Manisha Paudel faces 'big task' as Des Moines' first equity coordinator

As Des Moines' first equity coordinator, it's Manisha Paudel's job to make sure people feel welcome in Iowa's capital city. 

The 32-year-old was hired in October to help the city build relationships with underrepresented groups, develop programs and strategies to ensure social equity, and serve as the contact point for immigrants and refugees facing barriers in accessing city services. 

"I'll be working with groups that feel the city’s not supporting them and what we can do that’s truly going to … ensure they’re still welcome and a part of this community,” said Paudel.

"We don't have a lot of people in local government doing this work."

Paudel is one of the Des Moines Register's People to Watch in 2018.

"There’s a big task ahead of her," said Joshua Barr, director of Des Moines' 
Civil and Human Rights Department. "She can’t do it alone. It has to be a coordinated effort across departments in city government and the community." 

Barr was one of the Register's People to Watch in 2016 after he was hired to lead the city branch dedicated to investigating discrimination claims and educating the public on civil rights issues.

Paudel is the department's fourth employee. 

“As an immigrant myself, I always wonder what would be my ask from the city; how would I want to feel like I belong here?” she said. 

Born in Nepal, her family moved to Canada when she was 16 years old. She moved to the United States in 2007.

"She's just really, really good with people of all different backgrounds," said Kelly Larson, the director of Dubuque's Human Rights Department. "She’s aware that culture is always at play. She’s not as quick to judge a behavior as right or wrong based on her own biases."

Paudel served as a community relations specialist for the eastern Iowa city from 2013 to 2015. Her job was to connect the city's minority communities to local government services. 

She developed a project called Neighbor to Neighbor that identifies civic leaders on each city block. 

Look back at 2016’s People to Watch plus the other 2017 honorees at DesMoinesRegister.com/PeopletoWatch

Paudel later worked as a senior policy analyst for the Tacoma, Washington, Office of Equity and Human Rights, where she helped bridge a divide between city leaders and immigration advocates who wanted to see Tacoma declare itself a "sanctuary city." 

She headed a task force that reached a compromise: Tacoma spent $50,000 to create a defense fund for undocumented residents facing deportation. 

Immigrant advocates pressured Des Moines city leaders to take a similar stand in 2017. 

"She really cares," said Amanda DeShazo of Pierce County (Washington) Central Labor Council. "She sees the frustration among the immigrants in society." 

Paudel was raised in British Columbia. As a first-year college student in Toronto, she co-founded a magazine for first-generation Canadian youths.

She later attended Drake University, where she re-established the school's Amnesty International chapter. She earned a bachelor's degree in international relations from Drake and later received her master's in public service management from DePaul University, in Chicago. 

During grad school, she spent time working with UNICEF in Eritrea, a country in East Africa, focusing on the impediments girls face in accessing education. She also worked in Timor-Leste, an island in Southeast Asia, helping develop policies to promote teaching children in their native tongue. 

Barr said he wants to see Paudel use her experiences in places like Dubuque, Tacoma and even East Africa to develop programs and solutions that cater to the specific needs of Des Moines' immigrants and refugees. 

"As a city, we haven’t done the greatest job of reaching out to those communities to bring them into the mainstream and make them feel as though they’re welcome and a part of the Des Moines area," Barr said.

Nearly 18 percent of Des Moines residents speak a first language other than English, according to the U.S. Census 2016 American Community Survey. Thirteen percent were born outside the U.S. and 8 percent are not U.S. citizens. 

"No one person has ever changed the world, but they can be a catalyst that sparks the change," Barr said. 

Hometown heartbreak 

When a 7.8 magnitude earthquake devastated Kathmandu, Nepal, killing almost 9,000, Manisha Paudel knew she had to do something to help her hometown.

She formed the Dubuque Rebuilds Nepal campaign and raised $11,000 for relief efforts. 

Paudel quit her job as a community relations specialist for the Dubuque Human Rights Department to fly to Nepal for two-and-a-half months.

She visited three villages where she provided medicine, food and blankets to people affected by the earthquake.  

"That was the winter time, and people were cold living in tents," she said. 

Manisha Paudel

Age: 32

Lives: Des Moines

Education: Bachelor's degree from Drake University, master's degree from DePaul University, in Chicago.

Career: Equity coordinator, city of Des Moines, October 2017 to present; senior equity and policy analyst, city of Tacoma, March 2016 to September 2017; community relations specialist, city of Dubuque, June 2013 to October 2015.

Family: Her family lives in Davenport. 

PEOPLE TO WATCH IN 2018: ABOUT THE SERIES
These are central Iowans in business, arts, nonprofits, civic activism and nonelected government positions who are expected to make a difference in their fields of endeavor in 2018. Readers were invited to submit nominations. Selections were made by Des Moines Register editors and reporters. Look for profiles daily through early January.