When Pablo joined MCF in May of 2022 from the Southwest Initiative Foundation, he was ready to try a new way of working—remote work with the large and dispersed MCF community. This experience made clear to him that in fact, his life’s work is in Willmar, his own community of 30 years. Working at MCF helped him realize that he is meant to spend time with the people he knows and is surrounded with in his life.
We are happy to report that Pablo found a great way to do just that. He will be serving as the City of Willmar’s Director of Community Growth (Equity and Inclusion)—a new position funded by the Center for Prevention at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. We are very happy for him and for his community, and of course sorry to see him go. His last day at MCF is February 24, 2023.
Pablo has encouraged MCF to pause and think differently about the way that DEI is carried out in the organization and with our members. When we first created the DEI Director position in 2019, we knew that there are pros and cons to having a position like this. Concentrating the work with one person allows for focus. On the other hand, distributing the work throughout the organization creates important shared responsibility. Pablo has reflected that he believes after nearly four years of doing important internal work and developing DEI programs and networks, it’s time to contemplate whether our model is ready for a change. We will be pausing to do just that. In March, all staff will be involved in discussion about MCF’s DEI capacity, how the work is carried out, and a plan for the future. We will be referring significantly to our strategic framework to guide the discussion about the staffing structure that’s right for MCF in this moment.
Please join us in congratulating Pablo on his new role and thanking him for the thoughtful, reflective time he spent at MCF. We are grateful that he is leaving us in a strong position to contemplate our future.