Meet new executive director of Our Streets Minneapolis

José Antonio Zayas Cabán has been named the new executive director for Our Streets Minneapolis. OSM works to make streets places where people can easily and comfortably walk, bike, roll, and use public transit in the Twin Cities. Zayas Cabán, who has been with the organization since 2021 and resides in North Minneapolis, previously served as advocacy director for the nonprofit, building campaigns for transportation changes that address the unjust transportation planning decisions of the past and the current harms of car-centric transportation planning. An example of this work is Twin Cities Boulevard, a campaign proposal for a highway-to-boulevard conversion in the 7.5-mile stretch of the I-94 corridor between downtown Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Zayas Cabán also serves as a board member at Streets.mn and The Alliance. He is a current Mapping Prejudice Project Community Fellow and resident at the University of Minnesota Liberal Arts Engagement Hub. Outside of the transportation space, Zayas Cabán is a GRAMMY® Nominated Artist. He is also on faculty at St. Joseph’s School of Music and was awarded the 2021 McKnight Artist Fellowship for his work on producing albums with music focused on present-day social issues and the relationship between his home country Puerto Rico and the United States Empire.