Wednesday March 23, 2016
By MAJA BECKSTROM
Hmong hip-hop artist Tou SaiKo Lee and veterans’ advocate Trista Louise Matascastillo, both of St. Paul, are among the two-dozen people selected by the Bush Foundation for a 2016 fellowship.Bush Fellows receive up to $100,000 over one to two years for travel, formal academic study or training that they design themselves to develop their expertise. The honor, which is bestowed on a new cohort every year, is a vote of confidence given to people age 24 or older who have demonstrated leadership and have “extraordinary potential to make significant contributions,” according to Tuesday’s announcement.Lee is a spoken-word artist, hip-hop emcee and community organizer in St. Paul who bridges the Hmong generation gap. He has traveled to Thailand with his grandmother and teamed up with her for performances. According to the Bush announcement, he uses the arts to build a sense of cultural identity with youth in Frogtown. He will use the fellowship to return to Southeast Asia, listen to elders’ stories and make them relevant for a new generation.Matascastillo is one of few people who has served in three branches of the U.S. military, according to the Bush announcement. After 16 years of service in the Navy, Marine Corps and National Guard, she formed a nonprofit organization to support and advocate for women veterans. She will use the Bush Fellowship to expand her organization and pursue college and graduate degrees.
Mukhtar Ibrahim of Vadnais Heights is the other fellow from the east metro. Fellows are selected from across Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. According to his bio, Ibrahim arrived in the United States in 2005 from East Africa speaking little English. He is a reporter with Minnesota Public Radio and the first Somali-American journalist in the state to work at a major news outlet. He wants to close the gap between longtime and new Americans through more balanced and in-depth storytelling about immigrants. With his Bush Fellowship, Mukhtar will complete a master’s degree in journalism at Columbia University with a focus on long-form narrative writing, investigative reporting, digital storytelling and radio documentaries.
“The value of investing in people is apparent when you look at the accomplishments of Bush Fellows and their impact on our region over that past 50 years,” Bush Foundation President Jennifer Ford Reedy said in the news release.
More than 2,200 people have been a Bush Fellow, including Minnesota Gov. Arne Carlson, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson and President Barack Obama’s Special Assistant for Native American Affairs Karen Diver.
This year 465 people applied this year for 24 fellowships. The Bush Foundation was established in 1953 by 3M executive Archibald Bush and his wife, Edyth.