Learn about upcoming speakers, events, last meeting's presentation, and other club updates.
Upcoming Speakers
June
8 - Scholarship Awards Ceremony & Jon Schoen, Trunk Drop 15 - Stephanie Koehne, We Are A Light 22 - Jessica Bartholomew, ACT United
Upcoming Events
Scholarship Ceremony is Thursday, June 8th!
Chaska Highs Graduation Ceremony is Friday, June 9th!
Club Announcements
Invocation: Dan Keyport
Dave Pokorney reminded us that starting at 10 AM on Saturday, June 3 at
Community Park we will be planting about 67 large trees and 50 smaller ones
with some of our Lions Club neighbors. We will follow up the planting with
food and refreshments at Athletic Park.
The aftermath...
More than 50 people worked to plant trees at Community and Friendship Parks. Those park names were very appropriate! Rotarians, Lions, Master Gardeners, City employees, friends and family all joined forces to carefully plant trees to counteract the destruction of the invasive Emerald Ash beetle. Special thanks go to Dave Pokorney for organizing our efforts and coordinating with the City and the Lions Club.
Participating Rotarians included:
Vic Benetti, Bob Chinnock, Kevin Eide, Gary Hardel, Ken Hiller, Erin Kerber and family, Bob Lindall, Gretchen Oppreicht, Natasha Palmelund, Dave Pokorney, John Roebke, Bob Roepke, and Neil Wingert.
Erin Kerber and her children, Bob Lindall.
Natasha, Ken Hiller, John Roebke.
Graduation for the Chaska High School Class of 2023 is Friday, June 9 - 7:00pm: Grace Church, 9301 Eden Prairie Road, Eden Prairie. Seating is general admission. No tickets are required. The event will be live streamed for those unable to attend: https://vimeo.com/event/3222422.
Come to hear a few words from both our foreign exchange student and our intern!
ROTARY EXCHANGE STUDENT - Natasha Palmelund
Natasha travelled to Kansas over the Memorial Day weekend. She came away
with memories of bikinis, cowboys, and an example of the Great Plains. The past few days, she’s been imprinting memories of church, school and her time with our Rotary club. One more meeting with us, then she’s off to Boston for the start of her East Coast bus adventure!
PRESENTATION: Tawanna Black – Center for Economic Inclusion
David Brecht introduced Tawanna Black founder and CEO of the Center for Economic Inclusion. From her bio: “Tawanna is a non- resident senior fellow of the Brookings Institution Metro Program and has served on more than 35 nonprofit and philanthropic boards. Today she serves on the boards of Low-Income Investment Fund, Minnesota Tech Association, Washburn University Alumni Foundation Board of Trustees, and Minnesota
Council of Churches.”
“Headquartered in Saint Paul, the Center for Economic Inclusion (CEI) is the
nation’s first Black woman-founded and led organization dedicated exclusively to
closing racial income, employment, and wealth gaps and building inclusive and
equitable regional economies. The Center’s strategists, data architects, analysts
and researchers guide the work of corporations, public and private sector
employers, and policy makers to transform policies and investments and build
anti-racist workplaces capable of creating shared prosperity and economies that
truly work for everyone.”
Tawanna opened her presentation noting her upbringing in Kansas and American
Legion connections and the commonalities with Natasha’s Kansas experience and
our Pledge of Allegiance. She related the Mission of CEI to our four-Way Test and
the goal of guiding our communities and workplaces to be places where every
person can succeed, without the limitations influenced by exclusion and non-
acceptance.
Ms. Black believes that the effects of bias can be measured in terms of education
achieved and career income. We were encouraged to review handouts with data
on Minnesota businesses and Public-sector entities.
Booklets that accompanied her presentation included “Project Vanguard –
Accelerating Wealth Creation for Black and Latina Women” and “Racial Equity
Dividends Index 2022 Report.” More data is available on the CEI website.
Tawanna asked us to include the following notice in our newsletter:
Link https://bit.ly/2023-Summit “At this event, you’ll engage with the
changemakers from our region and beyond who are leading the way in antiracist
action to close gaps in housing, economic development, workforce development,
business growth, and more. Throughout the day, you'll gain the tools, solutions, and momentum necessary to shift from closing racial wealth gaps to powering the full economic inclusion that will build generational wealth in Black and Brown communities. Together, we can -- and will -- design regional economies that truly work for everyone."
Contact information for Tawanna Black:
tblack@centerforeconomicinclusion.org
www.centerforeconomicinclusion.org
Office phone: 612-351-8205
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