Fast Forward

“We’re much more interested in quality rather than quantity.” Awale Osman, Community Innovation Associate at the Bush Foundation, speaks with high school student Kyue his early path through education as an immigrant, why community plays such a large role in his work and laugh and about the programs he works on as a Ron McKinley Philanthropy Fellow at the Bush Foundation. Awale Osman has a variety of experiences expanding community organizing and program development in nonprofit, K-12 and higher education spaces. Awale has lived disparate experiences—from war-torn Somalia, to Kenyan refugee camps, to English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) in  American classrooms, to high academic honors—and created much change—expanding after-school opportunities for youth in Twin Cities suburbs, building capacity and confidence in the youth of Rochester, MN, impressing upon U.S. congressmen the value of federal department of education TRIO programs, opening the campus climate for underserved students and increasing th