Twenty-five residents of the Hutchinson area returned February 28 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 600 rural Minnesota communities since it began in 1985. This is the third time the community has participated in the BCLP leadership program.
Local residents participating in this training were:
Tiffany Barnard, Morgan Baum, Matt Beilke, Dean Bertram, Steven Broll, Tim Burley, Matt Feuerborn, Ashley Gabbert, Beth Gasser, Lisa Hill, Candace Hoversten, Matt Jaunich, JoEllen Kimball, Josh Laffen, Tom Lambert, Andrea Moore, Karlie Mosher, Joe Nagel, John Roderberg, John Sanken, Jenelle Stiras, Hannah Tjoflat, Jill Warner, Sara Witte and Dave Wollan.
“Relationships are everything, and I’m incredibly grateful for the intentional time I spent last week with the other participants who want the best for Hutchinson as much as I do.” Beth Gasser
“Our 5 day retreat was one of the best experiences I have had. I am so grateful I get to be a part of this amazing group of people, and help continue to expand and grow Hutchinson.” Karlie Mosher
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.
Want to hear more about our experience? Feel free to reach out to Karlie or Beth.
