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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.

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.

 

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