2018 Rising Alumni: Josh Pauly

Please list any professional accomplishments you wish to mention.

As the Executive Director of Books on Wings, our mission is to close the opportunity gap for young learners. Books on Wings is a non-profit organization serving Minnesota youth who attend schools with free or reduced lunch rates of 80% or higher. Our mission is to get engaging, culturally relevant books to students in grades K-3. Once the books are used in the classroom, they go home with the students to add to, or start, their own personal library. More recently, we created a partnership with the Hennepin County Library system so that any student that does not already own a library card will receive one from us.

I am also the founder of PeopleSourced Policy. We are a non-profit, nonpartisan organization whose mission is to increase access and community engagement in the local political process. We do this in two different ways. The first is via crowdsourcing public policy solutions. We have developed an online community engagement platform that uses Google’s Civic Engagement API to geoplot participants with their locally-elected officials. We are also developing state-wide and regional platforms to better engage these communities on issues and topics of great impact. Our second method is by gamifying policy to make it more approachable. With Glasshouse Policy- our sister organization in Austin, TX- we have developed policy games around transit development, city planning, and local budgeting. Our next project is a redistricting game using data from the state demographer’s office. Previously, I was a social studies and AVID teacher in Minneapolis Public Schools. I taught 8th grade Global Studies, 6th grade MN Studies, and 6th grade AVID at Sanford Middle School in south Minneapolis.

Please list any past or current volunteer activities.

I am currently on the Citizens League's Policy Committee. We meet monthly to guide current and emerging policy activities of the League. Citizens League’s solutions to public problems are the result of processes that bring together citizens and stakeholders to study the facts, debate the possibilities, and develop innovative and effective ways of framing and addressing policy problems. My wife and I volunteer for Project Home every December at our church, Gloria Dei. Project Home engages area faith communities to provide emergency shelter space and volunteer support for Ramsey County families facing homelessness. Each month, two different area faith communities host 20 emergency shelter beds. I am a member of Civic Caucus. The mission of the Civic Caucus is to provide a new model for reaching informed, non-partisan solutions to a broad scope of civic issues, working to educate the public, subscribers and itself about new ways of thinking about solutions to many of Minnesota's most pressing problems. Experts in different fields are interviewed and summaries emailed to approximately 5,400 individuals. Approximately 500 background memos and policy statements are archived on the Civic Caucus website. When I was a teacher, I spent two years on the Teacher Advisory Board for the Islamic Resource Group. I linked IRG with other educators, aided in developing an MEA workshop- 2016’s Teaching Islam in the Classroom, and helped expand the number of schools IRG reached. During college I coached a number of youth basketball and soccer teams, in addition to tutoring students at Edison HS and KIPP Stand Academy.

Please list any awards or honors from your collegiate, professional, or volunteer experiences.

Fellow, Center for Policy Design, 2017- Present. Islamic Resource Group Volunteer Service Award Recipient, 2017. Fellow, MN Education Policy Fellowship Program, 2016-2017. Betty Roith Seifert Endowed Scholarship Recipient, 2013-2014. CLA Continuing Education Scholarship Recipient, 2008-2009 & 2009-2010.

What professor(s) or course(s) were most influential during your time in CEHD?

I learned SO much from my college professors! J.B. Mayo made me think critically and deeply about the space I take up and voice I have in the classroom. Pat Avery helped fill my educator toolbox so I was set up for success in the classroom- socratic seminars, gallery walks, fish-bowls, think-pair-shares, 4 corners, philosophical chairs, jig-saw presentations, and many more! Todd Beach gave practical advice about classroom management and the daily challenges we faced in the classroom.