Gail Dorfman

Gail Dorfman currently serves as a Hennepin County Commissioner, representing southwest Minneapolis and the first-ring suburb of St. Louis Park.  She chairs the county Housing and Redevelopment Authority and the Community Health Committee. 

In her eight years on the Hennepin County Board, Commissioner Dorfman has actively responded to the need for dignified shelter and housing.  She established the City/County Task Force on Homelessness, out of which grew the Community Advisory Board on Homelessness.  She was also responsible for the creation of new county funding for affordable and supportive housing, providing resources to more than 65 projects in the last five years.  Most recently, she helped to bring Project Homeless Connect to Minneapolis and co-chaired the Commission to End Homelessness, which developed “Heading Home Hennepin”, the ten-year plan to end homelessness in Minneapolis and Hennepin County.

Prior to her election to the County Board in 1999, Commissioner Dorfman served as Mayor of St. Louis Park and on the St. Louis Park City Council from 1991-1999.  She holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and previously worked for Rep. James A Burke (D-MA), Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, and the Boston Neighborhood Development Agency.