Announcement from the Executive Director
Dear Friends,
After more than five years serving as Executive Director of Friends of Minidoka, it is with the fullest heart and deepest gratitude and that I announce my departure from my position on June 4th.
It is a bittersweet moment to to be closing out this chapter at Friends of Minidoka, as it has been a great honor to serve all of you for the past five years in support of education, research, and historic preservation of the WWII Japanese American incarceration experience at Minidoka. Without you, Friends of Minidoka would not be the dynamic organization it is today. I feel so privileged to have been surrounded by an incredible community of friends, board members, partners, and supporters with deeply personal ties and unshakeable belief in the value of preserving the Minidoka site and its legacy. I am extremely proud of what we have accomplished together, and will hold these relationships close to my heart long into the future.
When I joined as the first Executive Director in 2016, Friends of Minidoka had a large, all-volunteer board with big dreams, but limited resources to turn them into reality. Regardless of those challenges, in this time, we have completed the guard tower and baseball field reconstructions; produced five Minidoka Civil Liberties Symposia as well as countless talks, tours, and virtual programs; digitized and shared family photo collections and those in the National Archives; told the story of the Issei through the Legacy of Courage exhibit; supported the National Park Service in dedicating a new visitors center, complete with exhibits and an award-winning orientation film; established a new internship program; and are wrapping production on a broadcast documentary film and a sorely needed 7th-12th grade curriculum on Minidoka.
We have helped put Minidoka on the map for tourists, teachers, and the national parks community, and more importantly, helped shift the narrative towards a broader, more nuanced public understanding of the history that took place at Minidoka. Behind the scenes, our operating budget has grown by 40% allowing us to increase staff time and grow our program capacity. We have also invested in foundational assessment, governance, and development skills and systems necessary for our continued success. Today we’re a healthy organization with an impressive track record, a truly collaborative national network of peers, and even bigger dreams. I’m confident that I am leaving the organization in capable hands with a sustainable and tremendously exciting future ahead.
The board of directors is committed to ensuring that Friends of Minidoka continues to grow in its ability to provide educational resources and experiences to the public and serve as a strong partner to the National Park Service. Over the next few months, the board will be conducting strategic planning to inform their search for the next Executive Director. They will keep you apprised of next steps and I have no doubt they will identify a passionate, capable leader to usher the organization into its next chapter and propel Friends of Minidoka through its next phase and beyond.
I’m pleased to be able to say that in my new role as Executive Assistant at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, I will continue in the mission-driven community work that I so valued in my time at Friends of Minidoka, safeguarding the history and greater lessons of the Japanese American experience. I will of course continue to be a friend and advocate of Minidoka, and I look forward to seeing many of you in Little Tokyo in the years to come!
Thank you for being a Friend,
Mia Russell
Executive Director