News > Immigration In Minnesota
2020 Young Leader Award: Oballa Oballa
Posted on Sep 21 2020
Congratulations to Oballa Oballa on receiving this year’s Young Leader Award from the Resettlement Programs Office of the Minnesota Department of Human Services! The Resettlement Programs Office “recognize[s] that there are many Minnesotans with a refugee experience who are making a positive contribution in Minnesota. Every year [they] honor local leaders and citizens with Outstanding Refugee Awards to recognize former refugees who are making Minnesota a better place for all of us.”
Oballa and his family arrived in the United States in December 2013. Initially, they lived together in Maryland before Oballa moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota for Job Corps training. His mother moved to Austin, Minnesota, and Oballa joined her there after completing his Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) certificate. Oballa worked with ILCM staff attorney Sara Karki and in December 2019 became a United States citizen. Oballa has long been a public voice and leader, even before becoming a citizen.
“Oballa was appointed by Mayor Tom Stiehm to Austin’s Human Rights Commission, and elected by his fellow students as president of the student senate at Riverland College. [He] is passionate about eliminating food insecurity, and he founded his school’s first ever food pantry. Oballa is also president of LeadMN, which represents 180,000 community and technical college students across the state of Minnesota. He’s garnered statewide, bipartisan support for ending food insecurity on college campuses, resulting in the Minnesota Legislature passing the Hunger Free Campus Act in May 2019.” (Minnesota Department of Human Services)
(To read more about Oballa’s immigration story, click here.)