Northwest Minnesota Foundation, Headwaters RDC help Communities with Community Funds

We firmly believe that community success is dependent on strong local leadership that can sustain effort behind a unified community strategic agenda. To help further this effort, the Headwaters RDC is working with the Northwest Minnesota Foundation (NMF) to help communities develop that type of local effort.

Phase 1 involves 5 communities outside the Headwaters Region – Crookston, Stephen/Argyle, Fisher, Fertile and Warren. Phase 2 will involve several communities in the Headwaters Region.

The catalyst for this activity was the awarding of a major grant to NMF by the Bremer Foundation to jumpstart community funds in each of these communities. As a local leverage tool for change, NMF wisely decided to help communities “begin with the end in mind” – that is, help them think about the purpose for which these funds are being created.

For more information, contact Dawn Ganje.

Park Rapids Government Focuses on Outcomes

What does a local government do when tight resources become a fact of life? Answer: focus on results that really matter to citizen customers.

The Park Rapids Council, with help from Headwaters RDC staff, is in the middle of a process often referred to as Strategy Aligned Management (SAM). This is an effort focused on defining outcomes desired from a citizen perspective, creating measures that help guide implementation and, and strategies that align resources.  While SAM does not eliminated tough resource allocation decisions, it does help to highlight choices and use available funding and staff resources effectively.

For more information on the Park Rapids effort, contact Bill Smith, City Administrator.

The Northwest Angle is an interesting part of the Headwaters Region. It is separated from the rest of the Region by Lake of the Woods, and has a checkerboard ownership pattern that includes private, state, federal and Tribal land. The Angle is bisected by a County State Aid road.

Lake of the Woods County and the Red Lake Nation have asked the Headwaters RDC to help facilitate a process that would result in conveyance of state land to Tribal ownership and a formalized easement for road and infrastructure use. The catalyst for this effort was the need to resolve a road and utility trespass that has existed for years. The State and Federal Government have also indicated a willingness to be partners in a solution. It is anticipated that the successful resolution of this issue could lead to joint work on other issues facing the State, County, and Tribe.

This group of local leaders continually remind us that “the best way to predict the future is to create it.”   Over the last 2 years they identified, and affirmed, 7 major goals to help create a better future for the community. Following are these goals, and the impressive progress made to date:

•  Increase local student achievement levels through school/community collaboration. The school and community have put together an impressive pilot project to help students that are struggling to stay on track to graduate on time. For more information on this, contact Superintendent Glenn Chiodo.
• Create local access to post-secondary education opportunity. Minnesota State Community and Technical College will be offering classes in Park Rapids as of Fall, 2011. A major community effort is underway to increase demand for class offerings. For more information, contact David Collins, local Economic Development Director.
• Implement a major arts/culture initiative that makes Park Rapids the “arts capital” of rural Minnesota. Park Rapids has a vibrant arts community, and an active arts council. For information on all that is happening, contact Paul Dove, local arts leader.
• Develop a major community center.The City of Park Rapids is working with a local developer to rehabilitate the old Armory. This ambitious effort will be completed in several phases, and will require an ongoing public-private partnership. For more information, contact Bill Smith, City Administrator.
• Seek to become the best wired community in Minnesota. Local strategy is now being developed. Contact David Collins for more information.
• Implement a downtown revitalization initiative. Phase 2 is scheduled for summer, 2011. A broad coalition of supporters made this project possible. For more information, contact Ellis Jones.
• Implement a parks plan. Improvements are scheduled for 2 parks over the next 12 months.

Clearly, the Park Rapids’ community is convinced its best days are ahead of it.

Center for Community Stewardship Keeps Building a Movement, One Community at a Time

Three years ago, the HRDC started the Center for Community Stewardship with the dream of creating a new leadership movement in our communities…one which grows, empowers and engages leaders to act as stewards of our communities.  The dream is alive today, and is taking life throughout the state, one community at a time.

Want to know more about our stewardship communities?

The latest communities to join the stewardship movement are Marshall, MN and Hermantown, MN. 

My Marshall—

In 2009, a group of leaders from the Marshall community attended Leadership Training offered by the Blandin Foundation.    The training offered an opportunity for community members to learn about themselves and their leadership skills.  In addition, as a group the Marshall attendees developed a strong team, committed to making a difference in their home community.

The greatest challenge facing the Blandin Leadership alumni and the Marshall community was getting traction on key projects and opportunities.  As a community, they needed to agree on one strategic direction, and develop a means to work together. 

The Blandin leaders were uniquely positioned to help the community create alignment.  The alumni are a diverse cross-section of the community, and have the networks necessary to effectively garner the involvement of key leaders and the broader community. 

For the past year, the Marshall leaders, under the leadership of the CCS, issued a call to action to the community to create collective, sustained, strategic civic effort.   They challenged community leaders to come together as stewards of the community.  The ultimate goal was to challenge the community to align behind one destiny, and define a series of destiny drivers to help the community move forward.

What is Marshall’s desired future? After a year of work, the community has agreed that “with its abundant economic opportunities, unmatched quality of life, vibrant ethnic and cultural diversity and passionate civic leadership and engagement, the Marshall area is the biggest small town in the upper Midwest.”  To get there, the community will be focusing on efforts to create a prosperous economy, build a livable community and encourage social inclusion. 

At the CCS, we believe when you combine GREAT LEADERS with COMMUNITY STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT you get remarkable results.   Keep an eye on Marshall in the coming years….they have leadership in abundance.

Advance Hermantown—

As was the case with Marshall, MN, the community of Hermantown had a group of community leaders go through the Blandin Community Leadership Training.  Inspired to make a difference in their community, the Blandin alumni and other key leaders in the community issued an invitation to all community members to help make Hermantown the “community of choice” in the region.   That invitation was the beginning of Advance Hermantown.

Advance Hermantown is just beginning, kicking off in May, 2011. Over the next year, with the help of the Center for Community Stewardship, stewards will work to define a common future, and agreed upon strategies that will guide the Hermantown community over the next decade.  Specifically, Advance Hermantown will be:

1.  Creating a leadership/stewardship team will be formed to help the community effectively address the opportunities and challenges it faces in the coming years, as well as engage and support a broad cross-section of community leaders;
2. Help the community will collectively identify a desired future (destiny);
3. Define strategies (destiny drivers) will be identified that will serve as a road map or community agenda for reaching our destiny; and
4. Create alignment behind the destiny drivers with key leaders and organizations, and begin acting on the priority drivers.

The following process has been developed by the CCS and will serve as a guide for the work of the steward’s team:

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A key to the effectiveness of the process will be the ability of the team to seek and receive broad-based community support and involvement.  The stewards are genuinely open to community input and will utilize traditional and non-traditional ways of listening to the community.

More details will be emerging as Hermantown sets its course for the coming years.  Hermantown has the ingredients to be successful….it’s the CCS’s role to help the community create the recipe.