Join this forum to learn from a panel of nonprofits and Minnesota’s Secretary of State, Steve Simon, on voter engagement strategies.
Is your organization working on elections this year? Curious to see what other nonprofits are doing to Get Out the Vote (GOTV)? Attend this event to learn from a panel of nonprofits and Minnesota’s Secretary of State, Steve Simon, on voter engagement strategies! This is a great place for anyone involved in elections work to learn and get questions answered about elections.
Event Details
The event will be hosted on Zoom. You will need a computer and a phone as a back-up audio method.
Register for the event on Zoom.
Speaker Information
Nick Harper is the civic engagement director for the League of Women Voters of Minnesota. During the summer and fall, Nick helps local LWVs provide voter services in collaboration with community partners. During the winter and spring, he serves as the staff lead for state advocacy. His policy interests cover all aspects of political activity and civic engagement, including legislative process, money in politics, voting rights, redistricting, and other election law. He holds a B.A. in political science from Gustavus Adolphus College and a J.D. with public service honors from the University of Iowa College of Law. He is also a licensed attorney in Minnesota.
Ryan Perez is a Latinx community organizer at Communities Organizing Latinx Power and Action. Prior to organizing in Minneapolis and statewide, Ryan participated in student and campus activism, winning the Newman Civic Fellowship for his voter engagement work with the Campus Vote Project and his leadership in Students Demand Action. Ryan also brings experience from electoral campaigns and fundraising initiatives. The son of a Puerto Rican immigrant and the first in his family to go to college, Ryan emphasizes racial and economic justice in all of his work. He believes vision must be met with movement, and he is working to elevate his community’s movement capacity through environment and democracy.
Grace Pesch is from Rochester and currently works for United Way of Olmsted County as their impact program manager. There she manages a variety of programs focusing on health, education, and financial stability. Her background is in public health and her passions are community engagement and development of community change strategies. She currently sits on the Olmsted County Public Health Services Advisory Board as well as the National Alliance on Mental Illness SE MN Chapter Board of Directors. When she is not working or volunteering, you can find her biking, cooking, spending time with friends and family, or visiting her significant other who is currently pursuing his physician assistant degree at the University of Dubuque in Dubuque, IA.
Natalie Ringsmuth grew up in Central Minnesota and received her Music Education degree from Concordia College in Moorhead. She taught middle school choir in Georgia and worked in the church sector for over a decade. In 2015 she founded Unite Cloud, a nonprofit working to reduce racial, religious, and cultural tensions in central Minnesota. She is also a trainer with the CARE (Community Anti-Racism Education) Team at St. Cloud State University, and a member of the St. Cloud School District 742 board and the United Way Community Impact Team. Natalie loves to spend time with her husband and three children, making music, and playing games.
Steve Simon is Minnesota’s 22nd Secretary of State. He was sworn into office on January 5, 2015, and as Minnesota’s chief elections administrator pledged in his inaugural address to “work with anyone, of any political affiliation, from any part of our state” to protect, defend, and strengthen the right to vote in Minnesota.