Mohamed Ahmed had just dropped his youngest daughter at a program at the Hosmer Library in Minneapolis in 2016 when a car began speeding toward him on the sidewalk.

Ahmed jumped between two parked cars to avoid getting hit, but the driver smashed into the back of the rear parked car. The force crushed Ahmed’s left leg.

Mohamed Ahmed (Caroline Yang / Bush Foundation)

“I don’t know if they were texting or had been drinking alcohol or whatever, but somehow they ended up on the sidewalk,” said Ahmed, who lives in St. Paul. “I got my right leg out, but not my left.”

Ahmed, who emigrated from Somalia to the U.S. when he was 17, had his left leg amputated above the knee and now uses a high-tech, computerized knee called a “c-leg.”

Since his amputation, Ahmed has worked to ensure equitable access to prosthetic care for underserved communities, both in Minnesota and globally. He is a volunteer with the Protez Foundation, an Oakdale-based organization that provides free prosthetics for people who have lost limbs, especially as a result of wars, in underserved areas of the world, and Wiggle Your Toes, an organization dedicated to helping victims and families of victims who have experienced limb loss.

Ahmed is one of 29 new fellows chosen by the Bush Foundation for their work in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and the 23 Native nations that share the same geography. Each fellow will receive up to $150,000 to fund 12-to-24 months of study and reflection, often in other states or countries, with the goal of making them better leaders.

Ahmed plans to use his award to complete a master’s of science degree in orthotics and prosthetics from Concordia University in St. Paul, strengthen his policy and advocacy skills and expand his impact on disability justice and healthcare access. He particularly wants to help people in Somalia and Yemen, he said.

“Here, if you lose your leg, you can go to a clinic and get a prosthetic,” he said. “In third-world countries, if you lose your leg, you lose everything. You lose your livelihood, you lose your transportation. Everything is out of the window. I’ll be working to help those people remain independent – to be able to support their family; get kids back to school, adults back to work, and to support their community. So it’s a win-win situation for everybody.”

In total, seven of this year’s 29 Bush Fellows live or work in St. Paul or the east metro. The Bush Foundation, based in downtown St. Paul, chose them from among 1,000 applicants. Here’s more about them:

Georgia Fort

Georgia Fort (Caroline Yang / Bush Foundation)

Georgia Fort, a three-time Midwest Emmy Award-winning journalist from St. Paul, is working to reshape the media landscape to center community and representation. “Less than 3 percent of journalists in the state of Minnesota are Black,” she said. “I think it’s really important that our newsrooms reflect the diversity of the communities they serve, and that’s what I aim to accomplish.”

Fort, who grew up on St. Paul’s East Side, is the founder of BLCK Press and the Center for Broadcast Journalism in St. Paul. She left mainstream media eight years ago “to build platforms that elevate underreported stories and develop the next generation of Black and brown journalists,” she said.

Fort plans to use her fellowship to pursue a certificate in leadership at Harvard University and develop a personal wellness plan that will allow her “to continue building a journalism ecosystem that affirms community, develops talent, and ensures that all voices are seen and heard.”

Two years ago, Fort launched a weekly half-hour TV show, “Here’s The Truth with Georgia Fort,” on The CW Twin Cities. “We had a shoestring budget, and we made it happen, but the reality is, the transformation that we want to see on that side of our work is going to require more than just a 30-minute time slot once a week,” Fort said. “Journalism is a pillar of democracy, and in order for this region and this nation to move forward, we need more than just a 30-minute show. We need a network. And so how do we build that? I’m excited to have the next two years to really have the time and space to become the leader that will be required to bring forth that vision.”

James Garrett Jr.

James Garrett Jr. (Caroline Yang / Bush Foundation)

James Garrett Jr., of St. Paul, believes architecture should be used as a tool for equity, cultural expression, and community transformation. Many of the projects designed by his firm, 4RM+ULA, reflect the aspirations of underserved communities from North Minneapolis to the Rondo neighborhood of St. Paul.

For example, the Rondo Commemorative Plaza in St. Paul, which his firm designed, “commemorates the neighborhood that was there before (Interstate 94) was built,” he said. It includes a 30-foot illuminated sign that “is wrapped in art and says ‘Rondo,’ and it kind of claims that space. It says, ‘Hey, we’re still here. The community was devastated, but we’re still here.’”

“We’re really interested in community and understanding how best we can reflect the community values and identity and create an artwork that expresses those things, gives people that sense of pride and that sense of belonging and ownership to connections of place,” said Garrett, whose great-grandmother is believed to be the first Black person to purchase a home in Rondo. “A lot of times that’s missing in our underserved neighborhoods or lower-income communities. People don’t get to build new buildings; they just sort of inhabit the buildings that are left over from prior eras. Going into community and really pushing to be able to create spaces and places that actually speak to who people are and what they aspire to be in new and creative ways, that’s really our motivation.”

Garrett said he plans to use his fellowship to “deepen his exploration of sustainable, climate-responsive materials and methods of building construction and expand his network as a thought leader for inclusive design.”

Leya Hale

Leya Hale (Caroline Yang / Bush Foundation)

Leya Hale is “indigenizing filmmaking by rooting the creative process in Indigenous language, kinship and worldview,” Bush officials said.

Hale, a citizen of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate and Dine Nations, is a multiple regional Emmy Award-winning documentary producer for Twin Cities PBS. She has earned national acclaim for films like “Bring Her Home” and “The People’s Protectors,” which uplift Indigenous stories and resilience.

Hale plans to use her fellowship to strengthen her Dakota language skills, expand her technical and narrative filmmaking skills, and build a global network of Indigenous creatives reshaping the future of media.

Hale lives in West St. Paul.

Carl Johnson

Carl Johnson (Caroline Yang / Bush Foundation)

Pastor Carl Johnson is transforming food access and economic opportunity on St. Paul’s East Side through faith-rooted leadership and community ownership.

Johnson, of St. Paul, founded the neighborhood’s first Black-owned “micro” grocery store and the George Washington Carver Cultural Center for Innovation, a hub for youth mentorship and cooperative business development.

The concept has been so successful that Johnson is working on starting other “micro” grocery stores across the Twin Cities, including the North End and downtown St. Paul. The stores, called Storehouse Grocers and Coffee Co-op, include a coffee shop.

Johnson plans to use his fellowship to complete his degree in entrepreneurship, pursue certification in cultural intelligence, and deepen his spiritual and cultural leadership through ancestral pilgrimage and learning Swahili.

“I plan to start in Kenya, in East Africa, where I have some DNA representation,” he said. “Then I will be going to Rwanda … to see what we call ‘a fully sustainable culture.’ They take one day out of the month, and the whole country cleans up the environment. I just thought, ‘Man, what would it look like to see someplace where everybody cleans up?’”

Marvis Kilgore

Marvis Kilgore (Caroline Yang / Bush Foundation)

Marvis Kilgore has an ambitious goal: Close the equity gap in education by increasing the presence and power of Black male educators.

Studies show that if Black male students have a Black male teacher before fifth grade, they’re more likely to graduate from high school and attend college, according to Kilgore. “How they think about themselves changes because they have someone in close proximity to them who can understand lived experience and take that lived experience and connect it in the classroom to create something more magical,” he said.

Kilgore is executive director of Code Savvy, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit offering computer science training programs to students and school districts focused on traditionally underserved student communities. He previously served as program director for Sirtify, a Normandale Community College program dedicated to recruiting Black men in K-12 teaching.

He said he plans to use his fellowship to “expand his leadership in educational equity, strengthen his policy expertise and explore how innovation and technology can drive systemic transformation in teacher preparation and retention,” he said.

“My plan is to really get out in the state of Minnesota to understand the reason why there is this huge equity gap in education,” said Kilgore, who lives on St. Paul’s East Side. “I know what the numbers say, but I want to hear from Black men across the state of Minnesota to understand their why. Data is great, but it doesn’t come with voice. I need to understand the voice of the people to be able to affect change in a more meaningful way and be a more effective voice of change and advocacy.”

Maychee Mua

Maychee Mua (Caroline Yang / Bush Foundation)

As a first-generation Hmong-Chinese-American and a parent of neurodivergent children, Maychee Mua helped establish Minnesota’s first autism Medicaid program for children under 21 and the state’s first cultural competency training for autism providers. Her advocacy expertise extends to housing, behavioral health and advocating for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Mua, of Cottage Grove, is “reimagining autism advocacy through a culturally attuned and healing-centered lens,” Bush officials said. “Her work dismantles barriers with empathy, cultural fluency and deep systems knowledge.”

Mua, the co-author of the Hmong children’s book “I Am a Hmong-American Child,” plans to use her fellowship to “reconnect with her cultural roots, design holistic healing frameworks and develop resources that bridge Southeast Asian traditions with Western systems of care.”

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Today is Tuesday, June 3, the 154th day of 2025. There are 211 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On June 3, 1943, an altercation between U.S. Navy sailors and young Mexican Americans on the streets of Los Angeles led to several days of clashes known as the Zoot Suit Riots, during which white mobs attacked Mexican Americans across the city, injuring more than 150.

Also on this date:

In 1844, the last confirmed specimens of the great auk were killed on Eldey island, near Iceland.

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In 1888, the poem “Casey at the Bat” by Ernest Lawrence Thayer was first published in the San Francisco Daily Examiner.

In 1935, the French liner SS Normandie set a record on its maiden voyage, arriving in New York after crossing the Atlantic in just four days.

In 1937, Edward, The Duke of Windsor, who had abdicated the British throne, married Wallis Simpson in a private ceremony in Monts, France.

In 1965, during the Gemini 4, spaceflight, astronaut Edward H. White became the first American to “walk” in space.

In 1989, Chinese army troops entered Beijing’s Tiananmen Square to begin a crackdown on student-led pro-democracy demonstrations.

In 2016, former heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali, whose athletic feats and activism placed him among the most revered athletes of all time, died in Scottsdale, Arizona, at age 74.

In 2017, elite rock climber Alex Honnold became the first to climb solo to the top of the massive granite wall known as El Capitan in Yosemite National Park without ropes or safety gear.

Today’s Birthdays:

Former Cuban President Raúl Castro is 94.
Basketball Hall of Famer Billy Cunningham is 82.
Golf Hall of Famer Hale Irwin is 80.
Singer Suzi Quatro is 75.
Singer Deniece Williams is 75.
Former first lady Jill Biden is 74.
Olympic gymnastics gold medalist Peter Vidmar is 64.
Musician Kerry King (Slayer) is 61.
Broadcast journalist Anderson Cooper is 58.
Tennis player Rafael Nadal is 39.

WEST SACRAMENTO — Joe Ryan had one curse word running through his head after he loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth inning and fell behind the next batter 3-0. The self-proclaimed quick thinker then went through a range of thoughts as the pitch clock dwindled before delivering his next pitch to CJ Alexander.

“I was like ‘This is a big situation. I should throw a (expletive) strike,’” Ryan said.

Two pop ups, which triggered the infield fly rule, and a groundout later and Ryan was out of the inning, preserving the Twins’ lead in the biggest moment of their 10-4 win over the Athletics on Monday night in Sacramento.

“I would say this about Joe’s fifth inning: It didn’t start out too great. It finished with probably one of the more impressive pitch-making sequences that you’ll see,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “I told him it was one of the most impressive things I’ve seen him do, and we’ve seen him do a lot of great things.”

Ryan’s start wasn’t easy — he pitched five innings, none of them 1-2-3 and uncharacteristically walked four and hit two. He gave up four runs, including three in the fourth inning on a Lawrence Butler home run that just cleared the fence in center field and likely would not have gone out in most places around the league.

But when it mattered most, when the Twins’ lead had dwindled from six runs to two and they needed Ryan to bear down and protect it, he did.

“Sick,” was Byron Buxton’s description of Ryan’s escape act. “You can see him lock it in a little bit more and that was fun. For him, not loading the bases, but seeing him dominate like that, that was fun.”

Buxton did plenty of dominating himself on Monday, driving in five of the Twins’ 10 runs, which matched his career high.

The Twins (32-27) jumped all over Athletics (23-38) starter Luis Severino in the second inning, a rally which accounted for six of their runs. In that inning, after Ty France gave them a lead with a bases-loaded two-run single, Buxton hit a double to deep left-center field that left fielder Drew Avans could not corral, bringing home another pair of runs.

In the sixth inning, Buxton hit a hard single past diving first baseman Tyler Soderstrom, pushing the lead from 6-4 to 8-4 at the time, and he added a sacrifice fly in his final plate appearance.

“Buck’s been having tremendous at-bats. These at-bats were just terrific,” Baldelli said. “He was on a lot of pitches.”

It’s an especially promising sign for the Twins and their center fielder, who missed two weeks with a concussion and admitted there was relief in coming back and producing right away. In the three games he’s played since returning, Buxton has two hits in each of them.

“Obviously might not show it but just having that thought of taking a couple games to get your swing back,” Buxton said. “That’s kind of the thought when you miss 11, 12 games. Then you start getting the creeps, do I need to go on a rehab assignment, see pitching? And so it was more about trusting who I am and knowing that I did everything I was supposed to do to prepare myself for returning.”

In addition to Buxton and France, Brooks Lee drove in a pair of runs and Trevor Larnach one of his own as the Twins continued to tack on runs through the later innings of the game.

“You separate by getting those big hits and we were able to separate tonight,” Baldelli said. “That’s when you really change the game in your favor. We did it by having a really good approach.”

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SACRAMENTO — Royce Lewis would like to clarify: He does slump — and he’s currently in the midst of a long one.

It was nearly a year ago when Lewis said, “I don’t do that slump thing. That’s not a real thing for me.”

That, Lewis has said multiple times since then, was not quite what he meant.

“What I was trying to say mentally was I don’t go into, ‘I’m 0-for-20 whatever.’ I go into today thinking it’s (Athletics starter) Luis Severino. I’ve faced him in the past. I feel good. I know his sinker and his four-seam,’ and that’s my mindset. That’s what I was trying to say.” Lewis said.

“So “I’ll say it: I slump. A lot of people slump. Everyone slumps. Hopefully I play long enough I slump 100 more times. That’s my goal,” Lewis said. :I’m very excited to keep pushing through and having another opportunity.”

Lewis was not in the starting lineup on Monday for the second time in three days. Sunday, he hit ninth and was pinch hit for late in the game for after going 0 for 2, running his skid to 0 for 30. That comes on the heels of an 0-for-36 stretch — which dated back to last season — that Lewis endured at the beginning of May, when he returned from the injured list.

Lewis entered the day hitting .127 with a .392 OPS on the season with just one home run — though he just missed two — and three runs driven in 21 games. He missed the first 35 games recovering from a hamstring strain suffered during spring training.

Now he’s fully healthy, and the focus is on “trying to get back to comfy Royce,” as he works through some mechanical tweaks.

“He was in (the batting cage) hitting some challenging shapes and some good stuff to make sure he’s staying on the ball as much as he can,” hitting  coach Matt Borgschulte said. “Staying grounded in his legs. Getting back to the step where he’s kind of in rhythm with it. I’m excited to see how things progress. … With a guy with that much talent, it’s just a matter of time before things start going his way.”

Lewis, as always, projected positivity as he talked about working through the toughest stretch of his career, pointing to stars like Aaron Judge and Mike Trout, who have also endured tough times in their careers.

With so many different voices trying to lend advice or a helping word, Lewis has been leaning on his “circle of trust” — a hitter’s, a family circle, a friend circle — as he tries to figure things out at the plate.

“He’s working hard to focus on the things that he needs to focus on and that’s, as a manager, what you can ask a player to do,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “I think he’s doing that, and he’s preparing in the best way he can to get ready for the game today and not think about some of his performances. … When you’re dealing with struggles, looking at them straight on is a good thing.”

Briefly

Top prospect Walker Jenkins (ankle) was supposed to play in a rehab game Monday in the Florida Complex League, but it was rained out, general manager Jeremy Zoll said. He’s now scheduled to play in a rehab game on Tuesday. … Outfielder Emmanuel Rodríguez landed on the Triple-A injured list with a strain in his right hip. Zoll said they expect him to be out two to four weeks. “Obviously a bummer, but seems like it’s on the relatively minor side and hopefully get him back and running here soon enough,” he said. … Longtime former manager Dusty Baker visited the Twins’ clubhouse on Monday before the game.

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