People : Staff Bios | Advocating Change Together (ACT)

Rick Cardenas, the knife

Rick helps groups cut through the fog to see disability oppression and how to fight it. He’s brilliant at helping us make connections between civil rights, disability rights, and self-advocacy. Co-director of ACT since 1998, Cardenas has helped groups on local, state, and national levels organize around issues, building leadership as they go.

Rather than “old,” let’s say “legendary.” Rick is a long-standing and active member of the Minnesota disability rights movement. If you look behind most of the state’s key legislative victories for people with developmental disabilities, you’ll probably notice some rabid gray-haired activist rolling round. That’s Rick.

Next time you’re meeting to plan for change, cut the B.S. Rick’s your guy.

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Mary Kay Kennedy, the simplifier

Mary Kay has been keeping it simple at ACT for 20 years. With her lens focusing everyone on the big picture, ACT has been able to play a big role in the self-advocacy movement.

Good old “One Step at a Time” Kennedy has shepherded ACT to build a nationally known leadership-development program for people with developmental disabilities, organized a regional network of self-advocacy groups, coordinated dozens of local and national gatherings each year, hosted a national e-mail dialogue on disability issues, led a coalition of groups to restore state hospital cemeteries and created a disability history exhibit that has drawn international attention. Whew! And all without a single staff meeting.

When your future is a daunting blur of great ideas, call Mary Kay. “Let’s step back a little and just pick one or two things.”

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Kathy Sanders, the pieces picker-upper

Every office has one. Most offices need two or three. ACT has Kathy.

Let's face it: the title “Administrative Director” doesn’t cut it. How about conference organizer, proofreader, bookkeeper, whip-cracker, pit bull mother advocate, and legislative testifier extrordinaire? Since sometime last century, ACT has had Kathy to actually follow through on all those irritating details between “that’s a great idea” and “we did it.”

Don’t forget to say please.

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Halle O’Falvey, the stitcher

Halle is the queen of putting pieces together into a great new whole. Since 2008, her flair for organizing has reinforced the very fabric of Remembering With Dignity: she makes calls to the capitol, dredges up lost records, and ropes in scores of volunteers--all in service of building new leaders and marking graves.

Speaking of piecing things together, Halle moonlights as a costume designer for Interact Center for the Performing Arts, a production company that employs professional actors with disabilities. She also serves as a community expert in anything with threads. And once upon a time she co-facilitated for a single mothers spirituality group within the Episcopal Diocese.

Heart, art, and organizing smarts: the total package. [Please, no “Sew what?” puns.]

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ACT Staff Bios

People

We listen
ACT board and staff are grassroots organizers. That means we listen to people. We hear what the groups’ needs are; then we work with the group to make a plan to address the needs.

ACT Staff Bios

People

We listen ACT board and staff are grassroots organizers. That means we listen to people. We hear what the groups’ needs are; then we work with the group to make a plan to address the needs.

We listen
ACT board and staff are grassroots organizers. That means we listen to people. We hear what the groups’ needs are; then we work with the group to make a plan to address the needs.