Welcome Claudia Kittock to the Mill City Times Team!

Publishers note: Claudia will be covering the local non-profit scene for Mill City Times.

My name is Claudia Kittock and my husband and I have lived in Downtown Minneapolis for 8 years. We are avid lovers of ALL things in our neighborhood and are truly blessed to live here.

Our move to downtown was planned for years of raising our children in a small town.  We knew we wanted to move to this neighborhood and be part of downtown living.  What we didn’t know was how vibrant this experience would be and continues to be.  We also didn’t know anything about how caught up we would become in the formation of our neighborhood.

I have been in education all of my adult life, and have a Ph.D. in child psychology from the University of Minnesota. While working as a college professor and raising our two children, I felt the pull to do more, to be involved with volunteering, and to give back some of the blessings I have had in my life.

We moved here during the first year of our youngest son’s college career, which meant that I was simultaneously experiencing the newness of more time for me, and the experience of living in this neighborhood.  Within a short period of time, I found myself immersed in volunteering, and particularly any experience having to do with children, and specifically children who faced challenges in their lives.

After 4 years of commuting two hours a day, I had the chance to take early retirement, and I grabbed it.  I loved my job, but I was excited for new challenges and new activities, and I found myself with seemingly endless time to commit to volunteering. As a lifelong child psychologist, with great listening skills, I decided to devote my first year to attending meetings and listening and learning. I found an inexhaustible supply of ways to get involved.

My goal in this column/blog is to share what I learn while listening.  I want to tell the reader what I know, share needs, and, as in the past, be prepared to be stunned at the generosity and heart of this community.  Every time I tell a story of need, someone responds, and I am overwhelmed with gratitude and awe of the heart of this community.

I have a list of things to write about, but I live to learn more.  Please feel free to contact me with things I don’t know and with ideas you know about that I need to explore.  My role in life right now is to listen, to learn, and to share!

Claudia Kittock can be reached at claudia@millcitymedia.org