To

Who it May Concern:

It is my great pleasure to write a letter of high recommendation for Mina Blyly-Strauss.

Mina stands out from a very strong pool of graduate students with whom I have worked over
many years. Her deep understanding of issues facing children and families, her commitment to
high-quality projects and authentic relationships, and her extensive skills in training,
coordinating and writing prepare her to skillfully manage a wide range of people and projects.

In 2012 Mina joined our staff at the Extension Children, Youth & Family Consortium (CYFC) as
an intern. In 2014 I was able to hire her as a Graduate Research Assistant, a position she held
until 2018. As an intern, Mina demonstrated her long-term commitment to our work by
supporting and eventually overseeing administrative leadership for the Cultural Providers
Network (CPN). The CPN is an active group of community leaders committed to improving
mental health services for children of color. With Mina’s leadership and support, group
members met monthly to share best practices, learn from community experts, consult with
local state agencies and build stronger connections with one another. Mina oversaw CPN
meeting agendas, guest speakers, website, listserv and communication tasks. She approached
this work with both daily commitment and long-term vision. Due to Mina’s role, the CPN grew
in size and strength as an important source of support and training for providers serving
families in the Twin Cities. CPN members strongly valued her presence and leadership.

As Mina worked with CYFC, she moved well beyond the typical graduate student role into a full
staff role, serving as a team member in creating in-person and online training courses, research
documents, and communication materials. She has specific skills in curriculum development,
program development/evaluation and technical writing. She demonstrates her vision, creativity
and responsiveness in working closely with faculty members, practitioners, University staff
members and other students. Mina is proactive, timely and thorough in her approach and her
execution of project tasks. Our partners have recognized and commented on Mina’s
comprehensive approach to project management and communication.

Overall, Mina consistently demonstrates her personal and professional commitment to children
and families by her authentic engagement with a wide range of people and her vision in
creating and managing projects that support children and families. She brings this commitment
and the wide array of skills noted here to her work and colleagues.

I strongly support Mina in her search for a position of leadership on behalf of children and
families, and highly recommend her for this work. Feel free to contact me (cmichael@umn.edu)
with questions.


Sincerely,

Cari Michaels, MPH
Extension Educator