Bovey Coleraine area residents complete Blandin Community Leadership Program retreat

Grand Rapids, Minn. — Twenty-three residents of the Bovey Coleraine area returned April 7 from a five-day leadership retreat, the first segment of an intense eight-day training provided by the Blandin Community Leadership Program (BCLP). The team also will participate in three follow-up workshops.

A program of the Grand Rapids-based Blandin Foundation, BCLP has provided experiential leadership training for more than 7,000 community leaders from nearly 500 rural Minnesota communities since it began in 1985.  This is the first time the community has participated in the BCLP leadership program.

Local residents participating in this training were:

Briana Anderson, Jean Cyronek, Mary Drewes, Jeff Fortune, Marlo Gangi, Traci Gangl, Mark Gibeau, Dan Gillman, Gina Gould, Adam Hecimovich, Janell Hecimovich, Bryan Johnson, LaNea Johnson, Ann Killian, Sarah McBroom, Lonnie Mjolsness, Kelci Meade, Jeff Nail, Shashi Rao, Claire Schumacher, Ryan Stish, Jeff Troumbly and Casey Venema.

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 through the lens of the 9 dimensions of a healthy community, 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 these participants reflects their commitment to their community, as well as to the region and to rural Minnesota.”

BCLP training programs are funded entirely by the Blandin Foundation, whose mission is to strengthen rural Minnesota communities, especially the Grand Rapids area.

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Photo caption – Bovey Coleraine area

Participants in BCLP training April 3-7 included:

Back Row: (left to right)– Shashi Rao, LaNea Johnson, Jean Cyronek, Traci Gangl, Gina Gould, Marlo Gangi, Kelci Meade, and Roxanne DeLille

Middle Row: (left to right)– Sarah McBroom, Mary Drewes, Lonnie Mjolsness, Janell Hecimovich, Jeff Troumbly, Jeff Fortune, Claire Schumacher, Ann Killian, and Vic Klimoski

Front Row: (left to right)– Jeff Nail, Briana Anderson, Dan Gillman, Bryan Johnson, Casey Venema, Adam Hecimovich, Ryan Stish, and Mark Gibeau