The Mill City Times Interview: Rinal Ray, Chief Executive Officer, People Serving People
Saturday, February 13, 2021 at 8:22AMArticle by Becky Fillinger
Rinal Ray describes herself as a nonprofit leader, public policy professional, teacher, trainer and lawyer. I would add that she is authentic, caring and community-minded! We talked to her about why she serves and priorities for leading People Serving People.
Rinal Ray
Q: Rinal, you've been a community leader for some time - currently Chief Executive Officer of People Serving People, and previously at the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, the Minnesota Justice Foundation, and a 2020 Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal Women in Business honoree, among others. Why do you serve?
A: I want to use my time, skills, energy, and experience to benefit my community and to operationalize love as a public good.
Q: I looked up the meaning of your given name, Rinal. It means determined, strong willed person. It seems that your parents were prescient - does leadership come naturally to you?
A: My parents were the first in their families to immigrate to the US and I was the first person born in the US across my extended family. I’m the oldest of four in an Indian American family. Growing up, most of our family stayed with us when they arrived in the US until they could get a place of their own. I often spoke with authority figures on behalf of my family - from ordering pizza over the phone to accompanying relatives to job interviews.
As a young person, I understood the responsibility of what it meant to be a good older sibling, to host others, and to use my skills and abilities to help others further their own goals. For a long time, I did not think this was leadership – no one called me a leader. I didn’t ‘look’ like what the other leaders looked like, nor did I behave in the ways exhibited by dominant culture leaders. Nonetheless, this is what leadership means to me and how I most naturally lead.
I suppose I am determined to lead with others and those most directly impacted by the experience of homelessness toward a future where all families have access to stable housing and the opportunities that come with that, for children and caregivers alike.
If I am determined and strong willed, I got that from my mother – she has a will of iron!
Q: Immigrants do so much for Minnesota – thank you for sharing your story! Oh, I forgot that you're also on the Minnesota Board of College Possible, one of my favorite nonprofits. Your bio statement on their web page mentions that you're interested in narrative expansion. What does that mean to you?
A: For me this is about expanding beyond the dominant public narrative, to expand the narrative is to see the many experiences and hear stories from a different perspective. Expanding the narrative on homelessness includes and means seeing the families that experience homelessness, people who are doubled up with other households, the incredible strength and resilience of people experiencing homelessness, the role of systems and structural racism in the existence of homelessness, and that homelessness is a community and systems issue that we all have a stake in.
Staff members take temperatures and maintain a healthy environment for the guests and employees.Q: What are the 2021 priorities for People Serving People?
A: We need to get to the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic - keep our families and staff healthy and safe while continuing to provide shelter and support services. We also need to provide both a dignified response to the crisis of family homelessness and move upstream to prevent it.
Q: What leads to family homelessness?
A: There are many ways families enter the experience of homelessness – lack of truly affordable housing, wage stagnation, inaccessible and affordable child care and early education, inaccessible chemical and mental healthcare, gender and community-based violence. Underlying all of these issues are persistent racial disparities that point to structural racism as a cause of family homelessness.
Q: People Serving People's website mentions that the group is a leader in homelessness prevention. Can you tell us about the group's efforts?
A: We work to prevent the experience of family homelessness through both program and policy. We offer early education both onsite and through our Center of Excellence as a powerful whole-family strategy that allows children to learn in a safe and nurturing environment and caregivers to pursue work or education that will pave the way to greater housing and family stability. We also have launched programs to help people stay stably housed and prevent the (re)occurrence of family homelessness, build financial power, and implement whole family system strategies. Additionally, People Serving People supports public policy that provides stability for children and families in the community and works to move upstream to prevent family homelessness through systems change, centering families, and leading with racial equity.
Young guests participate in distanced learning while at People Serving People.
Fun activities help maintain normalcy during a transitional time.
Q: What do you want the downtown community to know about People Serving People?
A: People Serving People exists to see families thrive and work toward a vision of healed families and transformed communities. You are a part of our community and we welcome your engagement and support. To give you an idea of the range of our activities, here’s what we do:
Q: How may the community be involved with your programs?
A: The best ways to get involved is to volunteer or donate.
Q: How may we follow your news?
A: Sign up for our E-newsletters, and follow social media: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
