Abdi Sabrie

Abdi wins!

Sabrie joins incumbents on Mankato school board

Posted: Wednesday, November 4, 2015 8:00 am
By Trey Mewes tmewes@mankatofreepress.com

MANKATO — Abdi Sabrie knocked on a lot of doors over the past few weeks as a candidate for one of four open Mankato Area Public Schools Board seats. His daughter, Sarah Sabrie, 8, went with him through several neighborhoods.

Abdi was on his third campaign for a school board seat and really didn't want to disappoint Sarah.

"I wouldn't be able to live with her," he said with a laugh Tuesday night at the district's election gathering inside the Intergovernmental Center. "She door-knocked with me a lot and she had to deal with some dogs."

Dad came through in the Sabrie family — Abdi joins Ann Hendricks, Judi Brandon and Sara Hansen as Mankato's newest school board members. Sabrie was the only non-incumbent to be elected to a board seat Tuesday, and is the first Somali immigrant elected to Mankato's school board.

"Being an immigrant is not a barrier," Sabrie said. "That point has been proven tonight."

(Continued here.)

Support for Abdi

From the Mankato Free Press:

Sabrie on board will reflect schools' diversity

Sabrie committed to learning excellence

Sabrie is a bridge builder

Abdi's biography

Abdi Sabrie

Abdi Sabrie, originally from Somalia, has lived in the U.S. for over thirty years and in Mankato for seven years with his wife and seven children. He is a co-founder and director of the African Family and Education Center (AFEC), a nonprofit that serves African Immigrants in Greater Mankato. He also co-founded and serves on the board of the Mankato Islamic Center, is a Commissioner on the Region Nine Development Commission on behalf of minorities, and serves on the Mankato Public Safety Advisory Board, the Backpack Food Program Advisory Committee, the Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services (SMRLS) Board, the Council on American IslamicRelations (CAIR) Advisory Board, and the Blue Earth County Child Protection Advisory Board. In 2012 he was a National Jefferson Award recipient.

Abdi has participated in and is a current cohort of the Cultural Agility Collaborative (CAC), is a Blandin Community Leadership Fellow for Rural Minnesota, and has served on the Minnesota Valley Action Council Youth Council, the Habitat for Humanity Family Selection Committee, and the Blue Earth County Corrections Advisory Board. He also coordinated the after school program for refugee children in Mankato as well as the Science Camp program in partnership with Mankato School District and South Central College.

He is a former consultant and linguist for the United States Department of Defense during Operations Restore Hope and Continue Hope, helping to bring peace and stability to Somalia and its people.

Abdi's biggest passion is to provide equal educational opportunity for all children.

Let's elect Abdi Sabrie to the Mankato School Board

by Leigh Pomeroy

I first met Abdi about four years ago at a Blandin Foundation retreat for current and future leaders from the Mankato area. I had not known Abdi before then, but right away he impressed me as a thoughtful, considerate and intelligent individual with a ready smile and a natural penchant for leadership.

During that retreat and since then I have come to know him better, not only as a leader in the Somali-Sudanese community but as a leader for all of the greater Mankato community. And he has been recognized for his public service by winning the 2012 national Jefferson Award, which he received in a ceremony in Washington, DC. His community involvements are numerous, including:

• Member of the Region Nine Development Commission
• Member of the Mankato Public Safety Advisory Board
• Member of the Blue Earth County Child Protection Advisory Board
• Member of the Habitat for Humanity Family Selection Committee
• Former director of the after school program at East High School
• Former director of the Science Saturday Program (Summer Science Boot Camp) at South Central College

While our current school board has been doing a solid job, the board lacks specific representation of our growing minority community, which makes up about 22 percent of our public school students. Abdi Sabrie's experience working with the Somali-Sudanese community as well as other minorities makes him uniquely qualified to represent that segment of our public school families.

In short, while there are other excellent candidates for school board, Abdi Sabrie stands out among them by offering a special background and experience that the board is currently lacking. Thus, I urge everyone to vote Tuesday, Nov. 3, for Abdi Sabrie for school board.