Impact 2020 Acts as Catalyst for School/Community Education Pilot Projects

Impact 2020 is a 12 county regional leadership initiative championed by the Northwest Minnesota Foundation (NMF). Its purpose is to challenge local leaders to align resources behind a unified strategy to help bring about long-term prosperity in Northwest Minnesota.

As a result of this effort three major strategic goals were identified. One of these addressed the need to increase the amount of talent in the area. The goal included increasing the 4 year on time high school graduation rate, and increasing the number of post-secondary education graduates.

The Headwaters RDC, working with NMF, has generated pilot efforts in the school/communities of Bemidji, Park Rapids, Win-E-Mac, Thief River Falls and Naytahwaush/Mahnomen. While in various stages of development, each effort is crafted to address the unique circumstances and take advantage of the special strengths in each community. The article written below provides more detail for the first pilot project in Bemidji. For more information, contact Dave Hengel, Headwaters RDC.

Bemidji Leads’ Students First Initiative becomes a Reality

Under the HRDC’s leadership, Bemidji Leads! has focused its efforts on in three key areas….growing, attracting and retaining talent, supporting entrepreneurs and innovators, and growing leaders.  The signature program within the talent focus, the Students First Initiative, is about to kick off.

A Students First Initiative is a two-fold commitment by the Bemidji community to its students:

1. Every student will have the opportunity to discover its strengths and lay out a personal success plan; and
2. Every student will have an opportunity to have a caring, adult success coach in their life.

Bemidji Leads! turned to the Beltrami Area Service Collaborative to lead the research and design of the program. An operations plan has been developed, and strong financial commitments have been made by the Blandin Foundation, Neilson Foundation, Bemidji schools, Beltrami County and the Northwest Minnesota Foundation.  It is the expectation of both BASC and Bemidji Leads! that the initiative will begin this school year.

Why is this project important to Bemidji Leads! and the Bemidji community?  The ability of communities to grow talent and retain them will be a key driver for future economic development success.  The hope is that the Student First Initiative will….

1. Increase the number of students going on to post-secondary education
2. Increase student connections to community life
3. Retaining talent in Bemidji
4. Increase high school graduation rates
5. Increase students’ awareness of their individual strengths, goal-setting, career options, post-secondary planning and options

Bemidji Leads! was the first of the HRDC’s stewardship communities, and provided a model from which the Center for Community Stewardship was based.  Bemidji Leads! has won the National Excellence Award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Alliance for Regional Stewardship and also the Innovation Award from the National Association of Development Organizations. Bemidji Leads! For more information, go to www.bemidjileads.com.

Headwaters Regional Finance Corporation houses an EDA-funded business revolving loan fund with assets of $3.7 million.  The portfolio is currently made up of 23 EDA loans and 2 remaining Flood loans which combine total $2.1 million in outstanding principal balances.   The HRFC continues to provide essential gap financing in partnership with local banks, municipal RLFs, and other gap lenders.  Leveraging the resources in the region, the HRFC has successfully aided in creating and retaining 664 jobs among the existing businesses in the portfolio and 3760 jobs through the fund's 31 year history. 

During the previous two fiscal years the RLF’s new loan volume was directly impacted by the economic recession as commercial activity came to a virtual standstill.  Fortunately, we began to witness signs of recovery as loan requests started coming in by fall of 2010.  Thus far, in fiscal year 2011 the HRFC has funded 5 new loans totaling $596,400.  Four loans were for business relocations/expansions, and one was a new start-up.  Much of the loan activity is coming from the Bemidji area as it leads the way out of the economic slump.

As we enter this new fiscal year, the HRFC will continue its work to assist small businesses with their financing needs in light of the regional focus on entrepreneurship and innovation.  We look forward to identifying ways to improve or enhance the HRFC’s leverage tools.

New Borrowers:

Highlighted Borrower -  Harmony Cooperative Grocery, Inc.

Since 1977 Harmony Foods has had a presence in downtown Bemidji providing the community with healthful, organic, and locally-grown foods and personal products.  Having a pulse on the national trends toward healthier foods, their board of directors commissioned a feasibility study to determine the market for a full-scale natural foods grocery in the Bemidji area.  The research supported this intent.  The members of the cooperative gave their blessing through generous financial support.  They saw value in maintaining presence downtown and purchased the old TruStar Credit Union building tripling their square footage of retail space.  In addition, this building provides for ample storage, an enhanced deli with outdoor seating, a synergy with leasee KAXE radio station, and a possibility of a kitchen incubator for local growers.  Harmony is working closely with the local growers associations to form partnerships that will expand the local foods network.  This expansion will also provide residents of the area a downtown full-service grocery, which has been lacking for many years.  This expansion project of nearly $2 million was financed with the assistance of Security Bank USA, the HRFC’s RLF and the City of Bemidji’s RLF. 

Greg Gasman, General Manager of Harmony Foods Coop

In October, 2011 the Sanford Center opened its doors, and took the Bemidji area to a new level as a regional center.  A $50 million investment by the community, the center will draw 150,000 people annually to conferences, concerts, sporting events, and other activities, and will serve as an anchor to an already impressive quality of life in the community. In addition, the center will provide new and exciting opportunities to drive the regional economy.  The Village at South Shore on Lake Bemidji is one of those opportunities.

The City of Bemidji has purchased and prepared the 141 acre site of the Sanford Center for development.  The goal for the site, called the Village at South Shore,  is to be a premier northern Minnesota destination that features a socially and economically vibrant district within a park-like setting. The Village will be a rich and exciting district with activities for community members, regional neighbors and visitors.   It is where people can live, build a future, enjoy nature's beauty and experience Bemidji's community.

Opportunity
The Village at South Shore is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. Rarely will you find on one site, the unique characteristics of the south shore:

• Over 5,000 front feet of public lakeshore on northern Minnesota's finest urban lake
• Within walking distance to downtown Bemidji, shopping, dining, community parks, and community events
• A walking/biking trail that connects the site to downtown, Lake Bemidji State Park and Bemidji State University
• A new public park with a swimming beach, boat docking, and other park amenities
• Shovel-ready sites, with all public infrastructure in place
• An anchor facility, the Sanford Center, that draws over 150,000 visitors a year

The community knows the Village at South Shore will drive our region's future, and is eager to work in public-private partnerships to realize our vision.  The city has aggressively prepared the site for new developers.  Specifically, the city has:

Streamlined Project Approval Process - The City of Bemidji has obtained approval of its masterplanning documents, including Planned Unit Development mixed-use, Development Response Action Plan, and stormwater management and wetland replacement plans. Types and stadards for the development have been defined along with a design review committee.

Maximized Value and Flexibility- The City of Bemidji obstained variances to extend the maximum building height to 80 feet in many areas. Utilizing the entire site, the City offset impervious and open space requirements to provide lots for commercial development with up to 85 percent impervious and residential lots at 50 percent impervious surface allowances.

Provided Infrastructure-Ready Sites- Completed infrastructure includes streets and parking lots, domestic water, sanitary sewer, and stormwater systems.

HRDC’s Role
The City of Bemidji has asked the help of the HRDC in marketing the property.  Specifically, the HRDC has:

• Established a partnership with North Central Real Estate, a commercial broker out of the Twin Cities
• Helped the city aligned their economic development resources to encourage development on the site
• Work with the city to simplify the development process
• Developed a new, information-rich web site (www.southshorebemidji.com)
• Started marketing at the Sanford Center
• Sent out development packages to over 75 developers in the upper midwest
• Hosted key developers in late February during Gopher/Beaver series

The Village at South Shore truly is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to shape the character of the Bemidji area, and the HRDC is thankful to the City of Bemidji for allowing us to be a part of this exciting effort.

For more information on the Village at South Shore, contact

This past year, the HRDC has had the opportunity to work with the Northern Minnesota Tribal Economic Development Commission (NMTEDC) developing a strategic focus and organizational plan.  As you may remember, the NMTEDC is comprised of economic development leaders from the Leech Lake, Red Lake and White Earth Reservations with the goal of developing cooperative economic development efforts and other mutually beneficial projects on behalf of the three Tribal Nations.

The planning process focused on identifying opportunities for partnership, reflecting on the mission, vision, core operating values and the organization’s approach to its work. The result of the project is a clear action plan to guide the economic development work of the NMTEDC and the partnering reservations.

Part of the funding for this effort was provided by the Northwest Minnesota Foundation.

This year, the Headwaters RDC has been actively working with the Red Lake Nation Staff to develop a comprehensive economic development strategy. Under the leadership of these organizations, an Economic Development Taskforce was created by selecting diverse individuals and organizations to help guide the project.  The goal of this project is to create a development strategy that will guide the actions of Red Lake’s revamped economic development department.

The Red Lake CEDS’ has focused on coordinating the efforts of individuals, organizations, tribal government, and private industry concerned with economic development. By providing a forum to identify problems and opportunities within Red Lake Nation’s economy, the project will help set priorities and coordinate programs and activities to maximize their resources. The project is intended to help create jobs, foster more stable and diversified economies, and improve living conditions for the Red Lake Nation.

Part of the funding for this effort was provided by the Northwest Minnesota Foundation.

Individuals with a limited education, increasingly find themselves locked into the low-wage end of the labor market. This creates considerable challenge in our region, as on average we fall behind the rest of the state in educational attainment levels. In selected subpopulations, less than half of students in the region will graduate on time and  of those students graduating, about half are going on to enroll in college.

To many it may seem that there are an abundance of post-secondary options available in our region. There are community colleges, technical colleges, and four-year Universities and for a large part of the population these institutions provide a place to gain knowledge and skill. Unfortunately, for many people real or perceived barriers prevent the individuals from the community from accessing these institutions.

Whether its costs, childcare issues, a demanding work schedule, uncertainty about being away from home, etc, many people feel like they don’t have access to higher education. Thanks to a committed effort by community leaders, in fall of 2011 Minnesota State Community and Technical College (M-State) will begin offering college courses in Park Rapids. During the past year the Headwaters RDC worked with this group to better understand the areas workforce needs, developing policies and programs, and understanding student barriers.