GRAND RAPIDS, MN, March 24, 2017 — Twenty-four residents of the Lanesboro area returned March 17 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: Maureen Anderson, Chase Bakke, Colin Bakke, David Bakke, Lori Bakke, Jeff Boland, Michael Brown, Stephanie Davidson, Elaine Edwards, Mark Edwards, Gretchen Engstrom, Therese Graner, Marti Gray, David Hennessey, Autumn Johnson, Cheryl Krage, Robin Krom, Caleb Lauritsen-Norby, Kara Maloney, Edward Taylor, Sandy Webb, Adam Wiltgen, Louise Wolfgramm and Richard Wolfgramm.
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 nine 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.