Virginia Svenningsen is the Director of the Abused Persons Outreach Center in Valley City. She has 12 years experience working with victims and providing them with a safe haven through a variety of services. Ms. Svenningsen has been a member of the Sheyenne Valley Safe Communities coalition for approximately one and a half years. She immediately decided to join the coalition after her first meeting. The safety issues addressed through the coalition are important to her and the work she accomplishes in her community.

Rebecca Gerhardt is the oldest of four children, and her younger three siblings are all brothers.  Her father heads the Building Trades Department at Sitting Bull College in Fort Yates, ND and has a small construction company, and her mother is a nurse at Standing Rock Hospital.  Rebecca also has two children.  Reed is seven and just finished the first grade, and Emily just turned four.  Rebecca enjoys riding roller coasters, rock climbing, and doing things with her children.

I am proud to declare I am a life-long resident of Grand Forks. After graduating from high school, I attended the North Dakota State College of Science and earned an Associate Degree. Before joining Altru Health System and Safe Communities, I was employed in the automotive repair industry for twenty-eight years. The last twenty-four of those years I was a technician at a local new car dealership. I am often asked how does an automobile technician become a Safe Communities Coordinator and why would I leave a job after twenty-four years? This change in careers, like most extreme changes, evolved over time.

Jane graduated from North Dakota State University in May of 2005.  She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communications with an emphasis on Public Relations.  She also has minors in both Health Education and Individual and Family Wellness.  These along with her involvement in on-campus activities and experience in peer education helped prepare Jane for her position as an Assistant Safe Communities Coordinator.

Jennifer Mauch graduated in May of 2006 from North Dakota State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Community Health Education and a minor in Child Development and Family Science. During Jennifer’s internship with Robyn Litke, Coordinator of the Safe Communities Coalition of the Red River Valley, she had some great opportunities to experience what a Safe Communities Coordinator does. As a result, when Jennifer heard from the health promotion division at Fargo Cass Public Health about the opening for Coordinator of Head of the Red Safe Communities Coalition, she knew it would be great for her personally as well as professionally.

Marilyn received her Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education, with a minor in choral Music from Dickinson State College.  She also has a Masters degree in Education, with an Educational Administration, Cognate from Northern State University in Aberdeen, SD.

Carol received her Associates Degree with an emphasis in Criminal Justice from Bismarck State College. She recently went back to school, and completed her Business Management Degree in May from the University of Mary. Carol has been dedicated to traffic safety for many years. After eleven years as a Drivers License Examiner, Carol thought working with Traffic Safety would be interesting and challenging. She has now been a Program Manager in the Office of Traffic Safety for the last five years. Carol says, “I really enjoy working in Traffic Safety, and the people make my job enjoyable.”

David brings over eleven years of Law Enforcement experience to the Minot Mayor's Coalition for a Safe Community.  He joined the coalition over a year ago as a voluntary additional duty for work.

Dawn enjoys helping others so much that she received a Health Educator B.A. from Concordia College in Moorhead. She has worked in injury prevention since 1992 and is currently a member of the Capitol City Coalition in Bismarck. She enjoys working on campaigns to promote safety messages and implement the child passenger safety certification trainings. She likes educating the public on safety issues, and she knows that it is important because of her “real world” experiences with her children in the child passenger safety field.

DuWayne is a graduate of Valley City State University.  He has over 2000 hours of Law Enforcement training, and has been in Law Enforcement for over 36 years.  He also has over 5 years experience as the coordinator for the Community Services project in Valley City and Barnes County.  As the coordinator for this project, when the Juvenile, Municipal, or District court gives one of their clients community service work, DuWayne lines up the work site, checks work progression and completion, and files reports back to the court system.  When lining up work for young people, he tries to line up work that will give them some insight into a job that may later interest them and at the same time teach them responsibility.