Moorhead honors two McKnight Heart of Community awardees and longtime city employees

Mayor Shelley Carlson and staff presented Heart of Community recognitions to Iman Yacine and Yokesam Gooneratne, two Moorhead residents who received McKnight Foundation awards.

Lisa Bodie introduced the honorees and described Yacine as an immigrant from Iraq who assists newcomers with housing, paperwork and access to services, and Gooneratne as the longtime executive director of Cultural Diversity Resources (CDR), which runs programs for employment, financial literacy, bilingual interpreter services and entrepreneurship training.

“I'm truly honored,” Iman Yacine said after receiving the award. Yokesam Gooneratne described arriving in Moorhead in 1986 and leading CDR since 1994; she highlighted CDR’s focus on self-sufficiency, youth development, volunteer engagement and workforce programs. Gooneratne said Pangea/Cultivate Cultures events have drawn as many as 1,500 attendees and that CDR has partnered with the Historical Society of Clay County.

The council also recognized city employees with 25 or more years of service and called up several for certificates. Named in the meeting were Bob Zimmerman (director of engineering, hired Sept. 1989), Darcy Thorne (biosolids program manager, hired June 1994), Michael Schroeder (park maintenance manager, hired May 1994), Shannon Monroe (chief of police, hired May 1994), Rob Mathison (police sergeant, hired Feb. 1999), Tom Sapp (assistant superintendent, wastewater/stormwater, hired May 1989), and others who were not present: Neil Penner (park maintenance crew chief, hired May 1989), Jeff Larson (former police officer and narcotics lead, hired Jan. 1999), Eric Berg (fire captain, hired Jan. 1999), Jason Dwire (firefighter, hired Aug. 1999), and Chief Wallen (fire chief, hired Apr. 1994). The mayor and council thanked the employees for decades of service.

The recognitions were ceremonial; no formal council action was recorded related to the awards.