We tell people that our mission is all about “growing a successful region and successful communities.” Nice…. but not terribly revealing.  What does that really mean?

If we talk about success the way our customers define it, it means getting real things done to expand social, educational and economic opportunity for our residents.  The best way to understand what those things are is through stories. Here are just a few.

Building Community through Housing, One Family at a Time 

Jill (not her real name) was given more than her fair share of challenges over the last few years.  Her son has several disabilities, her mother (who she lived with) lost her home to foreclosure due to a bad mortgage product, and her credit score suffered as she tried to meet those challenges.  As a result, she could only qualify for a mortgage of $60-70,000 which would not provide a suitable home for her family. 

But she had the commitment to work herself into a better position and the support of the HRDC and others to help her get there.  Thanks to the counseling of staff at USDA Rural Development and support provided by HRDC, Jill now qualifies for a $115,000 loan, and is on the verge of closing on a new home.  The home that Jill chose was built by the Headwaters Housing Development Corporation (HHDC), and the availability of gap financing from multiple sources made the deal possible.  Result:  One very happy family, and a community that is better off because of the team effort.  

Creating Economic Opportunity by Employing Local Students

EXB Solutions, Inc., a veteran-owned company specializing in software testing for aerospace and defense industries was seeking a community in which to locate their principal office.   The company currently has offices in the Twin Cities, Arizona, and Alabama.  The JEDC made contact with the owners of EXB and convinced them Bemidji was the place to be.  Bemidji is a HUB Zone community allowing the company to maximize its competitive advantage in gaining government contracts.  In addition, the community’s telecommunication infrastructure is top of the line, which is essential to their services.  However, what impressed the management most was the high quality graduates coming out of BSU’s physics-engineering program.  EXB chose to locate in Bemidji and worked quickly to hire 5 recent graduates from BSU starting them with salaries averaging $55,000.  Several of these students were expecting to have to leave Bemidji to find such an opportunity, but now are happy to stay in a community they love.  As Don Hughes, EXB’s CEO, put it “It’s a win-win” for all. 

Adding to the Amenities of a Small Community

Several years ago Blackduck decided that just one of the many ways it could improve the lives of its residents was to create a trail network that would connect the residents to the various amenities in and around the City.  Initial project scoping indicated that just one part of this network would cost in excess of $300,000; however, city staff, elected officials and residents were not deterred.

The residents began a local fund raising effort that netted several thousand dollars and the City, with the assistance of the Headwaters RDC, obtained $10,000 from Blandin and over $250,000 from MnDOT.  The MnDOT money however, required a local match of nearly $100,000 which the City did not have.  The City had two years to come up with the match.  Their only real hope of obtaining it was through a trail funding program administered through the DNR.  With the assistance of the Headwaters RDC, the City applied but was denied in favor of other projects in the State that scored higher.    The DNR program was still their only viable option, and their project had scored high, so with HRDC assistance they applied again. 

Their second effort was met with success; it felt like it was time to declare victory and go home!  However, projects of this scope rarely proceed without a glitch or two.  The next few months were spent frantically acquiring right-of-way, obtaining permits, and mitigating impacts to wetlands.  When the dust settled at the end of the summer, the City had a trail that was ready to be paved the next spring.  The only thing left to do was find another $50,000 to pay for it; during the construction process MnDOT deemed some items ineligible for funding and some costs came in higher than expected, increasing the City’s out of pocket expenses.

The City once again, with the assistance of the HRDC, applied to the DNR for funds.  Failure this time would leave the City in uncharted waters.  MnDOT was paying for a paved trail and the money they provided was contingent upon that outcome; MnDOT had never had an enhancement project get to this point and fail.  Fortunately, the City was successful in acquiring DNR funds a second time. Thanks to the City’s persistence, residents and visitors will be able to walk, bike, or run around the city at the end of this summer on a paved trail.

Not Giving in on Homeless Housing 

There is a clear need for housing for homeless individuals and families in the Region, particularly around Bemidji.  But a large need does not guarantee that someone will step up to meet that need. In this case,  HHDC, Beltrami County HRA, Red Lake HRA and Leech Lake HRA decided to work together to provide quality affordable housing to meet this need.  Without the very strong commitment from each, this project would not get to first base.  While project partners were able to secure nearly $4 million to support this development, a variety of political issues and site problems appeared to doom this initiative.

It might have been prudent to walk away from this project, but both the HHDC and HRDC boards exhibited strong support to continue the effort, and the HHDC’s consulting engineer, Widseth Smith and Nolting (WSN), provided significant pro bono services to help keep the project moving forward.  The Beltrami County HRA gave a huge boost to this initiative by providing an alternative building site at no cost to the project.  First National Bank agreed to sponsor an application to the Federal Home Loan Bank to help fill a financial gap.  In order to provide adequate accessibility to the site, the City of Bemidji agreed to finance a portion of the street construction cost.  The collective commitment of these organizations and others helped keep this moving forward.  If all goes well, the HHDC expects to break ground on construction in the spring/summer of 2010.  At that time every partner can be very proud of its critical role in making this project happen.

Making Sure we Give the Next Generation a Community as Good as the One We Live In

Lake of the Woods County is a very popular tourist destination because of the lake. People from all over Minnesota and other parts of the nation enjoy visiting the area to fish. Because of this, an area between Baudette and Zippel Bay has experienced growth in the last 20 years, including scattered residential construction and commercial activity that caters to the tourist population.

Therein lies the challenge. We oftentimes love an area to death, and the Lake of the Woods County Board was concerned that this could be the future fate of the TH 172 corridor between Baudette and Zippel Bay.

Not content to be a spectator, the County Board, with the help of the Headwaters RDC, created a policy framework and an enhanced set of regulatory tools to manage the change that will inevitably occur in this corridor.  With a little hard work and discipline, this corridor will still be attractive to tourists twenty years from now.

Providing Hope for a Better Future

No problem seems more daunting than poverty on one of our Indian Reservations. The lack of job opportunities, the need for an improvement in labor force skills, and the need for infrastructure to support new economic activity are all major challenges.

To be honest, what’s been done in the past has not worked. So, mindful of the adage, “If you keep doing what you did, you’ll keep getting what you got,” the Headwaters RDC and the White Earth Band of Ojibwe decided it was time to try something different.

What has been done in the past is to implement strategies that have a focus on short term fixes instead of addressing longer-term systemic challenges that can better position the community for success. This is not a Reservation challenge; this is a challenge faced by all struggling communities. 

Keeping this in mind, the Headwaters RDC and the members of White Earth Band are focusing on two major issues: the need to separate out the governance of the Reservation from the governance of its economic development activities and its businesses, and the need to substantially improve the education levels of its members.  Tough issues? You bet.  But effective long-term economic development requires them to be addressed. Success here is a work in progress, but the Tribe is on the right track.

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These are just a few real stories that help paint a picture of what this organization is all about. For every one of these, there are several more that could be added.  (You can find some of them in the remainder of this report.) Stories of people – individually and collectively – that have their lives improved because of our work tells you infinitely more than our mission statement ever could.

Some of these stories have another chapter to be written while some are finished.  They all focus on an outcome that moves the Region forward in real, meaningful ways.

While these stories are very different from each other, they all have remarkably similar attributes: a passion for the initiative, a commitment and a discipline to realize real results, the need for committed partners, and a customer with a vision of a better future. This might be the best summary of all for who we are.