The Team
Who We Are
Fayise A. Ecclesiaste
Founder & CEO
As the founder of FA, Fayise has led numerous projects including the 2025 Comprehensive Community Needs Report for Southwestern MN Opportunity Council, The 2025 MNSeeds Model of Work & Impact Report, The 2022 VRJ BIPOC Parents in Early Childhood Needs Assessment, the 2017 JDAI Report for Hennepin County amongst others. She has convened and trained researchers made up of communities most impacted, artists, professional academics and more. Previously she was the Organizing and Training Director at Voices for Racial Justice, and later the Co-Director of Programs. She has facilitated dialogues with diverse leaders in rural and urban communities across the state of MN and has helped to inform grant-making of over $1million into greater MN communities and Black led organizations as a member of various grant-making committees including serving on the St. Paul MN Foundation's Pan African Endowment Committee.
Brett Grant
Research Advisor
Brett Grant has many years of experience in both policy and research. He has his PHD in Education Policy, Leadership and Organization at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, as well as his Master of Education. He is the Assistant Professor in the School of Education and Social Work at the City University of New York. Previously he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Teachers College at Colombia University Black Education Research Center, and was the Policy and Research Director at Voices for Racial Justice for over six years.
Than Than Kyaw
Associate
Than Than Kyaw was the former community engagement specialist for Southwest Area Initiative. Previously, Kyaw worked in community organizing, corporate community engagement, student services and community education. He moved to Minnesota from a refugee camp in Thailand at age 11 and is a graduate of Worthington High School based in rural MN. Than Than is a creative artistic director of oral theatre, skilled in Indigenous foraging practices native to Thailand, and is a seasoned cultural strategist