Russ Adams, Executive Director

Russ Adams has been the executive director of the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability since 1995. He has worked as a nonprofit advocate and community organizer for over 25 years. During this time, he has helped to build community coalitions in support of economic and racial justice; sustainable and equitable development; renewable energy practices; community benefits from land-use policies and urban growth investments; digital inclusion and challenged public officials to address environmental justice concerns. 
 
In June of 2006, Russ took a temporary leave of absence from the Alliance to work as the field director for the Keith Ellison for U.S. Congress campaign. Rep. Ellison is the first Muslim American to be elected to Congress. Russ previously served as director of All Parks Alliance for Change, a tenants’ rights organization of manufactured home park residents. 

Tracy Nordquist Babler, Development and Communications Director

Tracy Nordquist joined the Alliance in March 2007 as the organization's first development and communications director. Tracy spent the previous 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.

Maura Brown, Associate Director

Maura Brown joined the Alliance staff in May 2000. Maura ensures that each Alliance campaign emphasizes grassroots organizing, strong research support and strategic capacity-building that unites organizations in building an integrated approach to achieving regional equity. Her work to ensure that Alliance initiatives reflect the values of many people, particularly low-income people and people of color, has been nationally recognized by PolicyLink and the Funders Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities. She previously served as the director of the Harrison Neighborhood Association, a citizen participation organization in North Minneapolis. Before that, she organized low-income tenants at Central Community Housing Trust, a nonprofit developer of affordable urban housing.

Avi Viswanathan, HIRE Minnesota Coalition Organizer

Avi Viswanathan joined the Alliance in April 2011 as the new HIRE Minnesota coalition organizer. Avi brings a wealth of political knowledge and legal expertise to the Alliance as a graduate of Suffolk University Law School with a Juris Doctorate. Avi has worked for legal aid in disability advocacy and low-income housing issues, which provided him the occasion to work with people who experienced housing discrimination. He has also provided legal consultation for domestic violence and child custody issues. Just prior to the Alliance, Avi worked for Senator Al Franken’s office for a year before running for State Senator in District 67 of St. Paul.

Avi strongly believes in movement building, viewing it as the only means to make a lasting change in society, and particularly so for people of color. As a coalition organizer for HIRE Minnesota, he advances the racial justice movement by making sure that the coalition stays engaged in creating family-sustaining employment opportunities for low-income communities as well as communities of color.

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.

Ebony Adedayo, Program Coordinator

Ebony Adedayo joined the Alliance in April 2011 as the new program coordinator. She comes to the Alliance with a wealth of experience and education in social justice work. Ebony is from Milwaukee, WI, but came to Minnesota to pursue a Bachelor of Arts in Pastoral Studies in 2001. After receiving her bachelor’s, she went on to seminary to pursue a Master of Divinity. While there, she had a life changing experience in her travels to Rwanda in 2007, where she saw the genocide memorial and mass graves. This had a great impact on Ebony, and she decided to change her focus in seminary to missions, with an emphasis on social justice and reconciliation. Before joining the Alliance, Ebony put this passion into action while working for Bread for the World, an organization committed to ending hunger at home and abroad.

As the program coordinator, Ebony provides organizing and technical support for all the programs of the Alliance. In this position, Ebony has the opportunity to have a hand in all the racial, economic and environmental justice work of the Alliance and to learn more about the current state of policy and organizing in these areas. Ebony hopes to be able to move to Africa and apply what she has learned in social justice and development to help people overseas.

Owen Duckworth - President
Transit for Livable Communities

George Garnett
Summit Academy OIC

Larry Hiscock
Harrison Neighborhood Association

Tina Homstad
Local Initiatives Support Corporation

Mona Langston - Vice President
Housing Preservation Project

Karen Monahan
Sierra Club Northstar Chapter

Nancy Pomplun
Asian Economic Development Association

Eleonore Wesserle - Secretary
Women's Environmental Institute

Daniel Yang
Native American Community Development Institute