This group, composed of leaders of the largest community institutions, meets quarterly and provides key leadership to Northfield Promise. Champions are committed to using their “organizational muscle” to advocate for Northfield Promise and access resources to help achieve Action Team plans.

• Krista Danner, Northfield Area Family YMCA Executive Director
• Natalie Draper, Northfield Public Library Director
• Gretchen Ehresmann, WINGS Board
• Mark Elliot, Northfield Police Chief
• Sandi Gerdes, Laura Baker Services Association Executive Director
• Clarice Grabau, Northfield City Council
• Joe Hargis, Carleton College Associate Vice President for External Relations
• Penny Hillemann, Rice County Area United Way, Director
• Matt Hillmann, Northfield Public Schools Superintendent
• Ben Martig, City of Northfield City Administrator
• Rev. Rachel McIver Morey, Northfield Area Interfaith Association
• Hassel Morrison, St. Olaf College Vice President for Student Life
• Lynne Pederson, FiftyNorth Executive Director
• Lisa Peterson, Northfield Area Chamber of Commerce President & CEO
• Rhonda Pownell, City of Northfield Mayor
• Julie Pritchard, Northfield Public Schools, School Board Chair
• Deb Purfeerst, Rice County Public Health Director
• Mark Shaw, Rice County Social Services Director
• John Stenz, FORCE America, Inc. Chairman & CEO
• Simon Tyler, Prairie Creek Community School Director
• Steve Underdahl, Northfield Hospital & Clinics Chief Executive Officer
• Scott Wopata, Community Action Center Executive Director

This group is composed of committed community partners, HCI board members and the chairs of the Action Teams. The committee oversees day-to-day efforts, assists with framework development, leads communications efforts and recruits members and stakeholders.

• Ashley Anderson, Northfield Healthy Community Initiative Coordinator
• Erin Bailey, Northfield Public Schools Community Services Director
• Carrie Duba, Northfield Public Schools, School Psychologist
• Mark Ensrud, Northfield High School Guidance Counselor
• Kris Estenson, St. Olaf College Piper Center for Vocation and Career Associate Director (Steering Committee Chair)
• Meleah Follen, Northfield Healthy Community Initiative Youth Engagement Coordinator
• Candace Godfrey, Northfield Promise Alumni Coordinator
• Hope Langston, Northfield Public Schools  Director of Instructional Services
• Janet Lewis Muth, Carleton College Director of Health Promotion
• Sandy Malecha, Northfield Healthy Community Initiative, Senior Director
• Rachel Matney, Accelerate Northfield Co-founder
• Connie Nelson, Retired Northfield Public Schools teacher
• Zach Pruitt, Northfield Healthy Community Initiative Executive Director
• Kristin Stets, Northfield Promise Connectedness Action Team Co-Chair
• Laura Turek, Northfield Promise Reading Team Coordinator

Each Action Team is composed of any individual or institution interested in the Action Team’s focus area. Each team is charged with developing a plan to help see community change in 1 or 2 of the Northfield Promise benchmarks. Northfield Promise is rolling out teams to cover all 10 benchmarks over the next two years.

Active Action Teams include:

• Ready for Kindergarten
• Reading
• Career and College Readiness
• Social-Emotional Action Team

Teams are open to anyone who is interested in being involved. Contact us to learn more and sign up!

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Ready for Kindergarten

Rice County Ready for Kindergarten

1. Convened by Healthy Community Initiative (HCI) (sandy@healthycommunityinitiative.org)
2. Partners:

• • Pediatricians (Allina Health, Nfld Hospital + Clinics, District One)
  • Rice County Public Health (i.e. home visiting program staff, etc.)
  • Rice County Social Services (including Childcare Licensors)
  • Three Rivers (Energy Assistance, Hiawathaland, Early Head Start Home Visiting and Parent Ed)
  • YMCA of Northfield
  • Community Action Center
  • Growing Up Healthy
  • ParentChild+
  • HealthFinders
  • Help Me Grow
  • Paving the Way
  • Rice County Area United Way
  • Tri-Valley Opportunity Council
  • Buckham Memorial Library
  • Northfield Public Library
  • Faribault Cradle2Career
  • Northfield Promise
  • Somali Community Resettlement Services
  • Other early childhood program representatives
  • Parents/caregivers

Faribault Ready for Kindergarten Network

1. Convened by Olivia Sage, Early Learning Coordinator, Faribault Public Schools and Becky Ford, Director, Faribault Youth Investment
2. Members include Faribault area daycare center directors/staff and Faribault area preschool directors/teachers (see Faribault Area Preschool and Childcare Center Directory), as well as FPS/private/charter school Kindergarten teachers and early childhood screening staff from FPS

Reading Action Team

• Danielle Amundson, Greenvale Park Elementary, Companeros 2nd grade teacher
• Fritz Bogott, (Co-Chair), Reading Team, Accelerate Northfield Founder
• Sue Bolton, Bridgewater Elementary School. Reading Support
• Pam Charlton, Bridgewater Elementary 1st Grade Teacher
• Sue Couture, St. Olaf College Education Department
• Jenna Dardis, Benjamin Bus, Safety Director Manager
• Ben Flannery, Northfield Hospital and Clinics, Pediatrician
• Diana Huseth, United Methodist Church, Families First Committee, Operation Backpack
• Jane Jeffrey, St. Dominic’s School, first grade teacher
• Hope Langston, Northfield Public Schools, Director of Teaching and Learning
• Emily Lloyd, Northfield Public Library, Children’s Librarian
• Amy Narveson, Prairie Creek Community School, K-1 Teacher
• Connie Nelson, (Co-Chair), Reading Team, Retired Teacher, Literacy Coach
• Heidy Ramirez, Family Engagement Coordinator Greenvale Park Elementary
• Jon Selin, Northfield Area Family YMCA, Child Watch Coordinator
• April Stensgaard, Minnesota Reading Corps
• Laura Turek, Northfield HCI, Reading Coordinator
• Laurie Williams, Rotary Club of Northfield, Representative
• Mary Beth Youngblut, Greenvale Park Elementary, Teacher

Career and College Readiness Action Team

• Beth Berry, TORCH, Founder (retired)
• Kimberly Briske, Northfield Public Schools, Director of Technology
• Mark Ensrud,(Co-chair), Northfield High School, Counselor, StriveTogether Equitable Results Training Program, Email
• Sandi Gerdes, Laura Baker Services Association, Executive Director
• Candace Godrey, Northfield Promise Alumni Coordinator
• Mary Grace Hanson, Northfield Public Schools, Director of Teaching and Learning
• Kelly Hebzynski, Northfield Middle School, Math Teacher
• Joe Jorgensen, Northfield High School, Work-based Learning Teacher/Coordinator
• Dan Kapaun, Syngenta, Research Assistant
• Shari Karlsrud, Northfield High School, FACS Teacher
• Daryl Kehler, Northfield ALC, Director
• Emily Kerling, Northfield Retirement Community, Director of Health Services
• Hope Langston, Northfield Public Schools, District Assessment Coordinator
• Michelle Lasswell, Frago & Lasswell, PA Lawyers and Rotary
• Joel Leer, Northfield High School, Principal
• Sarah Lunemann-Schrader, Allina Health, Northfield Clinical Services Manager
• Michelle Mahowald, City of Northfield, Communications & Human Resources Manager
• Sandy Malecha, Northfield Healthy Community Initiative, Assistant Director
• Lisa Malecha, Arcadia Charter School, Social Worker
• Michael O’Keefe, (Co-chair), Northfield Middle School, Assistant Principal, StriveTogether Equitable Results Training Program Email
• Heather LaCroix, FORCE America, Executive Administrative Assistant
• Sarah Lee, Northfield HCI, Northfield Community College Collaborative Director
• Maren Peterson, POST Consumer Brands, HR Business Partner
• Julie Pritchard, Northfield Public Schools, School Board Member
• Zach Pruitt, Northfield Healthy Community Initiative, Executive Director
• Leah Rich, Neuger Communications Group, Senior Communications Counselor
• John Stenz, FORCE America, President
• Vicki Stevens, Northfield Hospitals and Clinics, Human Resources Executive/Clinical Operations Administrator
• Brian Stevens, Northfield High School,  Social Studies (Econ) Teacher
• Jenny Streefland, Northfield Middle School, School Counselor
• Eric Van Brocklin, ISD 917 Rosemount, Principal
• Steve Taggart, Northfield Middle School, CTE Teacher
• Sarah VanSickle, Project Friendship
• Lisa Weis, Northfield Middle  School, Teacher, StriveTogether Equitable Results Training Program
• John Whitney, Northfield High School, Teacher, StriveTogether Equitable Results Training Program
• TJ Wiebe, Northfield High School, Science Teacher (Academy)
• Andrew Wilt, Mechanical Systems Inc., Director of Apprenticeship & EHS Advisor
• Mike Witt, Witt Bros Car Repair

Social-Emotional Action Team

• Carrie Duba, (Co-Chair), Northfield Public Schools, School Psychologist
• Janet Lewis Muth, (Co-Chair), Carleton College, Director of Health Promotion
• Naomi Bartley, Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor
• Greg Gelineau, Northfield Public Schools, Principal
• Daryl Kehler, Northfield Area Learning Center, Director
• Stacey Klempnauer, MSW/LICSW, Clinical Social Worker/Therapist
• Kristin Stets, Community Member
• Laura Stelter, Arcadia Charter School, Executive Director
• Ben Heath, Northfield Union of Youth, Assistant Director

This group is composed of individuals with expertise in evaluation and data analysis. They work with the Action Teams to review and analyze data to assist each team’s work. Data Team members also assist with the annual compilation of data into Northfield Promise’s Report to the Community.

• Austin Bauer, Northfield Healthy Community Initiative, Director of Reporting & Analytics
• Debra Ehret Miller, Allina Health, Community Benefit and Evaluation Manager
• Ellen Iverson, Science Education Resource Center’s Director of Evaluation
• Hope Langston, Northfield Public Schools District Assessment Coordinator (Co-chair) Email
• Rachel Matney, Accelerate Northfield co-founder (Co-chair) Email
• Tom Richard, Northfield Hospital & Clinics
• Paul Roback, St. Olaf College Professor and Director of Statistics Center
• Katie St. Clair, Carleton College Associate Professor of Mathematics and Statistics
• Laura Turek, Northfield Healthy Community Initiative
• Tina Dokken, Northfield Middle School Math Teacher

Rahmah Abdulai (Co-Chair)
Junior, Northfield High School

Keith Argabright (Co-Vice Chair)
Chief Sales Officer, Roundbank-EVP

Erin Bailey
Director, Northfield Public Schools Community Services Division

Claudia Bauer
Latino Youth Coordinator, Office of Latino Ministry
Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis

Cari Duba
PreK-12 Systems and Instructional Coach, Northfield Public Schools

Natalie Ginter
Director of Community Engagement and Development, Allina Health

P.T. Haider
Deputy Chief of Police, Northfield

Amira Haileab
Junior, Northfield High School

Oden Hoff
Junior, Northfield High School

Stefany Huerta Ochoa
Senior, Northfield High School

Ellen Iverson
Director of Evaluation, Science Education Resource Center, Carleton

Alyssa Herzog Melby
Assistant Director of Academic Civic Engagement, St. Olaf

Anna Kochevar (ex officio)
Past HCI Board Co-Chair; Arcadia Class of 2019 graduate

Mark Mohlke
Bremer Bank Owatonna President

Connie Nelson (Co-Vice Chair)
Master Coach, Minnesota Reading Corps

Randy Olson (Co-Chair)
Senior Vice President, Chief Credit Officer, Community Resource Bank

Stefany Perez Dorantes
Junior, Northfield High School

Tanner Schieck (Treasurer)
Co-owner, Schieck Orthodontics

Betsy Spethmann
Director of Communications, Northfield Hospital + Clinics

Laura Stelter
Executive Director, Arcadia Charter School

Linda Thornton
Comptroller, Carleton College