Winona area residents complete Blandin Community Leadership Program retreat

Grand Rapids, Minn. (March 22, 2018) — Twenty-four residents of the Winona area returned March 16 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 seventh time the community has participated in the BCLP leadership program.

Local residents participating in this training were:

Helen Bagshaw, Alison Bettin, Dave Casey, Chris Dahlke, Jodi Dansingburg, Erik Floan, Bob Heath, John Howard, Phillip Huerta, Carin Hyter, Bridget Klinger, Nick Larson, Tesla Mitchell, Deb McClellan, Eileen Moeller, Kate Noelke, Jay Palmer, Kay Peterson, Kathy Seifert, Paul Stern, Ben Strand, Jen Timm, Jim Vrchota and Aaron Young.

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.

A summary of Blandin Foundation’s support of the Winona area, including leadership training cohorts, can be found here.

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Photo caption – Winona area

Participants in BCLP training March 12-16 included:

Back Row: (left to right)– Nehrwr Abdul-Wahid (Trainer), Jim Vrchota, Phillip Huerta, Tesla Mitchell, Deb McClellan, Jay Palmer, Jen Timm, Jodi Dansingburg, and Ann Glumac (Trainer)

Middle Row: (left to right)– Kathy Seifert, Kate Noelke, Bob Heath, Nick Larson, Alison Bettin, Paul Stern, Bridget Klinger, Helen Bagshaw, and Carin Hyter

Front Row: (left to right)– Chris Dahlke, Kay Peterson, Aaron Young, Ben Strand, Eileen Moeller, Dave Casey, John Howard, and Erik Floan