MK Nguyen

• Program Manager - NLP
• Pronouns: she/they/chanh
• Year Hired: 2023

I am a Community Engagement Program Manager for the Neighborhood Leadership Program (NLP), a new program within NCEI. My job is to nurture the growth of a seven-month, cohort-based leadership program that offers people across communities the opportunity to connect, sharpen their practices, and grow critical consciousness around what it really means to be an engaged, community-centered leader in the Twin Cities. I will be responsible for ensuring that the design and implementation of NLP curriculum and evaluation is aligned with Nexus mission and values. I also support and co-facilitate other convenings and cohorts alongside my NCEI team and partners on consulting projects, the Engaged Learning Series, etc.

About MK

I am a loving child to elders, mother to two littles, and a droplet in the ocean of people working towards creating systems that will help us all return to a respectful and loving relationship with Mother Earth and all living relations on her. I connect and cultural work inside the Frogtown Neighborhood and work with other beloved across neighborhoods to center and resource work that stops harmful attacks on our communities, reminds people of their power, and shifts leadership to younger generations. I draw strength from our water, bumble bee, and mycelium relatives that help us remember our interdependence and natural instinct to return to each other. I spend most of my time learning about mothering and the expansiveness of this term. My current in joy is plastering viet/english words all over our home and translating children’s books from English to Viet and lullabies from Viet to English. My heart moves faster than my brain. To protect my heart, I surround myself with loving, thoughtful people who eat my cooking and help me articulate my heart into words.