This past week, 20 local residents from International Falls completed a five-day leadership retreat, the first segment of an intense eight-day training that comprises the Blandin Community Leadership Program. This team will participate in two more workshops coming up in January and April.
Since 1985, BCLP has provided experiential leadership training for over 5,200 community leaders from more than 310 rural Minnesota communities. This is the fifth time the program has been offered in International Falls. Community teams, chosen by a local selection committee, are made of both emerging and current leaders, are meant to represent the diversity within the community. Last week’s BCLP participants were Rachel Amdahl, Nancy Anderson, Janet Bowman, Rob Boyd, Adam Coe, Rob Ecklund, Julie Ehrman, David Hebig, Bev Houglum, Cynthia Jaksa, Jackie Krueger, Sherrie Lessard, Marta Lindemanis, Lori Lyman, Ward Merrill, Mike Musich, Robert Scholler, Joe Schwartz, Hoa Sobczynski and Pele Ugboahjah.
The goal of the Blandin Community Leadership Program is to develop and train a broad base of local leaders to build healthy communities. Topics covered during the retreat included: Identifying and describing community issues and opportunities, effective interpersonal communication, building social capital, appreciating personality differences, managing interpersonal conflict, understanding community power, mobilizing community resources, and goal setting.
“A healthy community depends on leadership engagement of community members,” said Valerie Shangreaux, Director of Blandin Leadership Programs. “The leadership demonstrated by participants reflects their commitment to rural Minnesota.”
BCLP training programs are supported entirely by the Grand Rapids-based Blandin Foundation whose mission is to strengthen rural Minnesota communities, especially in the Grand Rapids area. The program for International Falls is made available free of charge to participants because of an $89,800 Blandin Foundation expenditure that covers all costs for food, lodging and tuition at the retreat and workshops.
Blandin Foundation, Minnesota’s largest rural-based private foundation, is located in Grand Rapids. Its mission is to strengthen rural Minnesota communities, especially the Grand Rapids area, through grants, leadership development programs and public policy initiatives. The Foundation helps communities provide choice and opportunity for all, especially people facing social and economic challenges.
