We are wishing the warmest welcome to CoCo Villaluz, Maia Maiden, and Patri Acevedo Fuentes, three fantastic people joining Forecast’s Board of Directors. Forecast’s team is excited to bring on CoCo, Maia, and Patri as we continue to make deeper connections and meaningful collaborations with communities and changemakers nationwide.

CoCo Villaluz 

CoCo is the Health Equity Manager for the American Indian Cancer Foundation. An enrolled member of the MHA Nation, she is Hidatsa/Assiniboine/Chamorro. She has over twenty years of experience in all phases of community development, capacity building, and mobilizing. CoCo is an advocate for the reclamation of cultural ways through art and storytelling.

With an emphasis on tobacco, CoCo has collaborated with local, national, tribal, and international entities as they focus on Indigenous health. She incorporates different art forms into prevention activities to address traditional tobacco, educate, pass policy, and create change. Her overall goal is to promote Indigenous cultural wellness in our communities for generations to come.

Maia Maiden

A South Minneapolis native, Maia aka Rah Fyah has been a leader in the dance community for over 20 years. Representing Hip Hop culture, Maiden’s background includes dancer, choreographer and 14 years as Curator and Director of award-winning Maia Maiden Productions, a Twin Cities based performing arts presenter. She has served on numerous fellowship/grant panels, boards and has been recognized with many honors. Currently, she is the Director of Arts Learning and Community Engagement at Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, one of the U.S.’s leading not-for-profit performing arts centers.

Patri Acevedo Fuentes

Patri brings over 20 years of design expertise, cultural sensitivity, and a wild and wonderful wit to her work. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Patri resided in San Juan, New York, Florida, and Texas before making the Black Hills her home. As an architect and community member, Patri finds joy in creating solutions that catalyze smart growth and renewal with a special love for rural and remote communities.

An engaged and passionate civic leader, Patri is a 2021 Bush Foundation Fellow. During the fellowship she is expanding her knowledge of public policy and social justice, and her capacity for intercultural development; with the goal of creating a more equitable approach to architecture through policy, planning, practice, and participation. She understands that architecture is powerful and permanent and seeks to make the design and construction of places and spaces more just.