CCLI Team
golnesa asheghAli (she/they)
Facilitator, Racing Magpie
Rapid City, SD
Born to Iranian parents in Arlington, Golnesa AsheghAli spent the majority of her life in Northern Virginia. A dedicated practitioner of Shotokan karate for the past 25 years, Golnesa followed her beloved master, Sensei Ahmad Ali Mazhari, and moved to occupied Oceti Sakowin Territory in 2014. Golnesa received a Bachelor of Arts in History from George Mason University (GMU) in 2007 and received a BA in Religious Studies in 2008. In 2015, she received her Master of Arts (GMU) in the field of Islamic Studies. Golnesa completed her second Masters degree in the field of secondary education from Black Hills State University in 2016 and after two wonderfully successful years in the classroom, made the very difficult decision to leave to push for equitable learning and growth opportunities for young people, outside of the colonial schooling system and the non-profit industrial complex. Golnesa’s harmful experience of xenophobia from co-workers and institutional resistance to change, coupled with her love and deep respect for young people and their families, drive her to work hard to offer truly youth centered spaces that encourage artistic expression and cultivate real critical thinking and a passion for literacy that will naturally lead to personal and collective liberation.
Dusty L. Nelson (she/her)
Facilitator, Racing Magpie
Rapid City, SD
Wi Pxehin Ži Win | Dusty L. Nelson, Oglala Lakota mother and relative was born and raised in her tribal community of Pine Ridge, were she continues her work in cultivating Lakota Language and Culture reclamation efforts. A graduate of Oglala Lakota College and the Montessori Center of Minnesota, Dusty combines her cultural heritage with contemporary best educational practices to create educational opportunities for her community.
Ricardo Beaird (any pronouns)
Facilitator, Springboard for the Arts St. Paul, MN. Ricardo Beaird is a theater maker, teaching artist, and cheese curd enthusiast originally from Nashville, Tennessee. Their recent work is informed by the unfinished business of ghosts, dis/connection through the internet, and sometimes Beyoncé. In addition to performing with Pangea World Theater, Park Square Theatre, Red Eye Theater and Ten Thousand Things Theater, Beaird is a Core Artist with Full Circle Theatre, advisory council member with the queer-led theater collective Lightning Rod, and an Artist Council member for the 2021 Northern Spark Arts Festival. Ricardo brings deep experience in collective visioning, workshop facilitation, and community organizing.
Sam Buffington (he/him)
Facilitator, Springboard for the Arts
St. Paul, MN
Sam Buffington has been a Community Organizer for 15 years. After receiving a BA in Ethnic Studies and Spanish (Bowling Green State University) he moved to Minneapolis to work for League of Pissed Off Voters, which used Hip Hop culture to engage young people in the electoral process. Through Organizing Apprentice Ship Project (now Voices for Racial Justice), he was placed at the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability where he was introduced to place-based community organizing and began to establish relationships that would shape his organizing philosophy. He worked for the St. Paul District Council System for 12 years, first for West Side Community Organization and later for Frogtown Neighborhood Association. In Frogtown he began to work with Jun-Li Wang, facilitating the Leadership in Support of Neighborhood program and partnering on Springboard’s Irrigate project. This experience jumpstarted his interest in Artists as community leaders. He has been at Springboard for two years.
Amanda Cortes (she/her)
Facilitator, Springboard for the Arts
St. Paul, MN
Amanda works at the intersection of racial justice, grassroots community development, art and culture. She is the proud daughter of Mexican immigrants and draws inspiration from her upbringing in working class, Latinx communities. Her practice includes civic engagement, mediation, artist career coaching and audio storytelling. Her independent work explores alternative models for community owned and stewarded real property. Amanda serves on the Board of the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (MRAC) and is a member of the Chicago ACT Collective. She is the Community Development Program Manager at Springboard for the Arts.
ABOUT THE PARTNERS
Racing Magpie Racing Magpie is a Lakota-centric arts and culture organization, founded in 2015 in Rapid City, South Dakota, to center the Lakota practice of being a good relative in everything that one does. Racing Magpie's work is focused on elevating and amplifying the ongoing work of community-based artists and culture bearers. Racing Magpie operates on a firm philosophy that art is the nexus and engine for all sorts of quality human engagement - difficult conversations, cultural understanding, physical and emotional healing, community building, creativity, and the enhancement of everyday life.
Springboard for the Arts is a national leader in creative community development. Our approach is rooted in the principles of community organizing and focuses on a "lots of little" strategy that surfaces unrecognized leaders in communities, builds public narratives from a multiplicity of perspectives and voices; and creates low-risk opportunities for collaboration. This equity-based model centers the lives and experiences of the people in and of the place; values the relationships, partnerships, and creative capacity that artists and communities build together and aims to build power and agency for individuals, neighborhoods and communities. We deliver programs locally and catalyze action nationally by sharing our adaptable strategies through free toolkits, consulting services, workshops and trainings.