Dr. Minor-Ragan, CEO/President of Y.M. Ragan Consulting, LLC, and co-partner of Ragan & Amos Consulting, is recognized for her expertise in strategic planning, policy development and educational planning. As former President of Buffalo Promise Neighborhood, Dr. Minor-Ragan served a major role in leading the efforts of this unique public/private partnership to improve educational and developmental outcomes of children within the 14215 zip code.
Serving a successful tenure as principal of Westminster Community Charter School, Dr. Minor-Ragan is recognized as an influential academic and community leader. Recruited from Chicago by M&T Bank as part of their educational initiative, she worked with teachers, parents, students and M&T to transform what had been one of the lowest achieving schools in the Buffalo System, PS 68. Reconstituted as the Westminster Community Charter School, where the library was named in her honor, PS 68 was named as one of the most improved schools in New York State.
Prior to coming to Buffalo, Dr. Minor-Ragan, as principal, was instrumental in achieving Blue Ribbon status for a failing middle school in the Chicago Public Schools system. Named as one of the most influential leaders in Chicago, she also led a professional development center and served as executive director for the Chicago Cluster Initiative, which involved coordinating funding and social services for the public schools.
Dr. Minor-Ragan has received many awards in recognition of her service to Western New York, including several Educator of the Year awards, the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Education, the prestigious National Milken Educator Award, and an Honorary Doctorate from Canisius College. The Buffalo News also named her ‘A Citizen of the Year’. On a broader scale, Dr. Minor-Ragan has shared her expertise throughout Europe, and her exemplary style has been the focus of several award-winning studies and nationally featured stories, including being highlighted several times on the internationally broadcasted CNN News. She continues to be a highly sought after motivational and keynote speaker.
