Lower Sioux, Mille Lacs, Prairie Island and Shakopee residents complete Blandin Reservation Community Leadership Program
Grand Rapids, Minn. (May 14, 2019) — Nineteen residents of the Lower Sioux, Mille Lacs, Prairie Island and Shakopee reservation communities completed a five-day leadership retreat May 10. 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 a follow-up workshop.
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 seventh time these communities have participated together in the BRCLP leadership program.
Participants who completed the retreat were:
Josh Augst, Tori Campbell, Aliceson Cournoyer, Bre DeSart, Frank Downwind, Bob Eagle, Nicole Hendrickson, Cole Jacobson, Ray Lennes, Arthur Lockwood Jr., Briana Michels, Lindsay Misquadace-Berg, Mariah Norwood, Al Olson, Luther Sam, Kelsey Scares The Hawk, Holly Schmitt, Alesha Sullivan and Ronda Weizenegger.
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.
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Photo caption: Blandin Reservation Community Leadership Program – Lower Sioux, Mille Lacs, Prairie Island and Shakopee communities
Participants in BRCLP training May 6 – 10 included:
Back Row: (left to right)– Kelsey Scares The Hawk, Nicole Hendrickson, Ray Lennes, Aliceson Cournoyer, Mariah Norwood, and Bob Eagle
Middle Row: (left to right)– Bill Blackwell Jr. (Trainer), Al Olson, Frank Downwind, Luther Sam, Tori Campbell, Arthur Lockwood Jr., Rick Smith (Trainer), and Roxanne DeLille (Trainer)
Front Row: (left to right)– Bre DeSart, Ronda Weizenegger, Briana Michels, Josh Augst, Lindsay Misquadace-Berg, Holly Schmitt, Cole Jacobson, and Alesha Sullivan