Herocrats Spotlight: Faith Jackson is Fearlessly Strategic about Racial Equity

When Faith Jackson began working for the City of Bloomington in Minnesota three years ago, she was thrilled to break new ground as the City’s first racial equity coordinator. Faith previously worked in racial equity and inclusion for the Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, but her dedication to social justice started long before then:

 “I am a very proud daughter of Mississippi, and I grew up learning at the feet of elders. I always say that. My parents advocated for themselves and others while I was in the womb, so I feel like I was born into it.”

Faith grew up in a racially hostile environment in Mississippi. When she was young, her family moved into a white neighborhood for her father to meet the residency requirement for a county job. They were the only Black family in their neighborhood, and she and her brother were the only Black students at their elementary school. There, Faith’s family experienced racism and discrimination:

 “No one wanted us to stay. We had the Klan members burn crosses in our yard. We would make copies of all our homework assignments so that we could track at the end of the year what our grades should actually be. And all we needed to do was cross over the train tracks, and I would have had an entirely different experience.”

Faith interning at the City of Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights. Pictured with Velma Korbel, the former Civil Rights Director.

 Being required to navigate racism at a young age shaped Faith’s perspective of her world. Growing up, she knew she wanted to help improve other people’s lives. This motivated her to work in government. Faith attended Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi, “the cradle of the civil rights movement.” After receiving her bachelor’s degree, she moved to Minnesota to attend Hamline University School of Law.

 Throughout law school, she interned at the City of Minneapolis Civil Rights Department and discovered a passion for policy work. After graduating, Faith was offered a full-time job in the Civil Rights Department. Within a week, she went from an intern to the newest member of their leadership team.

Faith accepting an award from Minnesota Lawyer

 Faith worked for the City of Minneapolis for several years before taking her experience to St. Paul and, ultimately, Bloomington. In the fall of 2019, she was hired to build the blueprint for embedding equity and inclusion throughout the organization’s fabric. 

 Very quickly, Faith faced unprecedented challenges that required courage. After George Floyd’s murder in neighboring Minneapolis, Faith was put in a position where she had to be a mediator between the City of Bloomington and the community. Growing up as an activist, she felt conflicted being on the other side of the table, and she thought a lot about the City’s strategies to progress racial equity and what they wanted to accomplish.

 “I made it through those moments by remembering why I chose to work in government in the first place. I reminded myself of the need and ability to influence change from within the system. I promised them that I would use my position in local government to hold the City accountable to its commitment to racial equity. I asked them to hold me accountable to that promise.”

 It takes courage to disrupt systems, and Faith is leading racial equity work in government fearlessly. It can be scary to make big decisions in unprecedented times without best practices or a blueprint to rely on; to help, she leans on her professional and academic achievements, as well as her personal experiences of growing up as a Black woman and a descendant of the civil rights movement. Faith’s bravery, connection to the community, and strong sense of self help her know the right thing to do in each new situation.

Faith participating in an event with the City of Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights

Herocrats Spotlight: Rachael Button Expands the Definition of a Library

Photo credit: Nick Chill, Decorah Public Library

Rachael Button is a Children’s and Young Adult Librarian at Decorah Public Library in Northeastern Iowa, who spoke with us about her experience as a librarian during COVID-19 lockdowns, and the constantly expanding definition of a library. 

What is your role at the library? 

“I'm the children's and young adult librarian at Decorah Public Library. I handle collection development, programming, and space management for ages 0 through 18. This work is suited to my interests because I get to work with young people at a range of ages and stages. I really like watching the way that kids come into their own, whether they're babies that are learning how to use the stairs, or high schoolers who are asking me for a book that reflects their identity. I feel really honored to be a witness to that, and to accompany them through those experiences.”

Your position has looked really different in the last two years, how have you had to be courageous in the face of a pandemic? 

“I think something that takes courage in this job is that it's a lot of responsibility to be entrusted with the programs and the collections for an entire community’s youth. In March 2020, it was not easy or intuitive for me to jump into the new, digital programming world that was asked of me as our community shut down; I'm an educator, and I'm not necessarily an entertainer. I work for a well resourced library, but during those first shutdown weeks, I was on an old iPod, in my house doing story times and editing on an app I downloaded on our spotty-at-best rural WiFi. It was important that families and children continued to see familiar faces during that first lockdown.  It was a quick and necessary pivot.

 As the library opened up our spaces gradually, we've done a lot of outdoor programming, and tried to support people at whatever comfort level they're at. We are offering in-person programs inside, in-person programs outside, and things that people can do at home. All three have proven to be really popular, and it's been this constant pivot and response as we try to meet people where they're at, and support them.

Something that we have seen is that the things that you do to accommodate people's safety during COVID can also accommodate a myriad of other things that make our work more inclusive. For example: if you’re a person who works a job where you can't take your child to story time at 10:00 AM on a Monday, you can still get a take-home craft bundle. We try to be really seasonal and age diverse in the programs and activities that we put out. I also have some teenagers and seniors who sign up to do our crafts, and I love that! There is an element of being able to do a project at your own pace and in your own space that is valuable beyond the COVID safety concerns that a lot of folks may still need.”

How has your work helped support and build a more just and equitable community? 

Rachael and a student on a biking field trip. Photo credit: Nick Chill, Decorah Public Library

“The further in my career that I have gotten, the more I've realized that access is a huge priority to me. The library offers kids the ability to come in and get books, programming, materials, and community engagement, all for free. We have a maker space, and kids can come in and use the materials that we've curated. Access to materials is really important to me, and giving kids access to their community is important too. 

We run a biking field trip and a winter field trip program with local partners (Winneshiek County Conservation and Upper Explorerland Safe Routes to School), and that's been an exciting collaboration for me to reexamine what it means to be a library and a public space. My definition of my work goes beyond just literacy. I think that books are an invaluable tool for kids that grants them the ability to see both the world reflected to them, and themselves reflected, in a book. But I also believe in creating free opportunities for kids to connect with public land, and public spaces, that go beyond the walls of the library or the pages of a book. 

I’m grateful for the imaginative programming that we've had to do the last couple years because it has expanded the definition of what library programs can look like. I think it also shows that when you put funds to a public place where it can serve a lot of people, it has the ability to make a huge impact. I feel really grateful to get to be a part of that process.” 

Outside of pandemic times, have there been any persistent challenges to your work? If so, how have you handled them? 

“What can be challenging is that the political environment feels really heavy and we are all just hoping that our world doesn’t implode.  One of the things that has taken courage is to trust in my library, to trust in my community, to trust in the choices we've made in terms of building a collection and programs as we continue to center the community in the work.  Reading the news can be overwhelming--but in the midst of a lot of uncertainty our local community has been supportive of the library and I believe the work makes a difference.

I think in my particular role, working with children and families, it is my responsibility to develop programming and a collection that reflects the diversity of my community and to stay really positive and to uplift the good things that are happening. While that work is highly important, it can also be very challenging and it often requires constant refocusing. I don't think it's much different than going into the classroom as a teacher and trying to center yourself to be that person who can be responsive to your students. The people that I work with are not my students, but I think being a person who's centered and ready to respond and bring my full energy to the work is really important. That can be a challenge, but I think it's also something that calls us up, right?”

Rachael painting with students at a library program. Photo credit: Nick Chill, Decorah Public Library

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2021: A Year in Review for Bellwether Consulting

Happy holidays from Bellwether Consulting! We have so much gratitude for our community of changemakers, and the work we have been part of in 2021.

Our Team

• We added a full-time employee to the team! Welcome, Mike Bell!

• We rounded out several projects with our dynamic and super-talented associates Joanna Hubbard-Rivera, Vincent Frazier, Rachel Speck, and Rachel Brummel!

• We brought on Piper Wood to lead communications efforts such as this one!

Our Work

• We did lots of transportation equity work this year, including:

  • Forming and facilitating the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT)’s Equity Work Group to inform long-range planning; 

  • Applying an equity lens to the Minnesota Electric Vehicles Assessment in partnership with Great Plains Institute;

  • Applying an equity lens to the Highway 77 Study; and

  • Applying an equity lens to the Metropolitan Council’s Electric Vehicles Study in partnership with Great Plains Institute.

• We partnered with the Humphrey School of Public Affairs to build leadership skills among 36 senior leaders across the State of Minnesota through a 10-week program.

• We worked with regional partners to build and operate a Federal Funding Hub, and helped to secure a Build Back Better Regional Planning Grant.  

• We did two cohort-based workforce projects with the Department of Labor and Industry:

  • An intensive DEI workshop that brought together changemakers from 27 companies to discuss strategies, share experiences, and produce action plans, and

  • A comprehensive Train-the-Trainer workshop aimed at building up equitable training infrastructure and best practices at 22 healthcare and manufacturing companies.

• We supported an assessment of the Minnesota Department of Human Services’ Integrated Service Delivery. 

• We conducted focus groups and interviews with people experiencing homelessness, people with a history of incarceration, refugees, and other Ramsey County residents to understand and document their barriers to wellness.

• We featured 9 Herocrats from 7 states who are leading with courage, creativity and connection in their communities.

What’s Next?

Our team is energized for the work that we will be a part of in the new year, and we plan to lean on our “simple rules” in order to see bigger, work deeply, and build more just and equitable communities together in 2022 and beyond.