Staff

Russ Adams, Executive Director

Russ Adams has been the Director of the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability since 1995. While at the Alliance, Russ has helped to open up Metropolitan Council public hearings by mobilizing citizens to testify on regional growth issues and to serve on advisory committees. He has regularly lobbied at the state capitol on affordable housing, urban redevelopment, public transit, and metropolitan governance issues.

In 1999, Russ staffed the successful Alliance Inclusionary Housing campaign at the legislature which secured $8 million in new funding for the creation of mixed-income communities across the state. In 2000, the Alliance played a lead convening role in persuading Hennepin County commissioners to allocate $4 million to endow an Affordable Housing Investment Fund and secure a $2 million McKnight Foundation match.

Russ previously served as the Executive Director of All Parks Alliance for Change (APAC), a tenants rights organization of manufactured home park residents. During his tenure as director, APAC received a Nonprofit Advocacy Award from the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits. Prior to his tenure at APAC, Russ worked as a Housing Specialist for the Harrison Neighborhood Association in North Minneapolis. In 1994 he successfully coordinated two projects with the Washington County Housing and Redevelopment Authority that resulted in the purchase and permanent preservation of over 425 units of affordable housing. Russ received his BA from Grinnell College in American Studies.

Maura Brown, Director of Organizing

Maura joined the staff of the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability in May 2000. As the Alliance’s Director of Organizing, Maura supervises the Alliance's organizing staff and ensures that our activities, campaigns and relationships are strategically coordinated. She directs Alliance projects which emphasize grassroots organizing and the strategic capacity building that unites member and allied organizations in building an integrated approach to achieving regional equity.

Maura has been a community organizer in the Twin Cities for the past 12 years. After receiving her BA in political science from Swarthmore College, she began organizing low-income tenants cross-culturally to identify their shared problems and achieve their desired solutions at the Central Community Housing Trust, an urban non-profit developer of affordable housing. Her work involved helping tenants to be heard in the public policy arena and to achieve a more equitable distribution of millions of dollars of city resources targeted towards “neighborhood revitalization.”

Maura then served as the Director of the Harrison Neighborhood Association (HNA) for four years. HNA is the citizen participation organization for a racially diverse, lower-income neighborhood in North Minneapolis. While at HNA, she developed and sustained broad community leadership on a wide variety of issues including: creating and restoring affordable housing; revitalizing a commercial corridor; creating a community center; cleaning polluted lands and planning for sustainable mixed-use development; cleaning and protecting a creek and watershed, and wringing community benefits from local redevelopment.

Tracy Nordquist, Development and Communications Director

Tracy Nordquist joined the Alliance in March as our first Development Director. Tracy has spent the last five years raising money for other local nonprofit organizations. Before joining the Alliance she was the development director at the Resource Center of the Americas. She has also served as director of development and communications at the Minnesota Environmental Initiative. She also served on the board of directors of the Minnesota Environmental Fund. Tracy holds a master of public policy degree with a focus in public and nonprofit leadership from the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.

Joan Vanhala, Coalition Organizer

Joan Vanhala joined the Alliance in February 2008 as a coalition organizer. Joan has an accomplished career that includes: expertise in community organizing to achieve lasting results through effective partnerships; leadership development to sustain organizing efforts for long-term community strength; and the inclusion of racial equity as a necessary component of grassroots community development. Her work in leadership development includes creating curriculum and leading classes in organizing, conducting community best practices workshops and providing one-on-one technical support to community leaders.

Before joining the Alliance, Joan worked for the Seward and Longfellow neighborhoods to develop and implement restorative justice programs for juveniles. She previously worked as the Native American Educational Services college campus director and a program manager for the Community Leadership Development Program at Family & Children's Service. As a community organizer for the Phillips neighborhood, Joan led several successful campaigns that resulted in Green Institute/ReUse Center, Midtown Greenway Coalition, Franklin Avenue revitalization, public art projects created by neighborhood youth, and an energized citizen participation process in neighborhood planning and development. Joan has a degree in Community Organizing, Leadership Development: Methods and Practices from Metropolitan State University.

Mike Asmus, Administrative Coordinator

Mike Asmus joined the Alliance in March as our Administrative Coordinator. Mike has spent the last two years working in the Labor Movement.

Board of Directors

Allan Malkis - President
Jewish Community Action

Julia Freeman - Vice President
At Large

Rachel Dykoski At Large

Flo Golod At Large

Mat Hollinshead Sierra Club, Northstar Chapter

Beth Kodluboy HOME Line

Mari Lecours Community Stabilization Project

Natalia Pretelt Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers

Lea Schuster Transit for Livable Communities