Amy Gray

Kinship Partners is a nonprofit youth mentoring organization providing positive role models to youth in Crow Wing and southern Cass Counties and the Staples/Motley area since 1986. Today, they named their new Executive Director, Amy Gray.

Amy Gray is a Brainerd native and has worked in the local nonprofit community. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Communications from Hamline University and a master’s degree in Advocacy and Political Leadership with an emphasis on nonprofits and community development from the University of Minnesota in Duluth. Amy has participated in many community-building activities over the years with special emphasis on downtown redevelopment and community wellness.

She has served as board chair for both Brainerd Restoration and the Crow Wing Food Co-Op, has participated in the Healthy Communities Partnership of the Initiative Foundation and City of Brainerd and the Resilient Region initiative through Region 5 Development Commission. Amy was also part of a local Healthy Schools, Health Students task force.

Prior to joining Kinship Partners, she was the District Manager for Junior Achievement in the Brainerd Lakes Area, providing volunteer-delivered programming to K-12 students in Brainerd, Crosby-Ironton, Pequot Lakes, Pillager, and Staples-Motley schools.

Board President Warren Thompson said in a release, “We are so thankful to have Amy on board and that David, our retiring Executive Director, has agreed to overlap with Amy for a month and help with her orientation, This will really give her a solid start and Kinship a boost in maintaining its momentum and its programs.”

By — Betsy Melin