Anna Wasescha

Anna Wasescha has been the president of West Central Initiative (WCI) in Minnesota since 2017. Prior to coming to WCI, Wasescha was the president of Middlesex Community College in Connecticut. WCI is both a regional community foundation and a regional development organization (RDO). The region is made up of nine counties and a portion of White Earth Nation. There are 237,000 people who live in this region and they are engaged in an economy that has two pillars: agriculture and tourism. As an RDO, WCI provides comprehensive economic planning and transportation planning. While these two endeavors address climate considerations, we have also completed a climate action plan for the region and are nearing completion of a climate action plan for White Earth Nation. As a community foundation, WCI manages component funds, distributes grants and makes loans, and offers programs that address critical issues in the region. To marry these two functions, philanthropy and planning, WCI has organized its work within the framework of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Those 17 goals focus on people, planet, and systems and they rest on a firm resolve to leave no one behind. In recent years, high priority programs at WCI have included climate action, rural belonging, and rural democracy.