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Image: Quad Cities Area- Group Photo web

Quad Cities area residents complete Blandin Community Leadership Program retreat

Grand Rapids, Minn. — Twenty-four residents of the Quad Cities area returned March 15 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 sixth time the community has participated in the BCLP leadership program.

Local residents participating in this training were:

Bret Alexander, Elizabeth Bloch, Ryan Carlson, Sharon Chadwick, Char Conger, Cassandra Hainey, Kristian Jankofsky, Tony Jeffries, Amber Johnson, Don Knight, Allen Lewis, Mary McReynolds, Brandon Nurmi, Betsy Olivanti, Beth Peterson, Justin Reid, Jake Rosandich, Erik Roth, Barbara Sanders, Rich Sather, Tiffany Soderman, Dawn Trexel-Kroll, Bobbi Zenner and Jeff Zupetz.

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 9 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 Kathy Annette, president and CEO of Blandin Foundation. “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.

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Photo caption – Quad Cities area

Participants in BCLP training March 11 – 15 included:

Back Row: (left to right) Tony Jeffries, Cassandra Hainey, Jake Rosandich, Rich Sather, Allen Lewis, Amber Johnson, Elizabeth Bloch, and Justin Reid

Middle Row: (left to right) Mary Jo Wimmer (Trainer), Sharon Chadwick, Kristian Jankofsky, Bret Alexander, Dawn Trexel-Kroll, Mary McReynolds, Tiffany Soderman, Jeff Zupetz, Beth Peterson, and Ed Zabinski (Trainer)

Front Row: (left to right) Betsy Olivanti, Char Conger, Bobbi Zenner, Erik Roth, Barbara Sanders, Don Knight, Ryan Carlson, and Brandon Nurmi

Not Pictured: Roxanne DeLille (Trainer)

 

Visit our Partner Directory to see other ways Blandin Foundation has supported the Quad Cities area.

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