Executive Director

Mr. Jacob Bell

Jacob Aaron Bell comes from a long line of artists and community organizers. In 2005 Jacob moved to the Midwest from California with his mixed race parents and 4 biracial siblings. He attended the University of Minnesota Duluth, studying The Fine Arts with a concentration in Acting and a minor in Communications. Since returning to Duluth in 2018, Jacob has put his experience working with diverse communities to use, with the goal of strengthening and developing social assets of Duluth’s Black community. Jacob's initial role at FFC was developing materials for Freedom Youth Startups, an entrepreneurial development program aimed toward changing the narrative of what it means to be a Black business owner.

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Digital Navigator and Elders Support Specialist

Terrence "T" Sain

T is Family Freedom Center’s youth program coordinator. He brings creative energy to the team and works hard to ensure that programming is successful. T is also one of the first participants in the Freedom Youth Start-Ups program for young entrepreneurs, through which he plans to become a certified real estate broker, a project he hopes will help him create equitable housing opportunities along the North Shore. Through his work with FFC, he has also been able to connect his friends with business-resources in support of their business goals. T is attending Lake Superior College while continuing to develop his business acumen and develop new youth programming at FFC.

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Freedom Farms Coordinator

AC Kirk

AC Kirk is Family Freedom Centers Garden coordinator. AC brings a desire to help people to his role, something he learned from his momma, who was in the business of helping folks that struggle in strenuous circumstances in the Duluth area. In the Garden AC does more work than talking. He believes “gardening helps me find peace. I feel like other black people that struggle a lot internally can find peace in the work. Feeding your fellow people and doing hard work in fresh air. There's a dutiful pride that comes with the work that I'd like to see spread throughout my people like wildfire.”

Office Manager

Kristi

Kristi Burton is joining the Family Freedom Center team as the Office Manager. A part of Family Freedom Center since its inception Kristi is passionate about the mission and community building that Family Freedom provides. As a biracial person Kristi has always been curious to learn about other cultures and how identity is formed for individuals culminating in a Bachelors in Global, Cultural, and Language studies from the College of Saint Scholastica. After working at Life House for 5 years in their Safe Harbor program she has returned to school at the College of Saint Scholastica to obtain her Masters in Social Work with the intent of being a therapist. You can find Kristi walking around with her partner and dog playing Pokemon go, getting a good nap on, or taking many photos of her cat Mew. A fun fact about Kristi is that she has been to more countries than US states! 

Youth Services Intern

Audrey

Audrey is a youth services intern at the Family Freedom Center working closely with the youth programs and it’s coordinators. At the College of St. Scholastica, they are majoring in Peace and Justice Studies with a minor in American Sign Language and Deaf Culture. They feel that the Deaf community is incredibly underrepresented and they want to be an advocate for them. Since Junior year of high school, they’ve had a passion for social justice work and creating change for marginalized communities with an emphasis on Black youth. They want to understand the process behind non-profit organizations and how to create a successful youth program. Audrey hopes to have their own non-profit organization someday which assists to Black youth, at-risk youth, and young mothers. Through the Family Freedom Center, Audrey hopes to learn the processes of building an organization such as this one and building the confidence to become a reliable outreach director.

Agriculture Intern

Jaylon

Jaylon Oglesby is an Intern here at the Family Freedom Center. Mr. Oglesby is a junior at the College of Saint Scholastica, and is double majoring in Sustainability, and Peace and Justice. He enjoys trying new foods, seeing new sights and hearing the stories of others, and playing Saxophone. He is excited to work with family freedom centers, garden and elders programs. He wishes to have a career fighting and advocating for food justice in urban communities.