Kate Hess Pace is the inaugural Wallace Rural Organizing Fellow at IPS. Kate is the founder and executive director of Hoosier Action, a grassroots community organization that develops the leadership of everyday Hoosiers to organize around the issues that impact their lives  A seasoned organizer with more than 18 years of experience, Kate has led campaigns at the local, state, and national level to expand healthcare access, win environmental protections, and build political power for working families. Before founding Hoosier Action, Kate spent nearly a decade with ISAIAH, Minnesota’s largest faith-based community organization, where she developed hundreds of grassroots leaders and  ran large-scale campaigns. Under her leadership, Hoosier Action has grown from a handful of concerned residents into one of the most dynamic, people-powered organizations in the Midwest. She is deeply committed to ensuring that the voices of rural and small-town Hoosiers are heard in decisions that shape their communities.

Kate has a long track record of developing grassroots leaders, building unlikely alliances, and inspiring collective courage in the face of entrenched power. She has trained hundreds of Hoosiers to step into public life and advocate for their families.  Kate brings both fierce determination and deep compassion to her work, believing that ordinary people, when organized, can achieve extraordinary change. Her vision is rooted in the belief that Indiana’s future depends on communities working across race, class and geography to demand accountability, fairness, and opportunity for all.