>Transportation > Central Corridor > Public Involvement
Central Corridor Community Outreach Staff
Prospect Park, Stadium Village, University of Minnesota, and West Bank
Jessica Hill
Jessica Hill – Prior to joining the Central Corridor outreach team in 2007, Jessica Hill worked for 12 years in the non-profit sector providing assistance in education and job training for the Somali population and serving as a trainer of trainers for cultural understanding across the state of Minnesota. Hill is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and knows American Sign Language, and some Somali and French. She lives one block off the Hiawatha LRT, is an active board member for her neighborhood association, and is Board President for her local park.
Contact:
651-602-1840
jessica.hill@metc.state.mn.us
Dale, Rice, and Capitol East
Shoua Lee
Shoua Lee (pronounced SHOO’-ah LEE’) – Formerly project manager/loan specialist for the city of St. Paul’s Department of Planning and Economic Development, she speaks Hmong and English. With the city, she served as liaison about the LRT project to businesses, nonprofit organizations and ethnic chambers of commerce. She was one of two city staff who organized the recently formed Hmong Business Association to prepare for the LRT line.
Contact:
651-602-1014
shoua.lee@metc.state.mn.us
Fairview, Raymond, and Westgate
Rita Rodriguez
Rita Rodriguez – Executive Director for the Association of Women Contractors and a previous business owner on University Avenue, she speaks Spanish and English. She previously worked for Women Venture, developing and managing the Jobs in the Trades Program to prepare women for employment in pre-apprenticeship programs in the construction industry.
Contact:
651-602-1805
rita.rodriguez@metc.state.mn.us
Snelling and Lexington
Hue Pham
Hue Pham (pronounced Way Fam) – Previous work includes managing the Vietnam and Thailand programs for Children’s Home Society Family Services as well as various management positions at AT&T Corp and IBM and as a Wilder Foundation bi-cultural consultant in St. Paul providing special training services. She is an Augsburg College business administration graduate who speaks fluent Vietnamese and English.
Contact:
651-602-1559
hue.pham@metc.state.mn.us
Joey Browner
Joey Browner - Following his NFL career with the Minnesota Vikings (1983-1991) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1991-1992), Browner has worked as an events coordinator, motivational speaker, charity fundraiser, internet talk radio show host and facilitator of youth leadership conferences and sports camps. For the past 20 years, he has taught traditional martial arts at the Marshall Avenue School of Self Defense in St. Paul.
Contact:
651-602-1953
joey.browner@metc.state.mn.us
Dana Happel
Dana Happel - With more than nine years of experience working in and with neighborhood and community-based organizations, Happel is very familiar with the Central Corridor. Happel, who is fluent in Spanish, has been an employment counselor for Goodwill/Easter Seals in south Minneapolis, a job counselor for St. Paul-based Communidades Latinas Unidos En Servicio (CLUES) and a bilingual staff associate at Listening House in St. Paul, where she assisted clients with mental and chemical health issues.
Contact:
651-602-1954
dana.happel@metc.state.mn.us
Intern
Shawn Walding
Shawn Walding is completing a master’s degree in urban and regional planning at the University of Minnesota while he interns with the Central Corridor LRT Project. An Iowa State University graduate with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, he has worked on structural design for several projects, including various 3M process facilities, a dam restoration project near Monrovia, Liberia, and the Midtown Exchange building in Minneapolis. His study interests center on public involvement within issues of land use, transportation and the environment. Walding volunteers as a local high school Ultimate Frisbee coach.
Contact:
651-602-1952
shawn.walding@metc.state.mn.us
Manager of Public Involvement
Robin Caufman
Robin Caufman – With the Met Council since 2001, Robin was a planning analyst/sector representative before she became manager of public involvement for the Central Corridor LRT Project. Her previous Met Council job involved coordinating outreach and regional planning activities with cities in Hennepin County. She has a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs.
Contact:
651-602-1457
robin.caufman@metc.state.mn.us
(NOTE: Media have permission to download and reprint the maps and staff photos on the Central Corridor downloads web page.)
