Two Harbors area residents complete Blandin Community Leadership Program retreat

Grand Rapids, Minn. (Sept. 25, 2017) — Twenty-six residents of the Two Harbors area returned September 22 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 second time the community has participated in the BCLP leadership program.

Local residents participating in this training were:

Al Anderson, Ken Anderson, Tyler Carlson, Michael Cavallin, Carrie Coan, Sara Cuypers, Ben Fleming, Tracy Gilsvik, Robin Glaser, Kathy Glenn, Alyssa Hastings, Luke Heikkila, Rick Hogenson, Taylor Holm, Janelle Jones, Josh Kowaleski, Chris Langenbrunner, Michelle Miller, Dean Paron, Al Peterson, Deb Ruberg, Chelsea Schultz, Rich Sve, Dan Thewis, Jenna Udenberg, and Billy Wilson.

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 

Participants in BCLP training September 18-22 included:

Back Row: (left to right)– Billy Wilson, Michael Cavallin, Mary Jo Wimmer (Trainer), Chris Langenbrunner, Josh Kowaleski, Ben Fleming, Kathy Glenn, and Al Anderson

Middle Row: (left to right)– Robin Glaser, Janelle Jones, Sara Cuypers, Michelle Miller, Deb Ruberg, Taylor Holm, Alyssa Hastings, Rich Sve, Bill Mease (Trainer), Tyler Carlson, and Chelsea Schultz

Front Row: (left to right)– Jenna Udenberg, Luke Heikkila, Dan Thewis, Tracy Gilsvik, Carrie Coan, Al Peterson, Dean Paron, Ken Anderson, and Rick Hogenson