MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Metro Blooms is pleased to announce that John Kinara has been appointed Chair of the Board of Directors of Metro Blooms. Kinara, formerly Vice-Chair, takes on the leadership role from Carol Kuechler, who will continue to serve as a Board member.

“This is a very proud moment for me, stepping into the role of Chair of the Board of Directors of Metro Blooms,” Kinara says. “I am both thrilled and humbled by the opportunity and task before us, grateful for the trust that has been bestowed upon me, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our predecessors.”

Kuechler, who served as Chair for four years, looks forward to continued service on the Board. “As we transition to a new and very capable chair, John Kinara, I look forward to working on the Board as a team member. John brings a rich history with Metro Blooms from the community perspective and many talents as a passionate leader,” Kuechler says.

Metro Blooms partners with communities to create resilient landscapes and foster clean watersheds, embracing the values of equity and inclusion to solve environmental challenges. We partner with residents, neighborhood groups, churches, small businesses, youth, elders, nonprofits and local governments, to co-create natural outdoor spaces to help mitigate the effects of climate change — supporting pollinators and people along the way. We center community priorities — whether it be spaces to connect with nature, outdoor areas to play and socialize, pollinator habitat, or pathways to green jobs.

About John Kinara

Kinara has served on the Board since 2022, most recently as Vice-Chair. For his role on the Board, he brings relevant experience from his work with the City of Brooklyn Park Community Development Department, where he serves as the housing expert, policy liaison, and primary contact in several areas of housing and redevelopment.

Kinara is passionate about multiple areas of housing policy, including landlord-tenant relations, fair housing, redevelopment, land use, housing finance, federal and state housing programs, foreclosures and low-income homeowner issues, homelessness, health, and safety, building codes and enforcement. He is very interested in how they intersect with environmental justice, as well as racial equity, diversity, and inclusion.

“Metro Blooms is an influencer, educator, and collaborator in equitably creating resilient landscapes using earth-friendly practices to manage stormwater and protect habitat. We partner with communities and organizations to create healthier outdoor spaces that benefit people, pollinators, and clean water,” Kinara says.

 “We work towards creating landscapes that are aesthetically pleasing and for their ability to sustain life and adapt to climate change. We are committed to advancing social and environmental justice, meeting community members where they’re at to work together to heal the earth for future generations. Metro Blooms and the Board of Directors celebrate diversity and are committed to creating a positive and inclusive environment as outlined in our strategic plan and associated work plans. And I commit to serve with integrity, transparency, and dedication.”

About Carol Kuechler

Kuechler first connected with Metro Blooms in 1987, when she came to one of our rain garden workshops. The seed was planted. In 2013, as part of training to become a Minnesota Water Steward, she reconnected with Metro Blooms on a project in her yard that eventually yielded three rain gardens, a permeable driveway, and a rain chain. In 2015, she played a key role, block captain, in Blooming Alleys, a project engaging neighbors on her block to install practices that mitigate runoff into nearby Minnehaha Creek. Thirty percent of her neighbors participated.

In 2017, the day she retired as a professor of social work, she received a call from another Water Steward, a Metro Blooms Board member. Would she be interested in joining the Board? Kuechler became a Board member in October 2017. In the past four years, she has led the Board during a time of great growth at Metro Blooms, including a new mission statement, strategic goals that better reflect our work, and working with the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources to implement the Lawns to Legumes grant program. Lawns to Legumes supports state residents to create pollinator habitat at their homes.

Under Kuechler’s leadership, Metro Blooms has grown in many ways, including:

• Purchasing and moving to our home at 3747 Cedar Avenue
• Creation of Metro Blooms Design+Build
• Support for ongoing professional development for the Board and staff
• Transition to new leadership
• Growth of the Sustainable Landcare Training program
• Embedding our commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion as we continue to articulate how our work enriches environmental and social justice across all neighborhoods through the engagement of all voices

Throughout her service on the Board, Kuechler has continued to learn about native plants, stormwater runoff, and the importance of place and voice in creating outdoor spaces that foster the healing of the planet. And she has no intention of stopping.

Says Kuechler: “I look forward to being part of the next chapter of Metro Blooms, with deep gratitude for the gifts of Board and staff relationships and the accompanying friendships, love, care and joy in co-creating a healthier planet, one yard and neighborhood at a time.”

— Aleli Balagtas, Metro Blooms Editor