Meet LeadMN's Civic Engagement Fellows

Dominique is dedicated to improving his country and his community. He is a veteran of the United States Navy and an advocate who demonstrates a history of working to improve access to food and housing security within his community.

In his first year at Minneapolis College, Dominique supported and served his college community. In his first semester, he became the secretary of the Student Veterans Association (SVA), Senator of Legislative Affairs (student senate), and Secretary of SLBC (Student Life budget committee). In his second semester, Dominique became Interim Vice-President of the Student Senate and founder of the Black Student Union and Black Student Union’s Free Breakfast Program.

Dominique carried his passion for community service into civic engagement work as a fellow with LeadMN, President of Student Senate for Minneapolis College, and Platform Committee alternate for the Metro West region.

Frankie Becerra did his general education at Century College from 2016-2019. While there he discovered a passion for civic engagement and empowering Latinx students. He became the president of the Latinx student advocacy group, Movimiento Latino, and Director of Legislature of his college’s student senate. He would go on to focus on keeping D.A.C.A and involving B.I.P.O.C. communities in civic action.

He wanted to ensure that students voices were heard not only on his campus but around the state of Minnesota. This led him to work as an Equity and Inclusion Intern at LeadMN, where he continued his D.A.C.A work and continued to educate himself on student issues across all two-year colleges in the state. Through this experience, he took on active leadership role within LeadMN and shortly after his term ended, he transferred to Metropolitan State University.

His “I LeadMN” statement was “I LeadMN because change cannot wait for me to graduate”. After seeing the continued social injustices that have occurred in the first half of 2020, he felt like he needed to uphold that statement. He hopes to leverage his previous experience and his rejuvenated passion for civic engagement to build up communities and have their voices heard through civic action.

Joshua is a student leader who graduated from Normandale Community College with an Associate of Arts degree in 2020. Joshua has been working as a student advocate for two years. That time was spent mainly with the Normandale Student Senate. He was able to serve as the Normandale Student Senate president for the 2019-2020 academic year. Joshua is interested in civic engagement, racial justice, and environmental justice.

Joshua grew up in a small town and found joys in playing trombone, acting, and speech storytelling. In his spare time, Joshua likes to read books, listen to videos and movies, and cook. Share a recipe with him! 

Luke graduated from the University of Wisconsin River Falls in 2013 with a Bachelors in Psychology. He is currently pursuing his Masters of Advocacy and Political Leadership at Metropolitan State University. Through his education, Luke continues to learn skills to advance grassroots efforts in order to make change in the community.

Luke has organized in numerous political spheres over the last decade. He has always held a determination for helping others engage in their communities and find their voice in local government.

As a civic engagement fellow, Luke will help students take those first steps in learning about politics and how it affects their lives.