Cheryal Hills is a do-first leader, a fearless champion for rural voices, and the Executive Director of Ủy ban phát triển vùng năm.
Region Five Development Commission (R5DC) is a regionally-focused partner that provides community development, economic development and transportation initiatives in central Minnesota. Its programs use an inclusive, collaborative approach, with an emphasis on local foods, agriculture and creating a vibrant renewable energy economy in greater Minnesota. McKnight is proud to support R5DC’s work through our Khí hậu & Năng lượng Trung Tây và Cộng đồng sống động và công bằng các chương trình.
McKnight Senior Program Officer Marcq Sung, who leads our Build Community Wealth strategy within the Vibrant & Equitable Communities Program, recommended Cheryal for a Courageous Character profile. Here’s what he shared:
“When you meet Cheryal or hear about her work, it quickly becomes clear why she stands out as a courageous partner. She leads with action, humility, and a deep commitment to serving others. Her courage shows in her willingness to address critical regional challenges head-on, embracing adaptability and creativity while focusing on rural and tribal voices. Cheryal leads by example, showing grit and a drive to make a difference. Her approach, shaped by lived experience and belief in relational connection, makes her a visionary leader and steadfast ally for equity and change—especially in regions where distance makes it harder to include all voices.
Through her do‑first leadership, Cheryal works across the everyday systems that make communities thrive—broadband, childcare, workforce, grocery access, transportation, clean water, and environmental stewardship—treating infrastructure as interconnected and focused on belonging and opportunity.
She pairs proactive, future-looking strategies with an equity lens by using food, art, and dialogue to build social cohesion across rural and tribal communities. The impact is evident both at scale and on the ground—from Minnesota’s largest rural solar project and local food hubs that bridge cultural divides, to hands-on efforts like teaching veterans to cook healthy meals and supporting women’s cultural exchange—measuring success by the quality of relationships and the tangible difference people experience.
R5DC’s approach, centered on community-driven solutions and equitable access to capital, aligns powerfully with McKnight’s strategy to build community wealth while creating environmentally resilient communities. By prioritizing equity and investing in local capacity, R5DC doesn’t just improve infrastructure; it creates lasting opportunities, fosters resilience, and sets a model for how rural development can advance both economic and social well-being.”
“Cheryal works across the everyday systems that make communities thrive—broadband, childcare, workforce, grocery access, transportation, clean water, and environmental stewardship—treating infrastructure as interconnected and focused on belonging and opportunity.”
– MARCQ SUNG, SENIOR PROGRAM OFFICER, VIBRANT & EQUITABLE COMMUNITIES
We sat down with Cheryal to learn more about how action, equity, and collaboration shape her fearless approach to addressing regional challenges and improving quality of life in rural and tribal communities.
Cuộc phỏng vấn sau đây đã được chỉnh sửa để có độ dài và rõ ràng.
McKnight: Can you tell us about Region Five Development Commission? What do you do, and what is the shared vision and mission behind the work?
Cheryal Hills: We are one of nine regional development commissions across Minnesota, established by state statute. This organizational structure is unique in the entire nation, as we are set up similarly to a city or county, but by legislative mandate. R5DC receives less than one-sixth of our annual operating budget from local tax dollars. The legislation designates us as a planning organization with the ability to implement strategies that address regional critical issues.
Our focus is not on city or county-level economic development, but rather on stepping back to consider broader concerns. It is not about attracting businesses or developing industrial parks. Instead, our work centers on things like whether our region has broadband access, if we can attract a workforce by being a welcoming community, and if we have adequate childcare. We deal with significant challenges—ensuring we have grocery stores, transportation, and clean water. When organizations like ours address these issues from a regional perspective, rather than just at the local level, the nature of regional challenges evolves.
Other MN regional organizations have to pay attention to their place, listen to their people, and be extremely proactive in addressing their specific critical issues. When we know a workforce shortage is coming, organizations like ours start to think about strategies before it happens. We have to be preventative and forward-thinking, and it’s hard to hold both of those at the same time. That’s not the mission of most public organizations, so we’re extremely innovative and creative because we have to be. I don’t like planning very much—I like to get things done. Of course, we have to plan and listen to people, but it’s the doing that matters and changes people’s lives.
“Our mission is to impact quality of life. It’s vague and squishy, but you don’t just team with people, you come off your tails and get something done together.”– CHERYAL HILLS
In rural Minnesota, we simultaneously do it all. We use our resources to do environmental work, education, organizing, economic development. We have to be diverse. Our mission is to impact quality of life. It’s vague and squishy, but you don’t just team with people, you come off your tails and get something done together.
You figure it out—find a window when the door closes. That’s the mindset that’s different, I think. A hunger to be part of the solution. Get the hell out of the way if the partners have it under control and add value to the work where those leading partners determine its needed most. Bring the resources to them. Like daycare and housing: we don’t làm that, we just get the funding so they can do what they need. Be a good partner.
McKnight: Are there any examples of R5DC’s work you’d especially like to lift up?
Cheryal Hills: Nationally, we are really known for our movement in local foods before it was a thing, when food hubs were just coming on to national scene. Our food hub has made huge impact in the Central Minnesota region, which can be extremely polarized. We have some of the most conservative counties in the state. Our local foods work is a tool to not only feed people. Access to food and art bridges cultures and helps people understand that difference is okay, to not see difference as a threat. In the winter, our local markets turn into lively gathering spots where you can pick up fresh food from nearby farms and unique local art, while enjoying music and watching folks cook together in the kitchen, chefs showing people how to make dishes that really reflect who we are and where we come from.
“Access to food and art bridges cultures and helps people understand that difference is okay, to not see difference as a threat.”–CHERYAL HILLS
Success in this work isn’t measured by how many pounds of food are given, or how many pieces of art are sold. Bridging and connection is not about typical transactional quantitative measurements. We’re trying to understand if our work is really making difference, and that requires deep listening, partnership, and flexibility.
McKnight: What does courageous leadership mean to you, especially in the context of rural communities?
Cheryal Hills: Rural places are complex and changing. Fear of change is a powerful tool that has been successfully weaponized against rural communities with a message that rural culture is being eradicated or changed for the worse. In these times it is important to courageously embrace change and resist being a soldier of tyranny, and instead to propose ideas, take action, and transcend power to those who want to lead in ways that embrace and make a difference. I know we can do better at creating rural Minnesota opportunities and quality of life for future generations.
Quality of life is more than a livable income – it includes affordable, attainable, accessible housing, food, child care, health care, education, clean water, air, and soil—and a sense of belonging. When we prioritize a nexus of benefits to more than just transactional gain, we win for the next seven generations.
“Quality of life is more than a livable income – it includes affordable, attainable, accessible housing, food, child care, health care, education, clean water, air, and soil—and a sense of belonging. When we prioritize a nexus of benefits to more than just transactional gain, we win for the next seven generations.”–CHERYAL HILLS
McKnight: What are some of the challenges and opportunities you’re seeing in your work today?
Cheryal Hills: Bridging difference has become even more important than when we became intentional about equitable economic and community development. Rural and tribal capacity building is still essential, and done well, it’s “ByForOf” for local truths and context. There are so many opportunities in the spaces of technology advancement and integration, improved mental health and workforce shifts in all industries. Rural issues are similar to those in urban places but nuanced due to distance and historic extractive behaviors… it’s the implementation strategies that differ.
McKnight: What drives you to do this work? What inspired you to enter the field, and what keeps you going?
Cheryal Hills: I typically drive about 30 minutes to work each day, and during that windshield time… I think about what I can do to make a difference in rural livelihoods for those of highest need, in ways that simultaneously honor environmental stewardship goals. I do this mental exercise each day, because I ride on the shoulders of some great women who expect nothing less. I hope to encourage others in the field of equity focused community/economic “doing” as has been modeled by many strong women who encouraged and supported me with many tools to be the “get sh– done” servant-leader I’ve grown into.
Related Video: Cheryal Hills and Region Five Development Commission supported a large solar installation at the Pine River Backus School District in central Minnesota.
Video funded by McKnight Foundation for Sức mạnh của Minnesota. Filming by Credo Nonfiction with support from Clean Energy Resource Teams and Seiche.
