Community Advisory Council Members

The Community Advisory Council serves as an external advisory board to review and recommend broad programmatic directions, to evaluate the impact of the Institute within the state and region, to serve as liaison and advocate for the Institute's involvement in community-based activities, and to advise on critical areas of need that the Institute should address in future planning efforts.

Members of the Institute's Community Advisory Council include the following individuals, as of March 2020 –

• Carolyn Allshouse - MN Family Voices
• Lester Bauer - Parent Advocate
• Wendy Berghorst - MN Department of Health
• Jesse Bethke-Gomez - Metropolitan Center for Independent Living - Family Member
• Curtis Buhman - MN Department of Human Services, Disability Services Division
• Shelly Christensen - Inclusion Innovations - Parent Advocate
• Mariam Egal - MN Department of Human Services
• Ruth Evangelista - La Red Latino Childcare Network - Parent Advocate
• Paris Gatlin - The Arc Minnesota - Parent Advocate
• Vicki Gerrits - Accord
• Antonietta Giovanni - Parent Advocate
• Cynthia Hillyer - Minneapolis Public Schools
• David Hancox - AccraCare
• Mary Harding - Parent Advocate
• Evan Henspeter - Dakota County Community Services
• Graciela Ibarra - Self-Advocate
• Darren Kermes - SW Metro Intermediate School District
• Julie Manworren - Living Well Disability Services
• Sara Messelt - Proof Alliance
• Kate Onyeneho - Center for Africans Now in America (CANA), MN Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities - Parent Advocate
• Pat Pulice - Fraser
• Ruth Richardson - MN House of Representatives - Family Member
• Bud Rosenfield - MN Disability Law Center - Family Member
• Julia Sawyer - Holland Biomedical Clinic-Special Projects - Parent Advocate
• Sue Schettle - ARRM, Inc.
• David Sherwood – Gabrielson - Retired Disability Professional - Parent Advocate
• Robert Wagner - Disability Professional
• Jesús Villaseñor - PACER - Parent Advocate
• Allana Walsh - Anoka Hennepin Public Schools  - Family member
• Robin Widley - MN Department of Education
• Ellie Wilson - Autism Society of MN
• Andrea Zuber - The Arc Minnesota

If you would like to learn more about the Community Advisory Council, please contact Beth Fondell at 612-624-6830 or by e-mail at fond0030@umn.edu.