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

Grand Rapids, Minn. (June 1, 2017) - Twenty-two residents of the Leech Lake, Red Lake and White Earth reservation communities completed a five-day leadership retreat May 12. 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 sixth time these communities have participated together in the BRCLP leadership program.

Participants who completed the retreat were:

Justin Beaulieu, Nita Cloud-Johnson, Penny De Vault, Randy Finn, Rita Ford, Joe Fowler, Stephanie Hendricks, Naomi Johnson, Sterling Knox, Douglas Lee, Cedric Littlewolf, Reyna Lussier, Wes May, Angela Nordman, Katie Northbird, Petra Rodriguez, Delana Smith, Edie Smith, Deanna StandingCloud, Jon Staples, Chris Stauffer, and Corey Weaver.

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 Valerie Shangreaux, director of Blandin leadership programs. "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.

About Blandin Foundation: Blandin Foundation works for vibrant rural Minnesota communities by investing in community leaders and working with partners to expand opportunity for all residents. Located in Grand Rapids, Minn., it is one of only a handful of foundations in the U.S. focused exclusively on rural communities and the largest rural-based private foundation in Minnesota. Information on Blandin Foundation grant-making, leadership development programs and public policy initiatives: http://www.blandinfoundation.org.