Image: Image for News Item: Bigfork, Effie, Marcell area residents complete Blandin Community Leadership Program retreat
Bigfork, Effie, Marcell area residents complete Blandin Community Leadership Program retreat
Grand Rapids, Minn. (May 2, 2013) — Twenty-three residents of the Bigfork, Effie and Marcell area returned April 26 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 follow-up workshops in July and October.
A program of the Grand Rapids-based Blandin Foundation, BCLP has provided experiential leadership training for more than 6,000 community leaders from more than 425 rural Minnesota communities since it began in 1985. This is the third time local residents have participated in the BCLP leadership program.
Local residents participating in this training were:
Ed Anderson, Kristen Anderson, Greg Anselmo, Karissa Bouchie, LaDonna Cole, Ray Cole, Kyle Hedlund, Jennifer Hollinday, Sandra Hunz Ortman, Kristen Huot, JoAnne Jacobson, JoAnn Krickhahn, Krista Lane, Sandra LeBlanc-Boland, Travis Lovdahl, Travis Luedke, Stu Ostendorf, Kenny Porter, Siri Prato, Gabby Root, Justin Root, Aaron Saude and Angie Storlie.
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 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 – Bigfork, Effie, Marcell
Participants in BCLP training April 22-26 included:
Front Row: (left to right) – Kristen Huot, Krista Lane, Aaron Saude, Greg Anselmo, Kyle Hedlund, Travis Luedke, Ray Cole, Sandra LeBlanc-Boland, LaDonna Cole, Kristen Anderson
Middle Row: (left to right) – JoAnne Jacobson, JoAnn Krickhahn, Sandra Hunz Ortman, Jennifer Hollinday, Karissa Bouchie, Angie Storlie, Kenny Porter, Stu Ostendorf, Siri Prato, Justin Root, Julie Steiff (Trainer)
Back row: (left to right) – Bill Mease (Trainer), Ed Anderson, Gabby Root, Travis Lovdahl