A hopeless idealist, Ellie has presented her inclusivity training, Gray Area Thinking®, across the country. In 2016, Advocate Magazine named Ellie one of “25 Legal Advocates Fighting for Trans Rights” and in 2019, OutFront Minnesota conferred Ellie its Legacy Award. She is also a monthly columnist for Lavender Magazine and a weekly radio host on AM950 radio. Her monthly e-newsletter, The Ripple, reaches 9000+ readers and can be found at www.elliekrug.com . Ellie presently lives in Minneapolis and is the founder and president of Human Inspiration Works, LLC (www.humaninspirationworks.com). 

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Join us to talk about "Prom", a musical about down-on-their-luck Broadway stars who shake up a small Indiana town as they rally behind a teen who wants to go to the prom with her girlfriend.

The film is available on Netflix.

Gabrielle Clowdus is a research fellow and PhD candidate at the University of Minnesota studying housing and homelessness. Concurrent with Gabrielle’s dissertation, she was hired by a large healthcare system and the University of Minnesota to look at homelessness in the Twin Cities. There was a growing concern around the homeless population using the Emergency Room as a place of refuge. The CEO of the county hospital lamented that it costs them $1500 a day to provide a bed and a meal to someone who otherwise has no emergency medical needs. The homeless had found a loophole in the system: they would not be turned away from the hospital. So, on nights when the shelters are full or very cold nights when the unsheltered must go in, the homeless find their way to the ER for reprieve. Gabrielle began a multi-year investigation into how we might respond to homelessness more productively.

Settled was created as a response to the enormous barriers to housing the homeless by generating affordable housing in an intentional community environment through private funding, religious land federally protected against NIMBYism, purposeful work opportunities, and missional neighbors who live and serve alongside the formerly homeless.

Gabrielle holds a Bachelor's and Master's in Architecture and is at the end of a 5-year Ph.D. program in Housing Studies where she brought a "Community First" approach to homelessness to the academic community for the first time, comparing it with the prevailing "Housing First” model. Before entering into this work, she was the head of the Architecture department at a nonprofit that converted shipping containers into orphanages, clinics, and schools in partnership with developing nations. She has devoted her studies, travels, and career to walking alongside people in poverty recognizing that her own privilege comes with responsibility and more importantly, a profound conviction that we belong to one another.

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A monthly opportunity to get together outside and enjoy the great Minnesota outdoors. (Respecting state guidelines and social distancing.)

Please save the date of March 20 for our third installment. Details to come.

Amalia Moreno-Damgaard is a nine-time award-winning author and chef entrepreneur with a prior executive career in corporate America. Born and raised in Guatemala City, her best-selling book, Amalia’s Guatemalan Kitchen -Gourmet Cuisine with a Cultural Flair, is a personal memoir and recipe collection designed to encourage and empower people to explore new foods and cook more fresh meals at home for health and wellness.

Her passion for Latin culture and cuisine rose from her childhood in Guatemala, where her close-knit relationship with her maternal grandmother taught her simple and healthy artisan cooking using local organic ingredients. She was also determined to bridge the knowledge gap of Latin American culture in the United States.  At the core, Amalia’s style is fresh, practical, healthy, and proudly Latin American, blending pre-Columbian and classic French techniques with her Guatemalan-Spanish roots.

Amalia provides a distinctive approach to Latin culture and cuisine. She adopted her own unique style, fusing Latin flavors with a variety of the influences she received throughout her life, from the most rustic to the refined, and continues to create and develop new fresh and modern concepts. Global travel to over 80 countries on all 7 continents has also enhanced her cooking presentations. She is a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu and a member of the National Speakers Association with a Masters of International Business from St. Louis University.

In addition to running Amalia LLC, Amalia is co-founder-first president emeritus and chief advisor of Women Entrepreneurs of Minnesota (WeMN.org), a 501(c) 6 nonprofit (established in 2007) that fosters women entrepreneurship through mentoring and leadership education.

Amalia is the spokesperson of Crystal Farm’s (Michael Foods) first line of Hispanic cheeses. In addition, she has worked with Kroger, Del Monte, General Mills, Supervalu, Land O’Lakes, Target, Best Buy, Ecolab, Prudential Financial, Cargill, Medtronic, Boston Scientific, 3M, U.S. Bank, Macy’s Culinary Council, and Wells Fargo plus many more companies, nonprofits, universities, and professional organizations in the Twin Cities and beyond since her company’s inception 

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You probably read The Great Gatsby in high school. Here's your chance to read it again & discuss with others who haven't read it since high school.

All are welcome (including family & friends) for a rich and fun discussion of this classic by St Paul author F. Scott Fitzgerald.  Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/94027317760.

A monthly opportunity to get together outside and enjoy the great Minnesota outdoors. (Respecting state guidelines and social distancing.)

Details for our April 17 location to come. 

As we consider whether to legalize marijuana for recreational use, this forum will help answer our questions. Our expert panel will discuss what other states have learned and what a sensible policy would look like here if grounded within Rotary’s Four Way Test principles of ethical decision-making: what is true, fair and beneficial to all concerned.

Register Now: rb.gy/npvobv

Presented in association with the St. Paul Sunrise Rotary Club, Minneapolis City of Lakes Rotary, and the Rotary Club of Roseville.

A monthly opportunity to get together outside and enjoy the great Minnesota outdoors. (Respecting state guidelines and social distancing.)

Save the date- details for the May 15 meet up to come. 

A monthly opportunity to get together outside and enjoy the great Minnesota outdoors. (Respecting state guidelines and social distancing.)

Details for the June event to come.