Today we’d like to introduce you to Joe Hobot.
Dr. Joe Hobot, President and CEO, is a descendant of the Hunkpapa Band of the Lakota Nation from the Standing Rock Indian Reservation – where his grandfather and mother are enrolled members. Born and raised in the Twin Cities, Dr. Hobot earned a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota, a Master’s degree from the University of St. Thomas, and a Doctorate of Education from Hamline University. He joined American Indian OIC in 2006, serving as lead teacher and then director of education. He was responsible for the oversight and progress of the agency’s alternative high school, its Adult Basic Education/GED program, and its career college. He stepped into his current role in 2014. Dr. Hobot also serves as an adjunct faculty member of the Falmouth Institute – providing national onsite training throughout Indian Country for tribal leadership and administrators – and as a consultant with the National Urban Indian Family Coalition (NUIFC). In 2017, he published “Resurgence: Restructuring Urban American Indian Education,” a report commissioned by NUIFC. He has served on the Minnesota Jobs Skills Partnership’s Board of Directors since 2017 and on the national Native American Employment and Training Council since 2019. In 2015, Dr. Hobot received the Minnesota American Indian Chamber of Commerce’s Bear Award for service to the American Indian community of Minnesota, and the following year, was selected as a fellow at the Roy Wilkins Center for Human Relations and Social Justice at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. He received an Ascend Fellowship from the Aspen Institute in 2018 and was recognized as a #MNCivicLeader by the Citizens League in 2020.
Where will your industry go over the next 5-10 years? Are there any significant shifts, changes, trends, etc?
As we look to the coming years, I am confident that the rest of the educational and workforce development systems within Minnesota will finally catch up to where American Indian OIC has been operating for the past 45 years since our founding in 1979, specifically about our utilization of culturally contextualized approaches to enhance the overall learning environment for our students and adult clients. By introducing and leveraging our Indigenous cultural wisdom within the learning spaces offered to all of our participants, our organization has found that our community responds in an overwhelmingly positive fashion. Specifically, the environment goes a long way toward validating the cultural identities of our membership and not only strengthens their engagement with our program offerings at the American Indian OIC but also provides critical support toward empowering them to complete and secure gainful employment. In the coming years, organizations such as the American Indian OIC, with decades of successful practice, will be strategically well-situated to meet the educational and workforce development needs of our community and our state.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.aioic.org
