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Image: BRCLP- Group Photo L Lake R Lake W Earth for web

Leech Lake, Red Lake and White Earth Reservation residents complete Blandin Reservation Community Leadership Program

Grand Rapids, Minn. (November 26, 2018) — Twenty-one residents of the Leech Lake, Red Lake and White Earth reservation communities returned November 9 from a five-day leadership retreat. This was the first segment of an intense seven-day training provided by the Blandin Reservation Community Leadership Program (BRCLP). The team also will participate in three follow-up workshops.

A program of the Grand Rapids-based Blandin Foundation, BRCLP has provided experiential leadership training for more than 500 community leaders from 11 Minnesota American Indian Reservations since 2001.  This is the eighth time these communities have participated together in the BRCLP leadership program.

Participants in this training were:

David Bedeau, Levi Brown, Robbie Budreau Jr., Tara Fineday-Voight, Mary Gagnon, Carmen Green, Bedonahkwaad Greene, Teresa (Giizhigikwe) Gunter, Ogaabewisikwe Harper, Paul Hutchinson, Annette Johnson, Nicole LaFrinier, Corey Littlewolf, David Manuel, Kristine Nelson, David Rock, Curtis Rogers, Alan Roy, Veronica Weaver, Melissa Widner and Amanda Youngrunningcrane.

The goal of the Blandin Reservation Community Leadership Program is to strengthen leadership capacity through cultural strengths and assets to build and sustain healthy tribal communities. Topics covered during the retreat included: acknowledging and drawing upon leadership strengths, recognizing and tapping into sources of personal and community resilience, framing community issues and opportunities, building social capital, and mobilizing community resources.

“A healthy community depends on leadership engagement of many community members,” said Kathy Annette, Blandin Foundation president and CEO. “The leadership demonstrated by these participants reflects their deep commitment to their communities, their reservations, and the people living there.”

BRCLP 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

Blandin Reservation Community Leadership Program – Leech Lake, Red Lake, White Earth Reservation Communities

Members of the most recent BRCLP training group learned about the 9 dimensions of a healthy community, and how to use the 9 dimensions to create a holistic vision of healthy reservation communities. BRCLP uses a culturally-focused, asset-based approach to training community leaders. A total of 21 residents from the Leech Lake, Red Lake and White Earth reservation communities participated in the most recent training, which began with a retreat that concluded November 9.

Back Row: (left to right)– Bill Blackwell Jr. (Trainer), Amanda Youngrunningcrane, Corey Littlewolf, Kristine Nelson, Alan Roy, Annette Johnson, Roxanne DeLille (Trainer), and Teresa (Giizhigikwe) Gunter 

Middle Row: (left to right)– David Bedeau, Carmen Green, Melissa Widner, Tara Fineday-Voight, Nicole LaFrinier, Rick Smith (Trainer), Bedonahkwaad Greene, Robbie Budreau Jr., and Vic Klimoski (Trainer)

Front Row: (left to right)– David Rock, Levi Brown, Curtis Rogers, Veronica Weaver, Paul Hutchinson, Mary Gagnon, David Manuel, and Ogaabewisikwe Harper

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