St. Cloud appoints first Somali American to City Council

ST. CLOUD – She's an author, a small-business owner and a nonprofit director. And after a successful interview on Monday, Hudda Ibrahim holds another prominent role as the first Somali American member of the St. Cloud City Council.

The City Council appointed Ibrahim to the seven-member board after interviewing nine candidates for the Ward 3 seat left vacant by Mayor-elect Jake Anderson, who will take office in mid-January.

Dave Kleis, who is retiring after two decades as mayor, administered the oath of office to Ibrahim on Monday night following a standing ovation. The City Council planned to vote by ballot until one candidate had at least four votes, but the process was short: Every City Council member selected Ibrahim on their first vote.

"To be able to unite this entire whole council on the first ballot, I think, is very significant and really shows a lot about your candidacy," Kleis said.

Ibrahim, 39, has lived in St. Cloud for almost two decades. She has multiple degrees, including a master's degree in conflict resolution from the University of Notre Dame and a doctorate in higher education and leadership from St. Mary's University.

She runs a consulting company with her husband, Abdi Mahad, that provides diversity and inclusion training to area businesses and organizations. She also recently started a nonprofit, OneCommunity Alliance, aimed at helping residents achieve homeownership. And she's written several books, including one detailing how central Minnesota became home to many Somali refugees, as well as children's books that feature underrepresented characters such as kids wearing hijabs.

The St. Cloud City Council has long been older, whiter and more male than the city's demographics, even as the city has grown increasingly diverse. Since 2010, the share of residents of color in St. Cloud has grown from about 10% to 30%. Beginning in 2017, Ibrahim and Mahad started hosting "Dine & Dialogue" events featuring sambusas, Somali tea and conversation as a way to counter misunderstandings about refugees and immigrants.

Ibrahim ran for the council earlier this year; she finished second of 16 candidates in the August primary but fell short in November, earning 13% of the vote to finish fifth of six candidates.

"Representation does matter, and I believe the 30.3 percent of the people in St. Cloud who are people of color should be represented in local government, and we're not," she said in the fall. "I would like to be the first Black, Muslim woman elected to the council, but I want people to elect me because of my competence, commitment, leadership and educational background, not my ethnic background."

While Ibrahim hasn't held public office before, she's served on several boards, including the St. Cloud Area Chamber of Commerce, the mayor's downtown St. Cloud task force, the Central Minnesota Community Foundation and Anna Marie's Alliance.

Ibrahim's first full meeting will be Dec. 16. The City Council members elected in November — Tami Calhoun, Mark Johnson and Scott Brodeen — will be sworn in Jan. 13, joining Dave Masters (Ward 1), Karen Larson (Ward 2) and Mike Conway (Ward 4).

During her interview, Ibrahim said she's spent her career working to empower individuals and she's excited to continue collaborating to make the city a better place for all: "I love our city and when you love something, you step up, you fight for it and you do whatever you can to make it better."