NCF is excited to announce two new additions to the team: Kathleen Richert as the Education and Outreach Coordinator and Dan Gordon as Housing Program Associate.

Kathleen Richert, Education and Outreach Coordinator

Kathleen is joining the NCF staff in a new position at the organization as the Training and Outreach Coordinator. Entering into this role she will be building on her past experience in community outreach and technical training for small businesses and arts organizations. Her work included the development of mission statements, Board development, business fundamentals, and the creation of a text called “The Work(book) of Art”. She is excited to join the team as a Minnesota native and apply her expertise to the field of cooperative development.

Prior to joining NCF, Kathleen was a member of a lease-hold housing cooperative in St. Paul for a decade, serving on many committees, the Board of Directors and working on the team developing a plan to purchase the building from the property developer/owner at the end of the tax credit compliance period. Ultimately, the owner elected not to sell the building but in the process she gained a first-hand appreciation for the value and importance of controlling your housing situation and opportunities to build equity. She is an evangelist for home ownership recognizing that owners make safer and more stable neighborhoods and futures.

With degrees in restaurant management and textile design, she also runs a studio-based business from her home in Minneapolis specializing in historic clothing and soft props for museums.

Dan Gordon, Housing Program Associate

Dan is originally from Duluth, MN and had worked with non-profits in the Twin Cities for over a decade as a community organizer, Spanish interpreter, and housing outreach worker. He is a graduate of the University of MN and has a Secondary English Teaching License from Hamline University. While working at the collectively-owned Positively Third Street Bakery in Duluth he developed an interest in worker co-ops and the power of employee-owned businesses. He later studied methods of collective organizing while volunteering in Guatemala in a region with a long history of rural cooperatives. When he is not working to promote housing justice he enjoys gardening, playing accordion, and exploring caves across the state.