José Antonio Zayas Cabán, Executive Director
Pronouns: he/him
[email protected]

José Antonio Zayas Cabán is the Executive Director for Our Streets Minneapolis, where he has worked on developing reparative justice campaigns across the Twin Cities. He is also a 2023 board member at Streets.mn and finished serving as co-convener and Advisory Board member in a climate and mobility justice campaign that aims to increase multimodal transportation and reduce vehicle miles traveled and improve equitable access to transportation infrastructure across the state of Minnesota. In addition, as a 2022—2023 Mapping Prejudice Project Community Fellow, José will also be conducting research into the intersections between racial covenants, transportation, housing and land use, and developing a workbook on how to address these issues through an integrated approach to advocacy. José is also a resident at the University of Minnesota Liberal Arts Engagement Hub, where he will be working on an essay for the upcoming book Human Tolls: Public Histories and Community Responses to Twin Cities’ Freeways in collaboration with Associate Professor Greg Donofrio and Dr. Ernest Lloyd from the Heritage Studies and Public History program.

As a performing artist, José was awarded the McKnight Artist Fellowship for his work on producing albums with music focused on present-day social issues and the relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States Empire. The albums include Centennial, Mind and Machine, Grammy Nominated El País Invisible and the upcoming Romance al Campesino Porteño.

Ember Rasmussen, Community Development and Events Senior Manager
Pronouns: they/them
[email protected]

Ember is passionate about co-creating welcoming spaces with community members that expand imaginations and create meaningful dialogue while integrating art, storytelling, and fun. They have previous experience in non-profit development and community events, restaurant management, and theatre direction and performance. They have organized three seasons of Open Streets Minneapolis events, and lead Our Streets' Imagine programming, which includes the mobile museum projects created in collaboration with the University of Minnesota's HSPH program.

When not at work, you can find them biking, gardening, gaming, playing music and spending time with their chosen family and their dog, Juniper.

Alex Burns, Advocacy and Policy Manager
Pronouns: he/him
[email protected]

Alex joins the team bringing his experience as a climate and environmental justice organizer and activist. He’s worked as a national park ranger, on local and state campaigns, and as an outreach specialist at a sustainable transportation nonprofit. In his free time, Alex enjoys hiking, biking, and feeding earthworms to his pet salamander, Smoky.

Carly Ellefsen, Communications Manager
Pronouns: she/her
[email protected]

Carly is a communications professional with previous experience in the energy and wellness industries. She is a longtime Minneapolis resident, cyclist, and visual artist. Unsurprisingly, Carly is passionate about sustainable, joyful commuting!

When not at work, you can find her at an art museum, reading an Ali Smith novel, or walking her dog, Bumi.

Raquel Sidie-Wagner, Community Engagement Specialist
Pronouns: she/her
[email protected]

Raquel is a disability services regional manager, political and community organizer, and musician based in Minneapolis. She has spent thousands of hours doing field work for various political campaigns in multiple states, and has used those organizing skills to build networks of mutual aid and support for her community. She is passionate about work that betters the lives of her neighbors in real and meaningful ways.

Yasmin Hirsi, Advocacy Coordinator
Pronouns: she/her
[email protected]

Yasmin is passionate about community organizing that centers community empowerment and radical imagination of a world where everyone has the chance to thrive. She is committed to finding ways to fight against dominant cultural ideas that inform systems of oppression and practices that have continued to hurt marginalized communities.

Alexa Bobyak, Operations Coordinator
Pronouns: she/her
[email protected]

Alexa has a unique medley of experience in office administration, education, and volunteer coordination. In her free time, Alexa spends as much time as possible outdoors with her dog, Murphie, even though Murphie might prefer to be sleeping on the couch some days.

Fermín de Cermon, Program Assistant
Pronouns: she/they

Fermín is the 2023 Open Streets Minneapolis Program Assistant! They bring years of experience doing community outreach, research, problem-solving, and content creation. With a focus on empathy and equity, they love doing meaningful work. Fermín is also a ceramist who enjoys living in Minneapolis with her handsome cat, Pelo.

Ali Sawler, Data Analyst
Pronouns: she/her

Ali is a longtime Minneapolis resident who loves data! She is thrilled at the opportunity to use her skill set built in her 20-year career in data and retail management to advocate for and implement projects that improve the community around her. She can typically be found in her home on the Northside with more cats than seems feasible.

Jessie is a masters student in the Heritage Studies and Public History program at the University of Minnesota working on the history of neighborhoods impacted by highways and urban renewal efforts. She has mostly worked with art, as a printmaker and instructor at Fireweed Community Woodshop, and with food— in food service, cultivation, and research. After three winters conducting wild food harvest surveys in rural Alaskan communities, she learned how powerful the sharing of stories, craft, and food, can be in preserving collective history and powerful land stewardship practices. Jessie is interested in using community archives, oral history, and story-telling with maps to empower communities and use public history to affect policy and encourage more sustainable ecological relationships.

In her free time she enjoys cooking with friends, bike adventures, learning about bogs, and drawing rabbits.

Joe is an undergraduate student at Macalester College and is working with Our Streets doing GIS and Data advocacy. He is a Geography and Environmental Studies Major and has interests in Urban Planning, Policy, and Transportation. In his free time, Joe loves cooking and exploring Twin Cities restaurants, finding good places to swim, traveling, and visiting with friends and family.

Sam Peterson, Organizer
Pronouns: she/her

Sam is originally from a small town in Wisconsin and relocated to the Twin Cities for her undergraduate education at the University of Minnesota. She is currently an MSN Candidate at the University of St. Thomas. Outside of her studies, she really enjoys biking with her partner, ballroom dancing, and attending free events around the area. She is truly excited to help make the twin cities more navigable and accessible as a person who has explored the city through biking, walking, transit, and driving throughout her time here.

Greg Hindy, Organizer
Pronouns: he/him

In college, Greg studied cognitive science, art and creative writing, and he continues to pretend to be a college student in his free time. When not studying or making amateur art, he has worked jobs that allow him to get outside and learn something new about his community. You might see Greg, his partner Nicole and their two dogs Pablo and Parka exploring Minneapolis on Mocha Dick, their yellow and orange tandem bike and vehicle of choice for reimagining the possibilities of the urban landscape.

Eric Forste, Organizer
Pronouns: he/him

Eric has been working as a canvasser since Working America (community affiliate of the AFL-CIO) first hired him in 2019. Previously, he has worked as a software engineer and a substitute teacher. Since then, he volunteered extensively for various campaigns in the Minneapolis city election and was hired by worker's cooperative The People's Canvass for the final month of the election. He canvassed extensively for Jeremiah Ellison and Robin Wonsley Worlobah, both of whom won the election by very slim margins. He hails from Cincinnati, Ohio, but has spent his adult life moving back and forth between the Bay Area and Minneapolis, returning here most recently (for good, he says) in 2009. After spending some years in Harrison and Longfellow, he is delighted to have recently moved back to Minneapolis's Central neighborhood, a few blocks from Powderhorn Park.

Nick Hutchinson, Organizer
Pronouns: he/him

Nick has been a cycling and transit advocate for 20+ years. He is a member of the Whittier Alliance board of directors and organizes a monthly free sale in Whittier Park. He is also an amateur musician, artist, and trivia whiz (and occasional host!).

Nyasa Henderson Meany, Organizer
Pronouns: she/her

Nyasa has enjoyed living nearly her entire life in the great Twin Cities as an organizer. Beginning with Paul Wellstone’s campaign and ending most recently with Sheila Nezhad’s campaign, she's always had a strong passion for civic engagement and community wellbeing. While studying Environmental Studies and Political Science at Augsburg University, interning with the DFL and conducting research with URGO (Undergraduate Research Graduate Opportunity) on Twin Cities environmental intersectionality, Nyasa found her way organizing with Our Streets Minneapolis. Her goals as an activist and advocate are to better her communities’ transportation needs with pursuits to bring more intersectionality (specifically disability justice, and amplifying Brown/Black voices) to urban fields, and green spaces.

Outside of Our Streets Minneapolis, you can find Nyasa practicing yoga, plant-based cooking, reading Octavia Butler, while constantly battling between peacemaker and social construct corrupter.

Elise Chao
Pronouns: she/her

Elise is a graduate of Washington University in Saint Louis and has previously worked as the finance director of a student-run nonprofit organization in Saint Louis. The intersection between sustainability and equity is something that she is very passionate about. In her free time, Elise loves to run around the lakes and get outdoors as much as possible.

Calla Blaney Martin
Pronouns: she/they

Calla has been making access to bikes and mechanical knowledge easier in the Minneapolis bicycle community since 2009. They have worked for many years wrenching and managing socially-driven nonprofit bike shops. In addition to this work, they previously were a board member for The Cycling Museum of Minnesota. Their formal education includes a graduate degree exploring the intersections of health, culture, and policy decisions in Minneapolis.

As a stay-at-home parent who walks, bikes, and pushes a stroller with young children, Calla has a redoubled belief that our neighborhoods can and should be organized for people of all abilities, ages, genders, races, and classes to walk, bike, and roll.

Karl Hedlund
Pronouns: he/him

Karl has an inherent love for freedom of mobility and the joy it brings to life. In pursuit of this love, Karl has dedicated his career towards eliminating active transportation barriers to entry with the vision of a community where your commute to the grocery store can be the best part of your day. When not on his bike, you will find Karl harvesting local produce or hunting for budget travel opportunities. Wherever he travels, the checklist is bookended by biking to find the best coffee and cocktail in town.

Laura Groenjes Mitchell, Board Chair
Pronouns: she/they

Laura is a Lyndale resident who is passionate about transportation equity and environmental sustainability. Her whole family (wife and two young kids) loves biking and walking, both as transportation and recreation. Walking and biking with her kids has super-charged Laura's belief that we need to put more work into ensuring our infrastructure supports the needs of people traveling outside vehicles. 

Professionally, Laura works for an education non-profit, designing and facilitating learning experiences and communities of practice. Laura also serves on the Hennepin County Active Transportation Committee.

Nat Turner
Pronouns: he/him/they

Born and raised in the Rondo community, Turner has more than two decades of experience teaching students through innovative, experiential learning models in Atlanta, New York City, and New Orleans. Turner is the founding social studies teacher at Exploration High School in NE Minneapolis and has since taken the responsibility of facilitating Community Engagement, bridging and enriching the space between "real world" learning opportunities and the state standards for social studies curriculum (including Human Geography, Ethnic Studies, and US History). Turner is especially interested in uplifting and including student and youth voices in the decision-making processes that will ultimately impact the urban areas where they will live out their lives.