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Image: Glencoe Area- Group Photo

Glencoe area residents complete Blandin Community Leadership Program retreat

Grand Rapids, Minn. (February 22, 2019) — Twenty-four residents of the Glencoe area returned February 15 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:

Lennie Albers, Chip Anderson, Jon Dahlke, Kevin Dietz, Ashley Dols, Elisa Dording, Mike Drew, Becky Edwards, Lynn Exsted, Gabby Fountain, Victor Garcia, Alycia Gruenhagen, Sharon Hoese, Beth Jerabek, Paul Lemke, Joel Lepel, Craig Miller, Kelly Rach, Erin Sauter, Kyle Sparby, Jon VanDamme, Ryan Voss, Kerry Ward and Marie Zimmerman

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 Kathy Annette, president and CEO of Blandin Foundation. “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.

 

Photo caption – Glencoe area

Participants in BCLP training February 11-15 included:

Back Row: (left to right)– Joel Lepel, Kevin Dietz, Chip Anderson, Ryan Voss, Marie Zimmerman, Kyle Sparby, Jon Dahlke, and Paul Lemke 

Middle Row: (left to right)– Tyler Zabriskie (Trainer), Ashley Dols, Kelly Rach, Sharon Hoese, Jon VanDamme, Becky Edwards, Elisa Dording, Lennie Albers, Beth Jerabek, and Roxanne DeLille (Trainer)

Front Row: (left to right)– Gabby Fountain, Victor Garcia, Alycia Gruenhagen, Erin Sauter, Mike Drew, Lynn Exsted, Craig Miller, and Kerry Ward

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