Olivia Forshee's Fundraiser

Hi, my name is Olivia Rose Forsheé. I am an Administrative and Fulfillment Assistant here at Freshwater. When I first began at Freshwater, I was a Green Team Intern finishing up my BA in Environmental Studies at Macalester College. From there I progressed to Communications Intern, and now I am in the role I'm in today! I could not be doing the work I do today were it not for my internship experience. I know now that I can excel in this work, and it has provided me with such a great wealth of knowledge to take forward in my career. 

Some of the amazing work I got to do this past year includes (but is not limited to):

When I was initially hired, I worked on applying for a Bush Community Innovation Grant to get funding for bringing in rural and BIPOC voices to the conversation in revising and editing the 2020 Minnesota State Water Plan. We'd planned to break the state into 5 regions that could brainstorm, collect data, and revise and edit the State Water Plan to reflect communities' needs. Then we planned to facilitate these groups to meet directly with the state government and Environmental Quality Board (EQB) to negotiate on changing the plan/funding decisions. The last part of the project was funding for demonstration projects in the 5 regions to pilot the solutions the groups came up with. I, along with one other coworker, conducted 75 interviews and got 19 community-based organizations and 2 Native Nations on board, however, the funding opportunities for this project haven't panned out, and the project hasn't begun.

The second project I worked on simultaneously was creating a DEI Recommendations Report. I created this by conducting interviews with other environmental organizations around the state to gather notes on what DEI practices, policies and trainings have worked well for them, and what tips they have to expand DEI efforts (both internally and externally). With this information, and lots of research, I developed a 42-page recommendations report with suggestions for the future of Freshwater's DEI efforts.

Over the summer I transitioned into a Communications Intern that managed Freshwater's Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. I gained tons of valuable graphic design and communication skills in this role, and it even got me excited about some types of marketing!

In my current role, I am managing the day-to-day operations of the Weatherguide calendar program. We have been making these calendars now for over 45 years and they are well-known, and most definitely well-loved amongst Minnesotans! This year however we incurred an unexpected 33% production cost increase and so we are asking any and everyone to please consider donating to help us lessen this financial burden!

With your donations, Freshwater will be able to continue carrying out its important environmental and community work revolving around protecting Minnesota's surface and groundwater.

Thank you so much for considering donating to my fundraiser for Freshwater!