The Initiators Fellowship: A Unique Leadership Opportunity for Enterprising Women – 2022
Breakfast Club Webinars
Overview
The Initiators Fellowship: A Unique Leadership Opportunity for Enterprising Women
Wed., June 8th at 8:30 am CT
Join us for conversation about this opportunity that supports and raises-up these rural women looking to lead and create purpose-driven businesses in Greater Minnesota. Program Manager, Chris Fastner will be joined by three Fellows:
- Nora Hertel, St. Michael, who is creating a nonprofit solutions-based journalism platform called The Optimist.
- Noreen Thomas, co-owner of Doubting Thomas organic farm in the Moorhead area, who is piloting a biodigester project and coordinating a massive composting effort for her area.
- Fardowsa Iman, in St. Cloud, who is planning for a culturally competent chemical dependency clinic.
Fardowsa Iman
Chemical Dependency Clinic
Noreen Thomas
Sustainable Farming
Nora Hertel
Community Journalism
The Initiators Fellowship, a partnership among four of the Minnesota Initiative Foundations, is a two-year suite of supports—including training, mentoring and funding—for beginning or early stage social entrepreneurs in Central, Southwest, Northwest and West Central Minnesota. These Greater Minnesota leaders are helping to build the economy and quality of life in their hometowns by developing purpose-driven, for-profit businesses and nonprofit organizations that have a positive social or environmental impact. The Fellowship is a one-of-a-kind opportunity worth considering if you’re a hometown leader (or hope to be) and have an early-stage social enterprise idea.
Chris Fastner
Program Manager
Chris Fastner is program manager for the Initiators Fellowship – a program of the Initiative Foundation in Little Falls in partnership with three other Minnesota Initiative Foundations: the Northwest Minnesota Foundation, Southwest Initiative Foundation and the West Central Initiative. He grew up in the Twin Cities suburbs but, having lived in Ely and Aitkin for the past 23+ years, has become a small-town guy. In his sixteen year tenure with the Initiative Foundation he has managed a variety of programs including a youth philanthropy program, the Foundation’s multi-member AmeriCorps VISTA project, numerous nonprofit capacity-building programs, and now the Fellowship. Prior to working at the Initiative Foundation, Chris worked for YMCAs in Brainerd, Ely, and White Bear Lake. Of all the jobs he’s held the one he’s most proud of was “program director” for his two daughters when he spent several years in the early 2000s as a stay-at-home dad.
Resources and Recording from the Webinar
Initiator Fellowship Program Page: https://greaterminnesota.net/fellows
Recruitment for the 2024-2025 cohort will begin in spring 2023. Sign up for the newsletter to receive Initiators Fellowship program status updates.
Learn more about the program and social entrepreneurship by visiting fellows.greaterminnesota.net or by contacting Chris Fastner, Initiators Fellowship program manager, at or (320) 631-2019.