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By Chai Lee, Program Director, Boards & Commissions Leadership Institute

For too long, confusing rules and closed-door processes have intentionally kept power from the people most impacted—shutting out Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color from decision-making, as well as women, queer folks, disabled folks, low-wealth folks, and other historically marginalized and oppressed people. But we don’t have to stay locked out. We can cut through the confusion, claim our seats, and make governing work for us.

Boards are places where ideas can shine through and snowball into greater public policy. After all, the Minneapolis task force created to look at earned safe and sick time helped transform statewide public policy into paid family leave.

Boards can goad public opinion and change laws. Hubert H. Humphrey made a name as Minneapolis mayor by creating the first municipal civil rights boards to investigate local white supremacists for discriminatory pay and hiring practices against non-white and Jewish people. The outcome sparked the first civil rights laws at the city level. And it propelled the Humphrey name into national politics.

Board service can ignite your leadership journey. Many people use it as a springboard to launch public office bids. Once you get on a board, you encounter more opportunities to join other boards and commissions, being recognized with higher-profile roles. As an elected official and even an appointed official, you can get the political and legal privilege to sit as a member on another board or committee. For example, a member of the St. Paul City Council can sit as an ex officio member of the St. Paul Port Authority Board.

In the ongoing peace negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza, President Donald Trump’s proposal includes a nebulous “Board of Peace,” led by himself to oversee a technocrat who will govern the future peaceful transition of Gaza. In this way, boards have control over life and death in the greatest form of state power: the exercise of legal arbitration in the field of war.

Now more than ever, BIPOC folks and others shut out of the decisions that shape our lives must get the tools we need to serve in government. This is why, through 12 cohorts and counting, our Boards & Commissions Leadership Institute trains future generations of equity warriors to serve on public bodies.

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By Chai Lee, Program Director, Boards & Commissions Leadership Institute

Boards, committees, commissions, task forces, and advisory groups guide every institution of power. They operate at all levels of government, from the neighborhood, city, regional, and county levels to the state, national, and international spheres. And in today’s volatile atmosphere of political uncertainty, it has never been more important to have a seat at the table.

What Are Boards & Commissions?

At the most basic level of community work, there may be neighborhood boards in your city that help with resident engagement, advise on development activities or city projects, and liaison with local government to alert the community about upcoming policy changes and initiatives.

• e.g.: Minneapolis neighborhood associations and St. Paul district councils

Local government boards oversee specific municipal or county departments, such as finance, planning and zoning, education, health, or economic and workforce development. These boards are typically composed of appointed or elected officials (sometimes both) who make important decisions and policies that affect their departments.

Local government committees—like budget advisory committees, environmental committees, and human rights committees—advise governments in the decision-making process through research and policy debate. Committee members are usually picked for their lived experience, expertise on a subject matter, or their vocation.

• e.g.: A historical preservation committee may have seats dedicated to a lawyer and a local historian.

Commissions are the most powerful forms of boards, as they have the authority to oversee and regulate specific areas (such as giving permits for land use) and even have quasi-judicial powers, resolving disputes and regulating issues under their jurisdiction. Some examples:

• The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is empowered by both state and federal statute to enforce laws around land use, environmental policies, and air and water pollution.
• The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) enforces US labor law around collective bargaining and unfair labor practices. The NLRB is governed by a five-person board and a general counsel, all of whom are appointed by the president with the consent of the senate.
• The International Joint Commission is made up of members appointed by US and Canada governments to advise on watershed activities along the lakes and rivers that straddle the border.

Understanding the Power of Boards, Committees & Commissions

All public boards are a place where the common person can help advise government and exercise their own power and agency. Whether you represent your neighbors, peers, colleagues, or other constituent group, when you sit at the table of a board or commission, you give power to the many others behind you who may not have a voice.

• If you sit on a planning commission, you can affect what decision the city may make with an empty parcel of land in your neighborhood. Will it become a pawn shop, a grocery store, a school, a liquor store, or a gas station?
• If you sit on a state public health board, you can decide which public health issues and diseases may be funded for research.
• If you sit on a county board, you can impact how direct social services are maintained, funded, and executed.
• If you sit on an international board, you can help decide how foreign aid may be deployed in the next conflict zone or humanitarian crisis.

The Strength in Other Public Boards

In addition to traditional public bodies empowered by local government or enshrined in state and federal law, we must think of boards that are adjacent to the public sector–even if they are political. Boards are boards, even as elected bodies:

• A school board is just a board–their members are elected and have taxing authority, which is one of the highest forms of legal power in a government.
• A supreme court body is just a group of judges sitting as a board.
• The legislature is simply a board of elected officials.
• The United Nations and the European Union are formal boards, where all diplomats are appointed members who represent their legal sovereign.
• A confederacy or federation are just fancy political-science terms for a board of different member sovereign states at a regional or international level.

Further Reading

Learn more in our next post, A Path to Power: Nexus’ Leadership Work with Boards & Commissions

On Oct. 2, 2025, our Boards & Commissions Leadership Institute (BCLI) graduated its 12th cohort at Open Book in Minneapolis. We’re proud to welcome the 11 graduating fellows to our growing alumni network—now 168 strong!

BCLI Program Director Chai Lee opened by highlighting the program year, and Nexus Founder & CEO Repa Mekha grounded us in the need to be in community: how moving in coalitions and partnerships is more important now than ever. Repa talked about the importance of leveraging new and old connections in the BCLI network, as fellows, alumni, and trainers work to bring about more just and equitable policies in all tables where BCLI leaders may sit.

Each year, we ask a pair of graduating fellows to share their journey through the program. After welcoming remarks, BCLI Program Assistant Christine Lian introduced our 2025 speakers: Melanie Johnson and Victor Obisakin.

Melanie spoke to the power of being in community with likeminded equity champions who seek to make an impact in decision-making. She reflected on the importance of preparation and skills training provided by BCLI staff and curriculum. Victor shared that he was blown away by BCLI. When he first heard about the program, he looked up alumni and was impressed by the powerful folks who have come through in past cohorts. In his remarks, Victor noted:

“The BCLI program created a safe space where we could share our thoughts without fear of being told to shut up, be quiet, or ‘no, you can’t say that.’ In a time like today, BCLI is needed. If you truly care about your community, if you understand that racism exists in current governing structures, and if you care about advancing equity for BIPOC and other communities who’ve been told, ‘NO, you can’t,’ then BCLI is for you. If you have not joined BCLI, quit wasting your time and join.

I’ll end by quoting one of our guest speakers, Dr. Antonia Apolinario-Wilcoxson: ‘No one is coming to save you.’ So I urge you all, get ready, because you are on deck. I believe BCLI has shaped my leadership journey by equipping me with the tools to build a safer community and perhaps my state. I am more confident now than ever. I am going to run for office.”

The evening wrapped up with our keynote speaker, Robert Lilligren. Robert is the first Tribal member on the Met Council and CEO of the Native American Community Development Institute (NACDI). He is deeply committed to equity-centered regional growth. His previous work as CEO of Little Earth United Tribes and his background as a housing developer and contractor further solidify his community-development expertise. On the Met Council, Robert chairs the Community Development Committee.

Robert reflected on his long and wonderful journey in public service. He has previously served 12 years on the Minneapolis City Council. He talked about the importance of boards and committees in shaping his early life even before he realized it. As a child, he was often around Indigenous leaders who sought advice, help, and leadership from his parents. His elders were also involved in governing boards for nonprofits and in community work, so he saw firsthand how meetings were run effectively using Robert’s Rules and through the observation of his elders’ leadership.

As an adult, Robert became more engaged with his neighborhood on issues of public safety, and eventually felt a natural calling to run meetings, gather people, organize, and run for public office himself. The arc of his incredible journey was a great reminder of how early experiences on boards and commissions can build a lasting legacy of service and leadership.

We are so excited to see what comes next for our newest crop of alumni as they go out into the world and continue to move the needle on equity!

Photos by Pa Vang

Join us in giving a warm welcome to our 2025 BCLI Cohort! For the next seven months, these 11 changemakers will be equipped to serve on city, county, metro, and state boards and commissions, walking alongside one another in power-building and leadership. Together, they are working to advance equity across economic development, health, housing, transit, and workforce development in Minnesota.

Our new fellows join a network of 157 alumni. Over half of them have been appointed to a board or commission or hold a high-level policy position, and all of them are building racial and economic equity in their communities.

Learn more about each fellow here!