Danielle Grant (she/her/hers) has served as Achieve Twin Cities president and CEO since 2016, and has over 25 years of experience in community engagement, collaboration-building, strategic planning and organizational leadership and management. Under her leadership, Achieve has expanded its renowned Career & College Centers from Minneapolis into Saint Paul Public Schools, launched a new Career Readiness Initiative that has increased career exposure and postsecondary enrollment by Minneapolis high school students, partnered with Best Buy on new career and college readiness curriculum for Best Buy Teen Tech Centers, and created a new college internship program for young leaders of color.

Prior to joining Achieve Twin Cities, Danielle held several positions with Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS), including Executive Director of Educational & Cultural Services and Indian Education, and Director of Indian Education. Among other accomplishments, as Director of Indian Education she spearheaded the creation of an historic Memorandum of Agreement between MPS and the Native community, which led to increased engagement, trust and joint action to improve student achievement. Under her leadership, graduation rates for American Indian students nearly tripled and disciplinary referrals declined significantly. As Executive Director of Educational and Cultural Services and Indian Education, she helped to implement restorative practices district-wide and created the MPS Positive Schoolwide Engagement Team to support schools in implementing social-emotional learning, restorative practices and positive behavioral interventions and supports.

Danielle has also served as Director of Policy and Communications for the Minneapolis Youth Coordinating Board, where she built and managed community collaborations designed to improve health, increase stability and ensure school success for Minneapolis children and youth. In this role, she implemented a full-service community school model across the district through five hub sites, and led the It’s All About the Kids school stability and housing collaborative, which was the model for today’s Minneapolis Public Schools’ Stable Homes Stable Schools initiative.  

Danielle serves as board chair of American Indian OIC and is also a board member of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce, American Indian Community Development Corporation, and the Family Housing Fund. She is an active member of the Minnesota Women’s Economic Roundtable, the Generation Next Leadership Council, Phillips Indian Educators, Metropolitan Urban Indian Directors, and the Community Advisory Board of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank. She is a former board member of the Advancing Equity Coalition, Native American Community Development Institute, Friends of the Falls, and Minnesota Education Equity Partnership. Danielle served as an alumni mentor at the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs in 2016-17 and in 2018 she participated in the Young American Leadership Program at Harvard Business School.

An enrolled citizen of the Little Shell Chippewa Tribe and a Turtle Mountain Ojibwe descendant, Danielle was named Minnesota’s Outstanding American Indian Administrator by the Minnesota Indian Education Association in 2012. She was recognized by the Minneapolis / Saint Paul Business Journal in 2020 as a Twin Cities Women in Business honoree, and received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Benilde-St. Margaret’s in 2018.

Danielle holds a bachelor of arts from Marquette University and master of public affairs from the University of Minnesota’s Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs. She lives in Plymouth with her husband, and in her free time can be found reading, hiking, dancing or spending time on her paddleboard and boat.