Mandy joined the Bush Foundation in October of 2011 as the project manager for the InCommons initiative. Using a combination of grassroots organizing strategies, interactive facilitation, heart, and humor, she works to take InCommons’ big ideas and values and put them into action in communities.

Before coming to the Bush Foundation, Mandy worked as both a project manager and an organizer at Grassroots Solutions, a national grassroots organizing consulting firm. There she specialized in grassroots engagement training and working with clients to crowd-source innovative ideas to solve community problems. Some of her major achievements were to develop the Minnesota Idea Open on behalf of the Minnesota Community Foundation and to coordinate three successful statewide idea “Challenges”, including the inauguralInCommons Collaboration Challenge. 



Mandy got her start in community change work by working on domestic violence issues with several Twin Cities Nonprofits. She is a licensed social worker and holds a master’s degree in social work from the University of Minnesota, with a concentration in community organizing, and a B.A. degree from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN. Ski U Mah and Um Ya Ya.



Mandy brings her grassroots engagement experience into her personal work to build community around sustainable food issues. One of her latest exploits is to co-host the Minneapolis Swappers – a group that swaps homemade and artisanal foods. Mandy also spends her time crafting radical knitted items and partnering with her husband to restore their 1880’s house. Yes, Laura Ingalls Wilder was her early hero.