Annelisa Donlan

Annelisa coordinates the day program at the Open Door Learning Center - Lake Street in Minneapolis. She is approaching her fourth year at this bustling and largest of our direct service sites, which offers adult basic educations programs to up 1000 students per year supported by seven fellow staff and 80+ volunteers. Her duties span student intake and support, volunteer recruitment, placement and support, administration, community outreach, and capacity building. Throughout her tenure her stewardship has contributed to sustained and significant growth in students hours, retention, as well as expanded programming. Prior to serving with Literacy Minnesota she cultivated 10 years of volunteer/member and program coordination experience serving with a food co-operative and a grassroots rural-farm advocacy organization. Annelisa’s passion for literacy was sparked by her participation in Literacy Minnesota’s ESL Pre-Service Tutor Training in 2008. Two years of ESL volunteering followed and inspired her to pursue her TEFL Certificate through Hamline. Her practicum led her to the Lake Street site where she fell in love with the community she now serves. Her Bachelor of Arts in Art History from University of Massachusetts at Boston nods to her attraction to creative approaches in all pursuits. Outside of work she enjoys her garden, ukulele and a foundling terrier-mutt named Basil.