Ep 250: The Power of Neighbors: A Leadership Story from Minneapolis with Emilia Gonzalez Avalos

Summary

Episode Summary: The Power of Neighbors – A Leadership Story from Minneapolis

Podcast: Nonprofits Are Messy with Joan Garry
Episode: 250
Guest: Emilia Gonzalez Avalos, Executive Director, Unidos Minnesota
Release Date: March 28, 2026

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Overview

This powerful episode explores grassroots leadership, collective action, and resilience in the face of crisis during Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis. Joan Garry and guest co-host delve deep with Emilia Gonzalez Avalos about how nonprofit networks, rapid response, and a culture of neighborly solidarity have protected and empowered both immigrants and the broader community during an unprecedented federal immigration enforcement operation. Listeners are offered insights for nonprofit leadership and community organizing applicable well beyond Minnesota.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Context: Crisis in Minneapolis, The Role of Nonprofits

• Minneapolis has faced repeated crises, from the murder of George Floyd to massive ICE operations.
• Operation Metro Surge (2026): Nearly 3,000 ICE agents deployed; two U.S. citizens murdered; widespread fear.
• Over 3,000 local nonprofits play critical roles where government cannot or will not act (00:00–01:44).
• Quote:
  “There are 3,000 nonprofit organizations offering services that city, state and federal government can't or shouldn't provide … housing, advocacy for immigrant and other marginalized communities.” – Joan (01:14)

2. Emilia’s Story: Migration & Early Organizing Roots

• Born in Mexico City, emigrated at age 12 following family migration patterns for work.
• Stories of resilience and self-determination are woven into her family: “I was raised by people that taught me that I was part of a very long story that didn't begin with me, but also did not end with me.” – Emilia (08:44)
• Deeply influenced by generational narratives of fighting for rights, land, and dignity (07:26–09:27).

3. Path to Leadership and Founding Unidos Minnesota

• Emilia’s organizing started in college, driven by personal aspirations and the Dreamer movement.
• Faith community became an organizing nexus. Collaborated with other immigrants and labor leaders, gaining skills in power analysis and organizing from labor giants (09:50–13:55).
• Reframed Unidos from a service/advocacy group to a “power building” organization using both C3 and C4 frameworks (14:40).

4. Rapid Response: Lessons from History Prepared the Present

• Past crises and collaboration with leaders like Jacinta Gonzalez (Labor Day workers, Black Panther lessons) informed their approach (17:40–21:58).
• Building rapid response infrastructure began in Trump’s first term, evolving through the pandemic and George Floyd uprisings.
• “By the time Operation Metro Surge was fully deployed, our full building in the office already had lockdown plans.” – Emilia (32:30)

5. Operation Metro Surge: Civil Society as the Answer

• When 3,000 ICE agents arrived, Unidos and partner groups had anticipated, trained, and mobilized.
• First rapid response training (2025): 2,000+ people (27:19).
• By Metro Surge's peak, over 50,000(!) neighborhood legal observers had been trained (31:25).
• Methods included making knowledge accessible; focusing on rights, legal observing, mutual aid, and safe tech use.

Specific Training Example:

• Tier one: Mixed-status families learn about rights (e.g., to remain silent, access an attorney, not opening the door without a judicial warrant).
• Tier two: “Upstander” training for citizens and neighbors – civil observation, tech safety, mutual aid, and the vital role of belonging.
• “We told people… officers can lie to you. But these are your rights. Making sure that people get the right civil education.” (34:40)

6. Personal Risk, Grief, and Self-care in Leadership

• Challenge: Constitutional observing sometimes came with risk of violence—even death—as seen with the murder of volunteers like Renee Goode.
• Emilia candidly shares embracing grief rather than avoiding it (39:20), drawing strength from history, faith, and the community’s continued turnout for trainings and vigils:
• Quote:
  “Sometimes the only thing you need to do is to not get in the way of people … Everybody has recourse… in moments of crisis. Sometimes our job is to not get in the way. Give them the tools, and let them run unleashed.” – Emilia (42:25)

7. Sustaining the Work Beyond the Flashpoint

• ICE has “backed off,” but the work endures. Organizing must be ongoing; vigilance and community bonds are essential (45:20–47:05).
• Anyone, anywhere can build resilient neighborhood networks: “Any community anywhere has the elements to build these networks, starting with issues of local importance and connecting with neighbors you've never met to create coalitions.” (46:26)

8. Frameworks for Resilience and Political Change

• Understanding the opposition: Three pillars—racial antagonism, economic resentment, and mistrust of government—are used to divide.
• Building counter-narratives centered on neighborliness, belonging, and inclusion is key. Movements must convert outrage and organizing into “political consequences” for real change.
• Quote:
  “In the midst of violence … we have to carve the path for an us that does not leave anybody behind. That is the most important cultural reinvestment.” (50:32)

9. Leadership Defined & Final Lessons

• Leadership isn’t about titles but about investing in the potential of people and institutions.
• Quote (referencing Brené Brown):
  “A leader is the person that assumes or takes on the responsibility to invest in the potential of other people or institutions or own systems. Minnesotans are leaders that took on the responsibility to invest in the democracy potential of our country.” (55:50)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On organizing roots:
  “We always have choices to make, and we can choose to do the hard things, and that's up to us to make that decision. But also, when we make the hard decision, sometimes the payout is greater... more generational than we think.” – Emilia (07:43)
• On grassroots power:
  “This infrastructure meant that we came in peace, but we meant business.” – Emilia (14:35)
• On overcoming fear:
  “They will come in … record the premises, ask questions ... as a way, I will say, to intimidate us, decrease our work. You should be scared. It's important that everybody has good counsel... the trainings were entirely based on First Amendment and Fourth Amendment and the 14th Amendment.” – Emilia (31:22)
• On community response after tragedy:
  “After the murder, local organization set up a vigil. … We thought that most people were going to be in this vigil and that people were going to get scared. … We get to the church, and it was already packed.” – Emilia (41:28)
• On sustaining movements:
  “First win is a rolling stone that gathers moss. … You have actually ignited people.” – Joan (54:02)
• On belonging:
  “We not only have a democracy crisis, we have a crisis of belonging. … What we are building in the midst of the worst things … is the path for an us that does not leave anybody behind.” – Emilia (50:32)

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Important Timestamps

• 00:00–01:44 – Setting the scene: Minneapolis’s recurring crises and nonprofit infrastructure
• 03:14–09:27 – Emilia’s migration story and family legacy
• 09:50–14:35 – College organizing and founding of Unidos Minnesota
• 17:40–23:20 – Early rapid response organizing, lessons from other movements
• 27:19–29:40 – Rapid response activation, legal observer numbers, and on-the-ground reality during Metro Surge
• 34:19–37:43 – Deep dive: Training details (rights, mutual aid, tech, upstander training)
• 39:20–42:25 – Coping with tragedy, grief, and continued collective action
• 45:20–54:02 – Movement framing: Countering division with belonging, political consequences, and sustaining the win
• 55:50–end – Definition of leadership and closing reflections

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Practical Takeaways for Listeners

• Invest in steady, community-based infrastructure—don’t wait for crisis:
  • Advance training, scenario planning, and a network of neighbors.
• Leadership is about enabling others:
  • Move barriers, offer tools, empower diverse voices.
• Counter divisive narratives with belonging and neighborliness:
  • Organize and communicate around shared values and care.
• Sustained engagement trumps one-off mobilization:
  • Turn marches and flashpoints into ongoing civic participation.

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Final Reflection

This episode is a masterclass in grassroots leadership for crisis and beyond, reminding us that democracy and safety are made by neighbors who show up for each other—and that anyone, anywhere can build these forms of resilient, generative solidarity.

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For further resources, visit joangarry.com/podcast.

Transcript

[A]

So Minneapolis is not, sadly, not a stranger to crisis. Feels like it was yesterday, really. George Floyd's murder on the streets of Minneapolis ignited a racial reckoning, and the citizens of Minneapolis were not quiet.

[B]

Fast forward to the arrival of hundreds of members of ice, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, armed with a mission using air quotes listeners to to identify and bring into custody dangerous. There's those air quotes again. Non US Citizens with criminal records. It was called Operation Metro surge. And nearly 3,000 agents arrived to deliver on that ominous promise. Two U.S. citizens were murdered and an entire city was and we're going to talk about this, perhaps is terrorized. You'd have to live under a rock to not have heard about this crisis.

[A]

So, you know, Glenda, I was thinking about, we've been thinking about this is what, what folks may be less aware of is this infrastructure that's supporting the people of Minneapolis to hold steady, to push back and protect and defend their neighbors. I mean, we often talk about the fact that nonprofits don't get the spotlight they deserve. And that's one of the things that made us want to talk to Amelia today and to talk about what's happening in Minneapolis. Think about this. There are 3,000 nonprofit organizations offering services that city, state and federal government can't or shouldn't provide. Emergency services, counseling, housing, advocacy for immigrant and other marginalized communities.

[B]

We really feel like there are so many leadership lessons and I myself am located in New Jersey. Joan is as well. So I have been watching this from afar and I feel like there are lessons to learn about what happened and what is happening in Minnesota and today. We are so lucky to have one leader from one organization who is going to walk us through what actually is happening, what does it mean, and what lessons can leaders take and incorporate with their own communities? So stay with us after the break and meet our guide.

[C]

Foreign

[B]

welcome to Nonprofits Are Messy with Joan, Gary and Experts. This podcast is your go to space for insights, advice and inspiration designed to help nonprofit leaders overcome challenges and drive impact. Whether you're navigating small beginnings or leading a larger organization, we're here to support you every step of the way. Together with Joan and a diverse group of expert guests, we tackle the big questions nonprofit leaders face and offer actionable advice to fuel your leadership journey. A special thank you to donorperfect for sponsoring this episode and supporting nonprofits that we love. Now, let's jump in.

[C]

Foreign.

[B]

Please welcome to the show Amelia Gonzalez Avalos, the executive director of Unidos Minnesota. Amelia, we'll include your bio in the show notes. But for our listeners, can you just share a little bit about how you got to where you are right now? How, how did you wind up in Minnesota at Unidos and doing the important work that you're doing?

[C]

Well, thank you so much, Glenda and Joan, for having me. I am truly what we can call a Mexico. I was born in Mexico City and I arrived to Minnesota when I was 12 years old. My father had been a migrant worker in different places in the usa. And my neighbors in Mexico City next door said, you, you know, you should come to this place in Minnesota. There's work, it's super cold.

[A]

And snow.

[C]

There's work, but it's super cold. But you're able to do this throughout winter. You're gonna enjoy because people are really nice and there's so much green, there's so much water. It's so beautiful. You're gonna love it. And so my dad, from working in California or Texas or Colorado, decided to head to Minnesota after my mother gave birth to my baby brother in 1992. And then this is where we settled and I joined him later when we could afford it. And we made that decision. So I was educated in the state. I arrived in a time where the border and the policy on immigration was very different. We didn't have a militarized border. There wasn't a conversation about enforcement or undocumented folks in Minnesota. Most of those issues were dealt in California or Texas. And I was a teenager when there was this very scary censor burner policy that was defeated in the bay in the California area. But it was very, so far away from Minnesota. This is, it was very remote to me. But then I graduated from high school around 2000 and around 2000, 2001. And then that's when life changes because you are sheltered when you're undocumented student. You're sheltering your, you know, your high school and there's some activities. And back then you could get a driver's license in Minnesota, regardless of immigration status. But then after the towers and the terrorist attack, a lot of things changed. That was also the year in which congressman from Illinois, he's about to retire this year. He's an elder, but he introduced for the first time the DREAM Act. And so I remember watching the news at home and saying, oh, this is for undocumented students. And then I guess that will be me. When they pass this law in this session in a few months, then I will be able to have a path and be set free. I guess I remember I joined The Dreamer movement. In the local meetings in my college, I remember that I was invited to hold a role. I remember that I went to marches and rallies, and I thought this was going to be an easy task. I joined the Dreamer movement because I wanted to go to school, because I wanted to get a degree. I wanted my dad to be proud of me. And I stayed organizing because I understood that this was not an easy issue, that there was some other relations and some other structural battles when it came to inequality in the country.

[A]

Amelia, this. This sort of appetite to sort of mobilize, like get out and rally and do that. Were you that kind of kid, or were the circumstances such that it just sort of propelled you into it?

[C]

I was a kid. I was an outspoken kid. Okay. I come from a family of construction workers and service workers that helped get people out of the rubble, out of the 1985 earthquake in Mexico City.

[B]

Oh, wow.

[C]

My grandfather worked in the railroads. He was a bracero after World War II. We come from people that didn't have the right to own land. My great grandparents were indigenous people that had to fight with Zapata because indigenous people couldn't own land. And so this tradition of self determination, of generational storytelling about what my grandpa had to do so that our street could have power, what my great grandpa had to do so that we could have some ownership of a little piece of land, what they had to do to support their families, like, you know, come to the US and work in the railroads. That kind of storytelling tells you that we always have choices to make, and we can choose to do the hard things, and that's up to us to make that decision. But also, when we make the hard decision, sometimes the payout is greater and it's more generational than we think. So I definitely come from people that have done hard things. My dad came to this country with nothing, and he will tell me things like, you know, you, you, you. You have now the responsibility to provide your children with better education because I was able to give you what you have. And I didn't have. I never graduated from high school. I didn't get a degree. So now you have. Like I was told. I think that the key element is that I was raised by people that taught me that I was part of a very long story that didn't begin with me, but also did not end with me.

[B]

Talk about that, Amelia. I think that kind of gets to our next question, which is the organization you work for.

[A]

How'd you wind up college student?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Talk about how your path to Unidos. And I'm sure our listeners would love to understand the basic mission of the work that you do. Yes.

[C]

So during my time as a freshman college student, I was a young student in a community college. That was the place where many of us ended up when we were not full right valedictorian that could afford the private institutions. And so I had to work in order to help support my family. But also, I was a very good student. I liked school. And community college became the place where I met other people. I remember working in my local church. I'm a Catholic, and I am a member of my local church, which is one of the largest Latino churches in Minneapolis. I remember some of the church leaders and Father Carvaldez said, you know, a little thing or two about going to college, and we have these disparities in Minnesota with Latino students. Like, we have this grant from the Minnesota Department of Education. Would you like to get involved and just by sharing what will be a program so that parents learn how to help their children get to college and graduate from college? And I said, absolutely, yes, I would love to do that. And through that, I met a bunch of students from other colleges. And one of them was. His name is Juventino Mesa. He was the founder of what used to be called navigate, which was a network of undocumented students, students that will get together and share tips on how to navigate from high school into college. Other coaches and teachers help them develop that network, and they will get together and just have conversations and share tips and lessons learned and host panels and happy hours and things like that. I was invited to join as part of the board, but my formation as an organizer truly came from labor organizing. I was very curious. I've always been very curious about change and politics. And so in one of these panels at the church, I met the President of SEIU Local 26. His name is Javier Murillo. He retired, and now he works for Minnesota for Movement Border Project and the Foundation Movement Border Project. And so I remember having a meeting with him and saying, you know, there's all these people trying to make decisions about driver's licenses and the DREAM act, and I'm not at the table, and how do I join these tables? And you say, well, now you have to organize. And I'm like, what does that mean? I don't know what that is. SEIU sponsored me to go and get trained for the first time by amazing people, including Eliseo Medina, who taught me my first lessons of what it meant to have one to ones organize people. Build committees, power analysis and maps. And when I came back, I was like, okay, I'm ready to do more. And with the transition of that leadership happened around the time that DACA was approved. So there was like the energy that existed before DACA sort of morphed. A lot of people left to get better jobs and fulfill their careers. So I had this nonprofit container that had a very important history and it was my task to figure out what was next. I made the choice to build a power organization, make organizing the main operation, build the infrastructure so that power based building and the self determination of regular people will be at the center of the decisions of the outcomes and the agenda. Long story short, here we are. Unidos Minnesota is a power organization where our C3 drives an agenda forming, committee setting and leadership development. The C4 enacts our social welfare and political direction. We also build pacs, independent expenditures or coordinated PAC for political consequences or political formation, which is incredibly important. When I did all this organizing when I was not a citizen, right, I did not have access to caucus rooms, I could not vote. But all this infrastructure was able to provide for a sound, powerful vehicle for people that used to be, or continue to be even today, being considered political expediency. But then this infrastructure meant that we came in peace, but we meant business.

[A]

I'm stuck back on what your dad said to you about being part of one long story. And there's a. For me listening to you just, it's really inspiring to hear you take such ownership and control right. Of how that story continues to play out. And I think that you are likely, you know, one of many people in Minneapolis and Minnesota and around the country who have this same kind of drive. And it's, it's. Yeah, it's, it's quite something.

[B]

I want to piggyback on that and just say I feel like for as one of the people not in Minneapolis, who has dear friends in Minneapolis and was just there last year for an incredible conference, I had no idea all the things that Minneapolis and the Twin Cities had to offer. There was a lot of just sadness and shock coming out of the things that we were seeing happening in Minneapolis, but also so much inspiration and hope. And so when we come back from the break, I'd love to hear you were running Unidos at the time. I'd love to hear like when did you find out that this operation was going to happen and how did you mobilize? What is, what has it been like for you? So we're going to take a quick break. And then I want to hear about sort of now and what it's actually like living and mobilizing in Minneapolis.

[A]

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[B]

could share with I have been wondering, as I've seen the images, you know, on TV and on my computer and listen to podcasts about what's been going on in Minneapolis starting In February of 2026, what has it been like for you? How, how did you learn this was coming? And, and what has what have you and your organization been up to?

[A]

The other piece of the puzzle too is it's hard to be ready for something like this. Right. And maybe add into your story here. I want to say, were you ready for this? But I don't know that that's actually the right question. So yeah, tell us about the now.

[C]

So you're never ready. I think one of the best qualities that an organizer can have is to live in the world, as is one of the biggest lessons for me became very clear when I was in D.C. with a bunch of other immigrant rights organizers back in between 2013, 2014. We were doing what we called the fast for families, where we had the numbers to pass a DREAM act bail or a comprehensive immigration reform bill, something meaningful. We had the votes. It was a bipartisan bill. And the only thing that needed to happen was for Speaker Boehner to drop the bill in the docket. And while we were forcing or organizing pushing him to do that, we were in D.C. where the Virginia primaries, through the results, that one of the most powerful Republican leaders back in the day was Eric Cantor, had been successfully primaried by a Tea Party opponent. To me, that was a huge red flag. It meant to me that there was a growing base of Americans that were in the narrative that some of the inequality or the inequities that they experienced were the fault of immigrants. They understood that as an explanation to the injustices that were happening around them. Of course, the second red flag was the first Trump race where people did not believe that that could be possible. And I remember watching our attorney General was a congressman back then, Keith Ellison, he took that race seriously. And I agree with him. When he was in this interview with I think it was MSNBC and he said he's gonna win the primary. This is dangerous. We have to think, we have to be serious about the consequen. And I remember the rest of the hosts were laughing. There is some strategic proximity. When you are an immigrant and have lived with regular people that gives you some type of knowledge. I am hopeful for a multiracial democracy, but I have also seen the economic resentment being weaponized in workplaces or in back of restaurant houses or even in communities. And it was scary. Unidos was an organization with 1.2 FTS back then. There was a lot of volunteers, but also our infrastructure was teeny tiny. And so in the first Trump administration, we started building rapid response mechanisms. Smart we started what will it be to tend to the needs of people that fall in the cracks of system infrastructure, like government system infrastructure, while we build the organizing arm that is accountable to these folks. How do you do that at the same time? And so the first test drive was Trump 1.0. I have a very good friend, her name is Jacinta Gonzalez Goodman. She used to work at andylon and then she moved to Mi Gente. She's in a different organization now. I can't remember where she is, but basically she came to Minnesota in Trump 1.0. I remember I had just given birth to my nine year old now.

[B]

Oh, wow.

[C]

So I was asleep, deprived, breastfeeding. We had these scales and this crazy crisis. And she sat down with me and she gave me some lessons of Labor Day workers that learned during Hurricane Katrina on how to train neighbors as constitutional observers from the lessons from the Black Panthers.

[A]

Oh, wow.

[C]

And so we did that. We set up a table and then a lot of organizations in Minnesota partnered with us and we started taking bets out of this infrastructure. And it was something that we built back then. We also experienced the pandemic and the uprisings of George Floyd. So that rapid response morphed and evolved and developed more knowledge. And then we also learned that if you want your operation to be service, if you want your operation to be advocacy, or if you want your operation to be power building, the alignment with the rapid response infrastructure needs to be able to make sense to these very three different operations in your own terms. And so Unidos did not want to be a service based organization. There's thousands of organizations that do that in Minnesota.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Unidos also do not want to be an advocacy organization. We have the ACLU and the ILCM and advocates of human rights that do that. Unidos wanted to build the operation to build and exercise the power to address the collective self interest of a multiracial base that was forming around some issues. In order to operationalize that effectively, this rapid response needed to be an on ramp that was legitimate, transparent, but also a utility for this on ramp. So these two tasks were not competing in operational attention. And so by the time that we were running really hard on electoral results on our coordinated pack, we had to create some scenario planning where what happens if we win, what happens if we lose, what happens? Worst case scenario, they get all the money that they need to be able to fulfill this $60 billion mass deportation vision. When we built this scenario, we had some mechanisms. Monarcha became the mechanism in which we will try to tackle the $60 billion question infrastructure challenge. Now this is, this. I can share this with you because I also feel despair. And I was scared how this organization that has never raised over $5 million is going to withstand or help withstand a $60 billion most powerful country

[A]

in

[C]

modern history with this little infrastructure. I remember again these lessons from my family members. One very important political moment for me was growing up listening how my dad and my uncles and my relatives that were construction workers did not wait for the state or the government or the organizations to come and rescue them in the time of crisis. They got their shovels, they got their tools and their hands and they went on and outside of the rubble in Mexico City and they helped find as many people as they possibly could. The goal in the first two weeks was to get as many people alive out.

[B]

Right.

[C]

And the goal after the first month was to get as many people to their families, as many deceased folks so that their families could have their, their, their closure in their moment of grief.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So. So let me, let me ask you this, Amelia. If we could to. I mean, I think you've done a really magnificent job of articulating how you have ready. How you ready doing this for what? In the global Sense, for the $60 billion mass deportation plan. But then 3,000 ICE agents arrive in Minneapolis and if you could bring to life for us, Here they come, here they are. You have a rapid response program, right? You're a power builder. What does it look like on the ground? What is Unidos doing and with whom? When this particular. When this newest crisis that you have actually honestly anticipated, predicted and were ready for, what did it look like?

[C]

So the biggest lesson is that when your Infrastructure is inadequate. The answer is always civil society. And so we deployed our first training a year before Operation Metrosearch. That first rapid response training welcomed over 2,000 people.

[B]

Wow.

[C]

And so we continue this rhythm of training as many people as we could across the state. We did not abandon the commitment to building that capacity.

[A]

I see.

[C]

And so at the beginning of the despair, like the electoral shock, or every time there was a new announcement, a new executive order or a new shock, the number of people coming to these trainings will go up and then it will get down, it will decline depending on the moment. But by us being, like, consistently in this rhythm, training people, we train other people to deliver the trainings, making it as accessible as possible. Not about parties, not about too sophisticated political education, but making it super accessible to regular people from all walks of life so that they could take it and run with it. By the time that we had our first heavy incident in Minnesota, which was June of 2025, we had already trained close to 19, 20,000 people.

[A]

Wow. Wow.

[C]

In small settings, very small settings. And so by December, we started seeing the increase of incidences. In December, MetroSearch officially became an actual official operation after Christmas in 2025. But in Unidos, we had experienced harassment, we had experienced surveillance, and we also were served a subpoena by the Department of Homeland Security on Christmas Day.

[A]

I think there's a point worth just really highlighting is there are times when people who are not on the ground, they think one day everything was fine and then it was, oh, tada, it's Operation Metro Surge. But what? Right, yeah, it doesn't look like that.

[C]

They increased the tension. They let us know that they were surrounding our offices. They make sure that we were aware that we were in the look, that they were aware that we existed. First by driving around and getting into our office. Our office is on the second floor of a Latino market. And so they will come in, agents will come in in civilian clothes and record the premises, ask questions about Unidos to the different vendors in the restaurants or in the bakery. They will make sure that we will see them recording with eight or five different agents before Metro search. And so when then there were more convoys, different cars with the mask, agents in full gear with large guns around the corridor or in the parking lot, trying to get into the building. Like I said, we also got served a subpoena, an i9 subpoena, as a way, I will say, to intimidate us, to like, decrease our work or.

[A]

Right.

[C]

You know, like, figure out, like, oh, they know about us. We should be scared.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

It's important that everybody has good counsel. And so all of our trainings were locked up after we designed, we made sure that our attorneys that are experts in nonprofit and civil rights were looking at our trainings to make sure that we were compliant and entirely discipline on that. And we were there. And the trainings were entirely based on First Amendment and Fourth Amendment and the 14th Amendment after that. By the time Operation MetroSearch was fully deployed, our full building in the office already had lockdown plans. Everyone in the building had legal dopas, like all the paperwork that any employee, family and relatives needed to make sure in case somebody was arrested, everybody was already carrying IDs or passports if they had one. It was just by being very attentive of the different signals that you have in your surroundings. When metrosearch was full blown, all this constitutional observers that we had trained through the last year not only activated themselves, they began training others. So at least to date, we have a record of 50,000 legal observers through Monarcha. But we know that there's this leader in Shakopee who took it upon himself to train another 1500 because he needed a larger network there. And he just did that. We don't know. He knows. It's their neighbors, it's their school, parents. They know who these folks are. And so that was the point of building something accessible, replicatable and deployable. Because that was the only solution when you have that big of a mass deployment from a system that has all kinds of resources at their disposal.

[A]

Yes. Can you offer a specific example of something that you. So you talked about Unidos and the staff and sort of what they had at the ready. If I went to this training as a resident of Minnesota, can you tell me one thing just to bring it to life of what I. I'm a. I'm a neighbor. I'm a citizen. Right. I'm at risk. Or maybe I. I know someone who's at risk. One thing that you learned that I would learn at this training that was going to. That was gonna make a difference or a couple, you know, sort of right. As it is, maybe I'm being naive here, but are we talking about the use of iPhones or like, sort of what? And I don't. It can be brief. But what did you give me an example of something you trained people to do.

[C]

So there's two tiers. The first one is for mixed status families and people who think they might be vulnerable. Okay. We teach them the rights like you have the right to Remain silent. You have the right to a call with an attorney. You do not have to open the door if there, if you don't receive a judicial warrant.

[A]

Right.

[C]

You have the right to record all these things that officers threatened people as if they were illegal. We tell them they lie.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Like they are protected. They can lie to you. But these are your rights. Making sure that people get the right civil education on the rights. And then the ask for them is in the real world. They will find immigrants in their workplace, on their way to school or in their home. A leader is the one that take responsibility of what will happen in these scenarios. It's up to you to talk to other parents, to talk to your neighbors, or to talk to your co workers and develop a plan and push your supervisor to partner with you on that one.

[A]

So you talked about, you talked about so mixed race families. And then the training, you talked about a second kind of training.

[C]

The other training, which is the upstander training is for citizens.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

People that are, they, they were in despair. What do we do? And then we give them this tool where there might be. So this is Minnesota. There's, there's different tiers of political education. But we gave a tool that was so simple that people, we know people will make all kinds of activist and leaderful decisions with it. We teach them the rights. What is protected in the First Amendment? What is the basic and newest information on technology and surveillance? Why is Volvino handing using the cell phone and putting it in your face? What is the tool that he's using with facial recognition and all these different additional software mechanisms that Palantir has developed for them? And then what is going to be the neighborhood incubator? Well, we are going to exchange communication in a protected unencrypted fashion. Then we say, these are your options. You can be an observer, you can do mutual aid, you can do rights. This is all the many of things that you can do. But what we know is that we cannot mutual aid our way out of this one. This is going to require way more from us if we're serious about transforming the conditions. So mutual aid is important. People need to eat, people need to pay the rent, people need to go to school. All that is 100%. Yeah, we are there.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

But this time all of us are required to do a little more sophisticated leadership and bring this cruelty to life that we have to bring the cruelty to light. People have to know what's happening on the ground. And we also have to transform all of this constitutional erosion. All of the Cruelty, the surveillance, the murders into political consequences.

[B]

Yep. Yeah. So you, Amelia, there are so many leaders listening and I feel like, you know, I am a former leader of a nonprofit, an LGBT community center. So very much on the front line. Thank you, Little hand, heart. And so very familiar with having a job where I am standing up for things I truly believe in. Joan is also a former executive director. I'm just like, what goes through your head? You have a family, you have children. These folks are coming for you. When you are in Minnesota, you're doing this work and Renee Goode happens, or Alex Preddy happens, how you cope with that and continue to lead your staff and train people to try and build power and create political consequences and hold people accountable when it just seems so hard. Honestly.

[A]

Yeah. How do you take care of yourself?

[B]

Right.

[C]

Well, I'm opening to what was that process for me as someone that co design this path for people to take on. And I can tell you one of the things people need to know is that we never in a million years we thought that constitutional observing could cost someone's life.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

In the peace times that we were living before, that would have been. Nobody would have believed that we were being this place two years ago, three years ago. And so when Renee Goode was murdered, I surrendered to the grief. I didn't fight it. I didn't fight it. I didn't hide from it. I didn't tame it. I let it run its course. And my prayer, because I'm a person of faith, my prayer has been, what am I supposed to learn? What are we supposed to learn? After the murder, local organization set up a vigilante. One of the realizations that I had was that if we were not successful at stopping consolidation of authoritarian power was that this could be the norm. That this is not just something that happens because somebody was getting in the way. But this is what history tells us that becomes the norm in places where democratic institutions collapsed, where democratic social fabrics gave up. And so we have the lessons from people from Chile, people from Guatemala, people who survived the dirty war in Mexico. And I understood why, at least for me. Devouring through history books was making sense in the moment. History was telling me or telling us in that moment that if we decide to step back, then this will be a reality for more people.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And so I watched the vigil. We helped Marshall for some time, and we had a training at the same time. And I thought that the training was nobody was going to be at the training. I thought that most people were going to be in this vigil and that people were going to get scared. We left our gear with the rest of the organizers. We all went into a little sedan. It was a little sedan. And I remember it was like five or six of us trying to get to this training and deliver it. We get to the church, and it was already packed. So people continue to, like, the only thing, as a leader, sometimes the only thing you need to do is to not get in the way of people.

[B]

Yes. Yes.

[A]

Let them do them right.

[C]

Everybody has a calling, and everybody has recourse. Historical, contextual, societal, spiritual recourse that they can access through moments of crisis. And sometimes our job is to not get in the way. Give them the tools, and let them run unleashed.

[B]

Yes. I love that. Amelia.

[A]

I.

[B]

We're gonna. We're gonna take one more short break, but I. I just want to emphasize two of the things that you just said. One, you gave in to your grief. You allowed yourself to feel what was happening in that moment. And I can relate to that, having gone through so many hate crimes and horrible attacks on the LGBT community and my time in leadership, and I do think being authentic and allowing yourself to feel the emotion because it is your community, it is your people, and then doing your job, doing the training, and I would have thought the same thing. I would have thought, everybody's going to the vigilant. Nobody.

[A]

Oh, yeah, let's get. Let's cancel that. We could do the training tomorrow, do the training after.

[B]

I'm so it. This is why we wanted to talk to you. It gives. It gave me so much hope to try and follow what was happening in Minneapolis and see what regular folks were doing to try and hold on to each other and democracy and. And push forward. And so thank you for sharing that with us. That's.

[A]

Yeah. And I, I, I. Last thing before we go to break is something else you said, which is we knew. Right. What happened in Minneapolis. The outcome of what happens in Minneapolis is actually not about Minneapolis at all. Right? It is, and that's why we were so intent on talking with you. But just to really understand what's, like, the ICE agents have backed off, backed down. Right. I mean, it's clearly not. Life is not without risk in Minneapolis, to be sure, but had this kind of infrastructure not been in place, it's frightening to imagine how much longer MetroSearch could have gone on. And I know. Linda, we need to take just a very quick break. We'll be right back. Today's episode is sponsored by DRG Talent. I go way Back with drg, this team is passionate about strengthening the nonprofit sector. Their work goes well beyond a holistic executive search process with strat plans, comp analyses, culture surveys, leadership 360s, and the list goes on. I refer clients to DRG regularly, and I'm excited to be able to say this with a microphone in front of me. These folks are good and they care. Reach out to them, drg talent.com and tell them, Joan Gary sent you.

[B]

Things are. I would love to hear from you on the ground, Amelia, about what is going on in Minneapolis right now, because I know a lot of people like us that aren't there are like, well, ICE has backed off and they've gone home, but they haven't. Your. Your organization and the work you do is like, the whole point is, this doesn't end. We gotta keep going. And it's still. And I think people, you know, our attention span. We're like, Minneapolis, Epstein files. Now we're at war with Iran. Like, it's. I think people have forgotten that this is still happening. And so I. The organizing work that you do is. I just want to end on, like, your thoughts about what can. What can people do in their own towns, in their own neighborhoods, to be prepared if this lands on their doorstep, this lands, you know, in their city. What are some of the things that you would. You would offer that folks can do? We asked about this in our nonprofit leadership lab, and we had one of our members who actually lives in the suburbs of St. Paul, and she said, you know, any community anywhere has the elements to build these networks, starting with issues of local importance and connecting with neighbors you've never met to create coalitions. And it feels like that's what Unidos does. That's what you do. So tell us, how can other people do this, and how can folks support you in Minneapolis?

[C]

Yeah, I mean, I think the first thing. I don't want to romanticize it, because folks need tools, and they need. At least Unidos is a vehicle where all this leadership is unleashed. But we have a comms shop, a policy development shop, a community organizing arm that can be wielded and advance the organizing of regular people's leadership. And that's important because it means that there is capacity. We don't have to have an agreement on ideological at all, but we're adding capacities, and that creates impact that matters. I will say that the foundation. It is to understand the opposition really. Well, I understand my opposition. We are very lucky that we are part of a network that is called the State Power Fund that in Minnesota we have an older sister, which is Isaiah. I mean older, because they've been doing this work for longer than us. They're a faith based organization that has tested and developed so much knowledge about organizing, rigor and discipline. And we're very lucky that we continue to pave the way with them and other organizations that have been doing this for a longer time than us. In this tool acquisition there is this framework called race and class narrative that argues that the opposition court is built by three anti values or values. The first one is racial discord or racial antagonism. The second one is economic resentment and the third one is mistrusting government. This is how they set up their court. These three, all the narrative and the actions is based in this three, because it, it delegitimize the function of a democracy.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

So when you understand that these are the predominant tools that they use, you can create containers, tools and resources for people to create the social emotional connections in their stories in case they are caught in despair or in the lies in deficit in the trap at Minnesota before Operation Metrosearch, the main narrative was Somali fraud. It was deployed, it was massive, it was all the things that we could hear in the news. Part of the instruction in upstander training was our narrative is we are neighbors that care for each other. We are neighbors that show up for one another. Because that's the fundamental pillar of truth in which a true democracy can create a health care system that does not leave anybody behind, can create a unionized workforce with good wages and good benefits for everybody. That is the principle. It is entirely combating this triage of disengagement, mistrust and disconnection. So in this fundamental truth, we are creating a pathway towards belonging in order. We not only have a democracy crisis, we have a crisis of belonging. And so the message to the people had to be about belonging. What we are building in the midst of the worst things we can experience in the chaos, in the midst of violence, in the midst of vitriolic, Islamophobic, homophobic, anti immigrant garbage, we have to carve the path for an us that does not leave anybody behind. That is the most important cultural reinvestment that these trainings need to bring anywhere. Then you start building a muscle with every call, with every mutual aid need, with every right that an elderly person or a child or a person that needs to go and give birth needs. We are building the we. And also like the organizing this has we defeated. This is the first win. Not only we are defeating Metrosearch but we change the narrative from Somali fraud into the cruelty that attempted to divide Minnesotans and Minnesotans making a choice that not in our neighborhoods, not in our schools, not in our hospitals, we keep us safe here. That is the first win. Then the second win is this infrastructure of people, by people that right now are running legislative session and confronting anybody who is attempting to gaslight, who is attempting to turn their faces away into this reality and the consequences of not addressing this right now. And so that's like the on ramp for political consequences stage two political consequences. And then it's a state like people in the political consequences stage. It's not just, can I say parties here?

[B]

Sure.

[C]

It's not just parties, Republicans making a choice. It is also Democrats that have benefited from the systems that have created inequality or exclusion. They also get to make a choice. Today, Congresswoman Angie Craig addressed her vote for Lake and Riley, saying that she repents on voting for that. I don't think in her values. She's repenting on her vote. She's repenting from the political consequences that now can cost her a higher office. And so this is how movements call for the moral ground of the story. But majorities deliver the political consequences for true change system at the root cause. That's the third stage. If we go in, let's say that we elect a majority in the midterms, that we're able to decrease the power of mega. That Minnesota wins a pro immigrant, pro people majority in all the offices.

[A]

Yeah. What you're talking about here is that the first win is a rolling stone that gathers moss. It becomes you have actually ignited people. And I think this is maybe the very last question because we are so out of time in the best possible way. It's like, why do people march? Right? Is they march. The people say, well, it's a march and then they all go home. Well, they, the idea is they all go home and they are empowered and they feel a sense of agency. Then they work with organizations like yours who provide them tools. And so what you did and what undoubtedly many organizations in collaboration did, was create but an army of leaders in Minneapolis. And I think if we can one very, very briefly because we quite out of time. How do you. Listening to you today, people are hearing about community organizing, they're hearing about institutional leadership. But clearly leadership found its way manifests itself in a vast number of ways in Minneapolis. You get the last call here, Amelia. Define leadership. What does it mean to be a leader? As you look at neighbors and people who run the ACLU and you and all of these people. What's the common thread?

[C]

So I really like the definition from Brene Brown that a leader is the person that assumes or takes on the responsibility to invest in the potential of other people or institutions or own systems. Minnesotans are leaders that took on the responsibility to invest in the democracy potential of our country, of Americans. And it has nothing to do with a title. It has to do with assuming that responsibility and holding tight to it. The agenda in our test will be that once we have architected the socioeconomic and political conditions for the next phase, we will deliver the true deep economic reforms.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

That people desperately need.

[B]

Yeah. That's.

[A]

You can kind of never go wrong. You look to it with a. With a good Brene Brown quote. Amelia should leave it there. Glenda.

[B]

Yeah, Amelia, I just want to thank you so much for your time and everything you have walked us through today and shared with us. I feel like it's going to be so insightful and impactful for folks. I mean, I live and breathe this and I feel like I learned things. I'm walking away inspired. I want to thank you and all of the leaders of Minnesota for standing up so tall and so strong for so long. And I want to believe we all would do that if, if we had the same chance. But I don't know, it happened here. And, and we're so grateful. I speak on behalf of many Americans, I would imagine, who just want to thank you for, for what you have done and what you continue to do. So thank you, thank you, Thank you for spending time with us today. We hope this conversation provides valuable insights as you navigate the messy but meaningful world of nonprofits. A special thanks to Donor Perfect for sponsoring this episode and for their dedication to empowering nonprofits like yours to do more good. For more resources to support your work, visit joengary.com podcast. We think you'll find a lot of helpful things there. Most importantly, thank you for all you do to make the world a better place. One small or large step at a time. Talk to you all next time.

[C]

Time.