Prior to his selection as a National Urban Fellow, Antonio Cardona served as Strategic Partnerships Manager for Pillsbury United Communities – an extensive social service agency with five community centers in Minneapolis, MN. In this capacity, he provided authorizer oversight for 15 charter schools and coordinated financial management, human resources, information technology and organizational development services for emerging nonprofits. The organizations primarily focused on new immigrant communities and other historically disenfranchised groups. His responsibilities included developing new community partnerships, managing existing relationships, prospecting and developing new organizations, and serving as a public representative to external partners. Duties also included managing the academic, financial, facilities and board oversight for a number of Minneapolis-based charter schools. He worked in collaboration with the staff, board and the MN Department of Education to monitor and ensure progress.

During his time at Pillsbury United Communities, Antonio served as lead coordinator for a project called the Immigrant Parent Partnership Project. This project, a consortium of five agencies, hired and placed immigrant community liaisons in schools around the metro area. Staff worked as mediators between the school and parents to expand access to resources, clarify cultural and academic norms between the two, and assist students in joining extra curricular activities and preparing for college. He also worked to partner with a new adoption agency specializing in placing teenagers into permanent families, which is currently a large gap in the system. Antonio used the past year to establish a new organization serving GLBT communities of color. Part of this new organization's establishment included a 6-month board-training institute designed to place more GLBT people of color on nonprofit boards.

Before this position, Mr. Cardona worked for the Rainbow Health Initiative as Programs Director. Rainbow Health Initiative is a GLBT health organization focusing on physical and mental health, tobacco control, education and policy advocacy. He worked in coalition with funders and community partners to execute a two-year community based research project and developed a strategic plan to minimize the harm tobacco causes MN communities. Antonio also served as lead organizer for a statewide GLBT tobacco control network and helped facilitate a move to Blue Cross Blue Shield in order to ensure sustainability by securing a three-year contract.

He graduated from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Global Studies and International Relations and specialized in Governance, Peace and Justice. He also completed a Mini-MBA for Nonprofit Management program at the University of St Thomas in 2005. Antonio was in the honors program his first two years of college and worked with many student organizations. He is a Blue Cross Blue Shield Leadership Fellow and a coach for the LAAMPP Fellowship. LAAMPP, a leadership and advocacy institute, was designed to build capacity to address disparity issues for Minnesota's communities of color and GLBT communities.

Mr. Cardona's community involvement experience has been extensive. He has worked with dozens of nonprofit organizations and presented workshops at a number of universities and conferences. Antonio raised approximately $1.5 million for small, local nonprofits.

Mr. Cardona looks forward to polishing his administrative and community relations skills and seeks to develop a strong foundation in financial planning and management. He hopes to graduate a better-equipped public servant who is able to drive tangible change with positive outcomes.