Leech Lake, Red Lake, White Earth residents complete Blandin Reservation Community Leadership Program

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Grand Rapids, Minn. (June 1, 2017) — Twenty-two residents of the Leech Lake, Red Lake and White Earth reservation communities completed a five-day leadership retreat May 12. This was the first segment of an intense seven-day training provided by the Blandin Reservation Community Leadership Program (BRCLP). The team also will participate in three follow-up workshops.

A program of the Grand Rapids-based Blandin Foundation, BRCLP has provided experiential leadership training for more than 500 community leaders from 11 Minnesota American Indian Reservations since 2001.  This is the sixth time these communities have participated together in the BRCLP leadership program.

Participants who completed the retreat were:

Justin Beaulieu, Nita Cloud-Johnson, Penny De Vault, Randy Finn, Rita Ford, Joe Fowler, Stephanie Hendricks, Naomi Johnson, Sterling Knox, Douglas Lee, Cedric Littlewolf, Reyna Lussier, Wes May, Angela Nordman, Katie Northbird, Petra Rodriguez, Delana Smith, Edie Smith, Deanna StandingCloud, Jon Staples, Chris Stauffer, and Corey Weaver.

The goal of the Blandin Reservation Community Leadership Program is to strengthen leadership capacity through cultural strengths and assets to build and sustain healthy tribal communities. Topics covered during the retreat included: acknowledging and drawing upon leadership strengths, recognizing and tapping into sources of personal and community resilience, framing community issues and opportunities, building social capital, and mobilizing community resources.

“A healthy community depends on leadership engagement of many community members,” said Valerie Shangreaux, director of Blandin leadership programs. “The leadership demonstrated by these participants reflects their deep commitment to their communities, their reservations, and the people living there.”

BRCLP training programs are funded entirely by the Blandin Foundation.

-END-

Photo caption: Blandin Reservation Community Leadership Program – Leech Lake, Red Lake, White Earth Reservation Communities

Participants in BRCLP training May 8-12 included:

Back Row: (Left to Right)- Deanna StandingCloud, Sterling Knox, Rick Smith (Trainer), Rita Ford, Roxanne DeLille (Trainer), Wes May, and Chris Stauffer,

Middle Row: (Left to Right)- Douglas Lee, Joe Fowler, Delana Smith, Nita Cloud-Johnson, Reyna Lussier, Naomi Johnson, Katie Northbird, Stephanie Hendricks, Edie Smith, Angela Nordman, Randy Finn, and Nehrwr Abdul-Wahid (Trainer)

Front Row: (Left to Right)- Cedric Littlewolf, Justin Beaulieu, Jon Staples, Petra Rodriguez, Penny De Vault, and Corey Weaver