A Legacy of Advocacy and Leadership

Leadership Rooted in Justice. Powered by Community

Nikki Villavicencio-Tollison was born on June 8, 1984, in Portage, Wisconsin, into a family defined by service, resilience, and a deep commitment to community. She is the daughter of Roberta L. Tollison and Mark F. Villavicencio, and the proud granddaughter of Dr. Celso Atienza Villavicencio, a physician who immigrated from the Philippines and built a life of care and service in rural Wisconsin.

Dr. Villavicencio earned his medical degree from Manila Central University before coming to the United States, where he established a medical practice in Portage and became a trusted, beloved figure. His life was not without barriers. When he fell in love with Nikki’s grandmother, Mary James, their marriage was delayed due to anti-miscegenation laws—an early example of the injustice their family would confront and overcome.

Growing up as part of one of the only Filipino American families in Portage—and as a disabled young woman—Nikki experienced firsthand what it means to live at the intersection of exclusion and resilience. She has often said that being one of the only people like her in a small town “magnifies” your understanding of prejudice—but it also sharpens your sense of purpose.

Nikki’s values were shaped early by watching her grandfather serve others wherever there was need—at church, in schools, and across the community. His example taught her that leadership is not about position, but about showing up, building trust, and improving people’s lives. On her mother’s side, the Tollison family’s deep roots in Portage reinforced the importance of community connection, persistence, and responsibility to one another.

Today, Nikki carries those lessons into her work as a Maplewood City Councilmember, a mother, and a disability justice leader. First elected in 2020 after a hard-fought campaign that began with a tie and recount in 2018, and re-elected in 2024, Nikki has built a reputation as a leader who centers those most often left out of decision-making.

Professionally, Nikki serves as a Disability Culture and Leadership Specialist at Advocating Change Together (ACT), where she works alongside self-advocates across Minnesota to advance housing justice, community integration, and systems change. Her leadership is grounded in a simple belief: when the people most impacted help lead the solutions, entire communities become stronger.

From fighting for accessible housing and equitable transit to mentoring the next generation of advocates, Nikki’s work is rooted in both her family’s legacy and her lived experience. She continues to lead with the same principle she learned growing up: a life of service is a life of purpose.

From Lived Experience to Leadership

Nikki Villavicencio-Tollison was born with Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita, a condition that affects joint mobility. She uses a wheelchair and adapts daily tasks in creative ways—including using her feet to write and use tools. For Nikki, disability is not a limitation—it is a source of insight, innovation, and leadership.

From an early age, Nikki began building her identity as an advocate. Between the ages of 8 and 19, she attended a summer camp for youth with disabilities—what she proudly calls her own “Crip Camp.” There, she experienced the power of community, independence, and cross-disability solidarity. Whether fishing, horseback riding, or zip-lining, Nikki wasn’t just participating—she was learning what it means to lead and to expect access and belonging in every space.

At 22, Nikki moved to Minnesota in search of greater opportunity and community—and quickly became a force in disability rights organizing. Through Advocating Change Together (ACT), where she now serves as a Disability Culture and Leadership Specialist, she mentors self-advocates across the state and helps people with disabilities build power, organize, and lead change.

Early in her journey, Nikki also interned with the Lifetime Clinic at Gillette Children’s, where she launched a self-advocacy program for patients. Through this work, she supported young people with disabilities in learning how to connect with their Minnesota state legislators—helping them understand that their voices belong not just in medical spaces, but in policy decisions that shape their lives. This experience helped solidify Nikki’s belief that advocacy must bridge personal experience and public policy.

Nikki has always focused on turning barriers into solutions. She has led trainings on disability justice, helped individuals speak up for their rights, and worked to shift systems that too often leave people out.

She also brought that same mindset into politics. Early in her career, Nikki worked on voter outreach efforts to expand civic engagement among people with disabilities. In 2009, she supported outreach for Minnesota’s Secretary of State race, and in 2010, she helped develop accessible door-knocking strategies that allowed disabled volunteers to fully participate in campaigns.

These innovations—like rethinking outreach and designing systems that work for more people—proved something powerful: when people with disabilities lead, participation grows and democracy gets stronger.

That belief continues to guide Nikki’s leadership today. Her work is grounded in a simple truth: the people closest to the challenges are closest to the solutions—and when they lead, entire communities move forward.

Building Power in Public Office

By the 2010s, Nikki’s advocacy had grown into public leadership. In 2014, she was appointed by the Maplewood City Council to help shape the city’s Parks and Recreation Master Plan. Her leadership led to her appointment as Chair of the Parks and Recreation Commission, where she pushed for more accessible parks, trails, and public spaces—grounding city planning in inclusion from the start.

In 2018, Nikki ran for Maplewood City Council and came within five votes of winning in a recount. Instead of stepping back, she built something stronger. In 2020, she ran again with a grassroots, community-centered campaign focused on access and connection. She launched “Yardside Chats,” inviting residents to meet with her every week in her front yard—creating a space where people who felt left out of traditional politics could be heard.

That approach worked. Nikki was elected in 2020, earning the most votes in a crowded at-large race and becoming the first disabled Filipina American elected to the Maplewood City Council. In 2024, she was re-elected, continuing to build on that momentum and deepen her impact.

Since taking office in 2021, Nikki has focused on making local government more accessible, transparent, and responsive. She successfully pushed to restore public comment at City Council meetings—ensuring residents have a direct voice in local decision-making. She has also brought critical lived experience into policy conversations as a renter and a public transit user, consistently centering housing stability, accessibility, and equitable transportation.

Beyond City Hall, Nikki has continued her leadership across Minnesota. She served as Chair of the Minnesota Council on Disability, helping guide statewide policy and leadership. She also serves on regional transit leadership through the Corridor Management Committee for the Purple Line—now the Bronze Line—a locally funded project focused on expanding access and opportunity across the region.

Nikki’s leadership is rooted in a clear belief: when government includes the people most often left out, it works better for everyone.

From Advocacy to Power

Villavicencio is a disability justice leader who believes something simple: people with disabilities should be shaping policy—not just reacting to it.

Through her work with Advocating Change Together (ACT) and the Self-Advocates of Minnesota (SAM), Nikki has helped train and organize hundreds of self-advocates across the state. Her focus is clear—build leadership, build community, and build power.

She has also been a force in growing disability culture as a political and community movement. Nikki helped launch Minnesota’s first Disability Pride Fest—creating a space where disabled people come together not just to celebrate, but to organize, connect, and be visible. Today, it continues as an annual event—bringing people from across the state into community and collective action.

Nikki’s advocacy is rooted in the issues that matter most: housing, access to community-based services, and transportation. She has been a consistent voice advancing the promise of the Olmstead decision—pushing for a Minnesota where people with disabilities are not pushed into institutions, but supported to live in the community with dignity, choice, and real support.

But Nikki’s work doesn’t stop at advocacy—it moves into systems change. She has fought to expand civic engagement, trained leaders to speak directly to decision-makers, and worked to ensure that policies are shaped by the people most impacted—not just those in power.

Her approach is direct: when people with disabilities lead, systems change.

And in Maplewood, that means fighting for accessible housing people can actually afford, transit that connects people to opportunity, and a local government that listens, includes, and delivers for everyone.

A Legacy of Leadership and Service

Nikki’s leadership is rooted in a powerful family legacy of service, resilience, and deep commitment to working people. Her grandfather, Dr. Celso Atienza Villavicencio, immigrated from the Philippines and became a trusted physician in Portage, Wisconsin—known for caring for anyone who needed help. He showed Nikki that leadership is about service and responsibility to community.

On her father’s side, that commitment to working people runs just as deep. Her great-grandfather, Fredrick James, was a lifelong Democrat and truly “salt of the earth”—grounded in values of fairness, hard work, and dignity. Her grandfather, Robert Tollison, carried that forward as a small business owner, running neighborhood taverns that served as gathering places for working-class people. From both sides of her family, Nikki inherited a clear understanding: community is built by everyday people, and leadership should answer to them.

That legacy shaped Nikki’s path—not just in public office, but in building power. Early in her career, she organized alongside home care workers through SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, contributing to the movement that led to the creation of Minnesota’s homecare union—now one of the largest public unions in the state. That work helped secure better wages, protections, and a collective voice for thousands of workers—many of them women and people of color and immigrants. It cemented Nikki’s lifelong commitment to economic justice and the rights of working-class people.

Nikki has carried that commitment into every role she’s held. She served as Chair of the Minnesota Council on Disability through 2025, helping shape statewide policy and leadership. As a Maplewood City Councilmember, a mother, and a disability justice leader, she continues to push for systems that are more accessible, more accountable, and more rooted in the real lives of everyday people.