Sprockets Staff

Did you know?

Every member of the Sprockets team has been a youth worker at some point in our pasts. Guess you could say that passion for encouraging youth to reach their fullest potential runs deep in all of us.

  • Erik's photo

    Erik Skold, Director

    City of Saint Paul
    erik.skold@ci.stpaul.mn.us
    651-744-7738

    For more than 15 years, Erik has been deeply involved in bringing learning experiences for children and youth beyond the classroom. This set the stage well for his current role as Sprockets Director, where he works with schools, city governments, parks, libraries and many community-based organizations to develop and promote quality programming that supports young people as they strive to recognize and achieve their greatest potential.

    Erik, a former high school debate team member, turned his enthusiasm for long hours spent in library research into a pursuit of a master’s degree in youth development leadership from the University of Minnesota. A Wisconsin native, Erik frequently crosses the border back to his home state to introduce his three young children to the wonders of the great outdoors.

  • Jocelyn Wiedow, Network and Quality Coordinator

    YWCA of St. Paul
    jwiedow@ywcastpaul.org
    651-265-0720

    As the Sprockets Network and Quality Coordinator, Jocelyn brings together people and programs from across St. Paul with the shared goal of helping young people succeed. It’s a perfect fit for someone with more than 20 years of experience in coordinating and directing youth and family programs across the Twin Cities. Jocelyn melds her past experience and knowledge of the OST field to support youth workers to strengthen skills around youth work practices, evaluative thinking and data utilization. Jocelyn has her Master’s Degree in Public Nonprofit Administration and an Individualized Studies Bachelor of Arts Degree focusing on Community Program Management.

    Jocelyn’s summers at camp as a young person inspired her love for learning in nontraditional settings. Some of her favorite outdoor classroom experiences have been teaching horseback and dirt bike riding.  An outdoor enthusiast, Jocelyn enjoys a little time away to go camping and canoeing.

  • Zong Vang, Strategy Manager: Policy and Network Evaluation

    Ignite Afterschool
    zong@igniteafterschool.org
    651-744-7738

    Zong holds an extensive background of over 10 years in both education and youth work in the Twin Cities, engaging with the St. Paul Promise Neighborhood, St. Paul Public Schools, and other community-based grass-roots initiatives. Zong believes networking and community organizing provide opportunities to levarge resources and uplift communities. This vision serves her well in her role as the Strategy Manager for Policy and Network Evaluation, a position in partnership with Ignite Afterschool, Minnesota's statewide Afterschool Network.  Zong works to increase Sprockets and Ignite's organizational capacitities to support our afterschool community through data analysis and policy advocacy. 

    Zong was a first-generation college student and attended Concordia University in St. Paul, graduating with a bachelor's degree in Secondary Education and minor in Special Education. Her passions include social justice, education, and community organizing. She believes every child deserves equitable access to education, afterschool programming, and healthy living to ensure they are able to choose their pathway in life.  

  • Jessica Hobson, Communications and Community Engagement Coordinator

    City of Saint Paul
    jessica.hobson@ci.stpaul.mn.us
    651-744-7738

    As Sprockets’ Communications and Community Engagement Coordinator, Jessica works with the Sprockets' Community Engagement Team, a group of high school students in order to promote youth voice within out-of-school time activities and programs.  She also manages communications to share information about afterschool program opportunities and their importance with youth workers, partners, and youth and families in Saint Paul.  Her goal is to ensure that all young people can access afterschool opportunities that will help them succeed.

    Jessica comes to Sprockets with experience in cultual competency, Inclusion and Equity work, and educational equity.  She has created and facilitated youth programs focused around cultural identity for indigenous, Latinx, African diasporic, and Asian students.  (Check out the cookbook by Somali teens published with the Minnesota Historical Society Press here!)  These programs focus on inclusive career exploration, pride in self, and elevating youth voice as the expert.

    As a child and teen, Jessica participated in theater tech with lighting design, learned a few musical instruments, as well as martial arts.  Jessica used her involvement in TaeKwonDo as a way to deepen her connection to her Korean culture.  As a Korean adoptee, she was involved in culture camps and adoptee community cultivation.  She also learned the Korean language and dance as well.  This allowed her to explore her cultural heritage in a way that integrated into her fully American lifestyle.  Her experience as a transracial adoptee has driven her quest to give students an inclusive experience in their learning in order to explore identity and self-worth.