Milgrom begins job at West Side Community Health Services

Marsha Milgrom (MPA '05) recently joined West Side Community Health Services (WSCHS) as development director. With 18 primary health clinics serving St. Paul residents in community, high school, shelter, and public housing sites, WSCHS provides care to uninsured and underinsured adults and children and is the largest Federally Qualified Health Center in the state. Milgrom is a member of the management team, overseeing a department responsible for strategic funds development, grants, and needs assessment. Additional responsibilities include board and community relations, constituent engagement, advocacy, and data/process quality improvement. Prior to her position at West Side Community Health Services, Milgrom was the resource development contract manager in Dakota County's Community Services Division.

Connect with Marsha: mmilgrom@msn.com

Johnson recognized for her work in the community

Aara Johnson (MPP '09) will be honored as one of the 2012 Ten Outstanding Young Minnesotans (TOYM) at a ceremony in December hosted by the Minnesota Jaycees. For the past 60 years, the TOYM program has recognized young leaders who have devoted themselves to bettering their communities. Johnson currently is a manager at Noodles & Company in St. Paul. In her spare time, she volunteers as a research coordinator for Educate Tanzania, a nonprofit based in Chaska, Minnesota, that forms partnerships to share resources and professional expertise so that people in developing communities can have improved access to education, clean water, and health services. She also teaches English as a Second Language (ESL) at Comunidades Latinos Unidos en Servicio (CLUES) in Minneapolis. Additionally, she is the research chair for the Basilica of St. Mary's Global Stewardship Team. In this role, Johnson focuses on sustainable agriculture in developing countries. She plans to enter the Peace Corps in May 2013, teaching ESL in Eastern Europe.

Connect with Aara: aarajohnson@gmail.com

Bernard continues consulting work for the International Center for Journalists

In June, Daniel Bernard (MPA '05) left Egypt after seven years of working on international development projects. Bernard served as Egypt country director for the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), an independent professional association implementing a U.S.-funded program to train journalists from throughout the Middle East and North Africa. ICFJ and other U.S.-affiliated organizations have been pressured to cease operations by a faction in the transitional government seeking to discourage foreign funding of non-governmental organizations.

Bernard has relocated to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with his wife and three sons. Bernard continues to work as a consultant for ICFJ and is exploring opportunities among the universities and international aid contractors in the Research Triangle area.

Connect with Daniel: danielbernard@gmail.com

Longnecker joins the Bureau of Industry and Security's Operating Committee at the U.S. Department of Commerce

On July 2, 2012, Eric Longnecker (MPP '94) became the acting chairman of the Bureau of Industry and Security's (BIS) Operating Committee at the U.S. Department of Commerce. The Operating Committee is part of the dispute resolution process for BIS's responsibility for licensing dual-use exports as outlined in Executive Order 12981. Dual-use items are those that have primarily a civilian end-use, but also could have a military or proliferation-related end-use. In this role, Longnecker chairs a weekly meeting of the committee with representatives from the Departments of Defense, State, Energy, and Commerce to discuss cases in need of resolution. Cases go before the Operating Committee when the agencies cannot agree on a final position at the staff level. As chair, Longnecker hears each agency's views and makes a decision on the license application based upon all available information and in compliance with the Export Administration Regulations.

Longnecker's appointment to this position is a one-year detail. Since March 2008, Longnecker had been the Director of BIS's Strategic Analysis Division. In this role, Longnecker led a team of seven analysts that was responsible for several defense industrial base-related programs. Primary among these programs was review of transactions submitted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which looks at foreign acquisitions of U.S. companies that could have national security implications.

Longnecker has been with BIS since November, 2004. His prior experiences include positions with the U.S.-Saudi Arabian Business Council, The Brookings Institution, and Conservation International.

Tuloko receives honors at Minnesota Cup

Tuloko, a local start-up co-created last February by Humphrey School student, Duane Johnson (MPP '10), was recently declared the winner of the Mosaic Social Entrepreneur Division of the Minnesota Cup. The Social Entrepreneur Division of the Minnesota Cup seeks out, supports, and celebrates Minnesota's most innovative and effective social entrepreneurs and the organizations they lead. To be eligible to enter the Social Entrepreneur division, the organization must be a registered corporation that serves people in Minnesota and whose primary purpose is a social mission, rather than generating a profit.

With its slogan, "Make Everyday Black Friday," Tuloko is a website and smartphone application that provides users a list of businesses that are owned by black entrepreneurs. The site and app also list events, organizations, and historical landmarks specific to the black community. Users of this technology can write reviews of businesses in six metro areas: Minneapolis/St. Paul, Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Oakland, and Washington, DC. One goal of Tuloko is to decrease unemployment rates in black communities across the nation by gathering and sustaining support for black-owned businesses. Johnson will use the $20,000 in prize money from the Minnesota Cup to continue developing Tuloko's technology assets.

Connect with Duane: john2486@umn.edu
Check out Tuloko: www.tuloko.com