Carleton Connects: Toni Carter '75 and public service

Communities thrive when their leaders make room for the voices of the disempowered. Join Toni Carter ’75 for a conversation on her experience as a public servant dedicated to improving the lives of everyone in Ramsey County, the Twin Cities, and beyond. Toni Carter ’75 has had an impressive career in public service and the arts. After chairing the Saint Paul School Board, in 2005 Toni became the first African American to be elected to a county board in Minnesota. In her four and a half terms on the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners she focused on producing a better quality of life for all her constituents through efforts in human services, health and criminal justice reform, workforce innovation, infrastructure planning, and the arts. She has served as president of the Association of Minnesota Counties and in leadership on many local, state, and national boards and committees: the Metropolitan Council, the National Association of Counties, the Trust for Public Land, the Center for Economic Inclusion, and the Minnesota Council of Churches. As an artist, she co-founded and directed the community arts organization ARTS-Us and has performed as a commercial actor for television and radio and on the stages of the Penumbra Theatre and the History Theater. Toni is the recipient of an honorary doctorate from Carleton in 2022 and of an Alumni Association Award for Distinguished Achievement in 2025.