Ten of the new Bush Foundation Fellows hail from St. Paul, east metro

Frederick Melo, Pioneer Press
·5 min read

Artika Tyner recalls growing up seeing family members rotate in and out of prison. Tyner, a civil rights attorney who has spent the last 16 years as a legal professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in St. Paul, came to the realization during the pandemic that she’d been working hard for years to bridge disparities, not just in her community, but in her own life.

“I usually do that research about other people. I need to do that for myself,” said Tyner, who plans to spend at least six months touring Africa, much of that time in Ghana, reconnecting with her roots while learning from leaders at the African Diaspora Development Institute. She intends for her sojourn to be part study, part self-healing.

Tyner, a lifelong resident of St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood and founder of a K-12 literacy nonprofit, is one of 24 new fellows chosen by the Bush Foundation for their work in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and the 23 Native nations that share the same geography. Each fellow will receive up to $100,000 to fund 12-to-24 months of study and reflection, often in other states or countries, with the goal of making them better leaders.

In total, ten of this year’s 24 Bush Fellows live or work in St. Paul or the east metro. The Bush Foundation, based in downtown St. Paul, chose them from among 468 applicants. More than 2,400 people have received support from the fellowship over the past 60 years.

Like Tyner, several of the new fellows are government and non-profit leaders who said that after a difficult pandemic experience, they’re seeking healing, reflection and self-care.

HOANG MURPHY

Among them is Hoang Murphy, who came to the U.S. from Vietnam as a child refugee and moved into the McDonough Homes, public housing in the city’s North End. By the time he turned 11, his father’s parental rights had been terminated by the courts, leaving him adrift in a foster care system.

Well below half of the state’s foster kids, he pointed out, graduate high school.

“People asked me how I survived foster care,” said Murphy, founder of the Foster Advocates, which has successfully lobbied for two new laws at the state Capitol and is within striking distance of a third.

“I like to say ‘I got lucky,’ but I’d like to write it all down and give them a better answer,” said Murphy, who lives with his wife off Phalen Lake. “There are very few good stories in foster care. … It was really tough. It’s our job to make it better. That’s what I’m focused on.”

Murphy said he’ll use his fellowship to visit indigenous communities in Red Lake, Minn., and the Yukon territories, with the goal of learning more about communal and alternative forms of family intervention. He also plans to spend at least at two weeks in Vietnam, a country he hasn’t been back to since leaving at age two.

PRINCE CORBETT

Before landing a job as an employment counselor with Ramsey County and working his way up the ranks for a decade, Prince Corbett served more than three years in prison. He acknowledges he committed a robbery at the Mall of America as a young man, but prosecutors sought to pin two other robberies on him, and he fought the added charges. Nevertheless, he still served a 74-month sentence at the age of 21.

Corbett, 41, who has served as the county’s Racial and Health Equity Administrator since 2019, has long said his personal mission is to focus on closing wealth gaps in the Black community. After a recent retreat, he came to multiple realizations. First, he would need further public policy and economic development training, likely through certificate programs, which he’s hoping to obtain through the historically Black college system.

“If we’re talking about building wealth, and creating economic opportunities, you really need to know about the economic development framework,” he said.

And, he realized his greater passion is to help the previously incarcerated. He’ll be reaching out to national organizations for guidance.

Other east metro Bush Fellow recipients include:

SAYMOUKDA VONGSAY

Saymoukda Vongsay, a St. Paul-based Lao-American artist and playwright, plans to visit Laos and become more fluent in the spoken and written language while connecting to other Laotian artists and leaders across the U.S.

ABDIAZIZ IBRAHIM

Abdiaziz Ibrahim, founder of St. Paul-based Immigrant Housing Solutions, plans to pursue a master’s degree in business administration and obtain certificates in community building and leadership development, with the goal of expanding access to affordable housing through tenant education and financial literacy training.

PAHOUA YANG

Pahoua Yang, a vice president of Community Mental Health and Wellness at the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation in St. Paul, the largest regional mental health provider for Southeast Asian communities, plans to explore how traditional healing can intersect with modern healthcare policy, including how tribal nations have piloted traditional healing in healthcare.

ROSE CHU

Rose Chu, a professor of Urban Education at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, plans to deepen her work with prospective teachers of color by researching the public view of teachers in different communities, locally, nationally and globally.

IFRAH MANSOUR

Ifrah Mansour, a Somali-American performance artist based in Woodbury, plans to complete filmmaking courses with the goal of making “social impact” films based on her stage work, combining stories about “injustice and resistance” and “the disappearing memories and wisdom of Somali elders,” according to a written statement from the Bush Foundation. She will also travel to film festivals and build a network of filmmakers.

RAINA JOHNSON

Raina Johnson, a Woodbury-based advocate for the deaf, was adopted from Korea and raised by white, deaf parents. Johnson, who is deaf, plans to pursue a doctorate dedicated to training deaf professionals in linguistic, community and leadership work while expanding her network of deaf BIPOC leaders.

KALTUN ABDIKARANI

Kaltun Abdikarani of New Brighton plans to pursue certificate in Islamic psychology, develop resources and training for teachers and parents of Muslim-American youth and collaborate with spiritual leaders and mental health professionals, with the goal of cultivating “wellness in a culturally responsive way,” according to the Bush Foundation.

Related Articles