Wabasha Kellogg area residents complete Blandin Community Leadership Program retreat
Grand Rapids, Minn. — Twenty-four residents of the Wabasha Kellogg area returned April 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 first time the communities have participated in the BCLP leadership program.
Local residents participating in this training were:
Wendy Busch, MJ Bussian, Emily Durand, Scott Durand, Mary Flicek, John Fox, Bev Hall, Rollin Hall, Dylan Hartert, Jay Jewson, Tony Johnson, Carolynn Klees, Dave Knox, Collette Loechler, Bob Mann, Jen McBride, Dan Metcalf, Sue Mundy, Marie Omann, Danielle Ott, Isaac Perry, Kallie Rollenhagen, Alison Springer and Jim Warren.
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.”
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Photo caption – Wabasha Kellogg area
Participants in BCLP training April 18-22 included:
Back Row: (left to right)- Ann Glumac (Trainer), Isaac Perry, Bob Mann, Kallie Rollenhagen, Dave Knox, Jim Warren, Tony Johnson, and Vic Klimoski (Trainer)
Middle Row: (left to right)- Dan Metcalf, Rollin Hall, Dylan Hartert, Jay Jewson, Scott Durand, Carolynn Klees, Collette Loechler, Emily Durand, and Mary Flicek
Front Row: (left to right)- Alison Springer, Marie Omann, Jen McBride, Danielle Ott, Sue Mundy, MJ Bussian, John Fox, Bev Hall, and Wendy Busch