We’re celebrating tonight with our Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities (MIRC) Partners. Together, we were named the 2012 Innovative Collaboration of the Year at this evening’s Tekne Awards, sponsored by the Minnesota High Tech Association. Over the past two years, our coalition of 10 rural Minnesota communities and dozens of regional and statewide partners has worked …
Flood damage from last week’s torrential rains have put leaders across northeastern Minnesota to the test. From emergency services workers to church communities to school staff, those in positions of authority are leading the way towards securing resources for recovery, and bolstering their neighbors with hope. Blandin Foundation has joined the Northland Foundation, AgStar Financial …
Itasca area residents last night added their voices to a growing chorus on issues related to Minnesota health care. Citizen Solutions held a community conversation in Grand Rapids, hosted by Bush Foundation, the Minnesota Citizens League and Blandin Foundation, to gather comments from folks on what’s working – and what’s not. The Minnesota Health Care …
Some very interesting findings were unveiled this week about possibilities and challenges for redesigning the way Minnesota government entities work together. The report, Focus on Outcomes, harvests learning from six regional gatherings of city, county and school board leaders in November 2011. The report highlights three critical lessons: 1. Redesign is facing some barriers to …
Go Run! American Indian women can do this! This message repeatedly resounded at the GO RUN convening on November 18-20, 2011 at the Deep Portage Learning Center near Hackensack, where twenty-eight American Indian women gathered to share knowledge and resources with the objective of facilitating a conversation centered on developing political leadership. GO RUN is …
Northwest Minnesota gathers today in Bemidji to think regionally and act locally. Blandin Foundation invited alumni of its leadership programs to gather to explore the region’s trends and to imagine new ways to frame issues, build social capital and mobilize resources around a shared regional vision. Nearly 100 people are gathered for this event, the first of …
Thirty community projects have been selected as winners in the 2011 Minnesota Community Pride Showcase competition sponsored this year by InCommons, MinnPost.com and Minnesota State Fair. The competition recognizes collaborative work to improve minnesota towns and neighborhoods. We were delighted to see that many Blandin Foundation partners were selected as winners: Rabideau Conservation Academy and …
For Michael Wade, every minute holds the possibility to change a community. “Give me a half-hour, I can help someone move into a new home. Give me an hour, and I can start a food shelf,” says this resident of Virginia, Minnesota, and driving force behind the new Virginia Indian Center, a drop-in center for …
Last Friday, 26 residents of the Aitkin and Palisade area wrapped up their five-day Blandin Community Leadership Program retreat. North-central Minnesota’s Aitkin County, home to both communities, spans a portion of Minnesota’s lake country. Tourism and timber are important here, as is community collaboration.
Storytelling is a rich and vibrant part of Native American culture. Some online videos caught our attention recently; they offer powerful stories of Native Americans’ experiences. In O-Gitch-I-Dah Talking Circle about the FAFSA (22 minutes), Native American students at a north-central Minnesota community college tell their stories about filling out the Free Application for Federal …