A Major Initiative by Initiative Foundation

SPRING 2022

ECONOMY

Aid for Entrepreneurs— Wrap-around supports make path to success less taxing for small business owners. Pg. 8

COMMUNITY

Making It OK— Businesses, organizations unite around campaign to reduce mental illness stigma. Pg. 16

GENEROSITY

Where Science Soars— Grants help two local teachers bringing NASA-inspired innovation into their classrooms. Pg. 46

A MAJOR INITIATIVE Meet eight emerging social entrepreneurs with big ideas for improving their communities. Pg. 20

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Initiative Foundation SPRING 2022

Contents FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

34 40

A Major Initiative

Meet eight emerging social entrepreneurs with big ideas for improving their communities.

Planting the Seeds

How Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures is building a community-centered, homegrown economy.

A Little Goes a Long Way Years later, Initiative Foundation seed grants are still paying big dividends.

Initiatives:

Regional Highlights

Get the latest highlights from Central Minnesota’s 14 counties and two sovereign tribal nations.

Economy:

Aid for Entrepreneurs

Wrap-around supports make path to success less taxing for small business owners.

Nonprofits:

The Confidence to Ask

Fundraising School gives nonprofit leaders the tools, confidence to ask for support.

Community:

Making It OK

Businesses, organizations unite around campaign to reduce mental illness stigma.

Generosity:

Where Science Soars

Grants help two local teachers bringing NASA-inspired innovation into their classrooms.

Home made:

Cuyuna Brewing Company Family finds its home on the Range at Crosby brewery.

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SPRING 2022

Dear Friends, Welcome to spring and to another edition of IQ Magazine filled with an inspiring selection of stories that go nicely with this season’s traditional sense of growth and renewal. In the pages that follow, you’ll read about eight impressive Initiators Fellowship participants, a well-being initiative that makes it OK to de-stigmatize mental illness, and long-ago grants that continue to make a significant difference locally, statewide and even on an international scale. Flip back further in the magazine and you’ll find a story about some enterprising young technologists who are reaching out to the edges of our atmosphere—on an almost interstellar scale—for some NASA-level school projects. It’s an impressive reach, to say the least! Meanwhile, as a preview of future stories to come, I’ll note that we continue our efforts to deliver COVID-19 relief and recovery resources to the region. You’ll recall that by the close of 2021, the Initiative Foundation had delivered nearly $7.8 million in financial support to more than 750 Central Minnesota small businesses affected by the pandemic. That work resumed in 2022 with a second round, and by the end of June, we anticipate our combined total will be nearly $17 million distributed to more than 1,600 businesses scattered across our region. These emergency relief grants have helped people like David Strunk, who operates Surety Home Inspections out of Hackensack. Strunk said the timely support helped to “pay for travel, equipment and marketing expenses during a time when so many potential clients were reluctant to engage in new business. As a result, instead of losing my livelihood, I was able to remain stable and spread my good fortune with others in the small community where I reside.” Wes Jones, co-owner of Casting Creations, a Howard Lake-based foundry that produces custom bronze sculptures, said the grant helped his company survive rising material prices and a drop-off in customers. “It was touch-and-go for a while,” he said. “It was great to have the extra money to help us get through it.” Yet another effort under way, supported by a generous grant from the Otto Bremer Trust, is our Transformative Funding for Nonprofits initiative. By early June, we expect to award up to $700,000 to nonprofits that aspire to reshape the way they deliver support and services to the region. As part of this same effort, another $1 million is slated for a mix of nonprofit and for-profit grantmaking later this year. Here’s to more growth, renewal and progress ahead. Enjoy the magazine!

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Initiatives

WADENA TODD

CROW WING

MORRISON

MILLE LACS

PINE

BENTON STEARNS

SHERBURNE

ISANTI

CHISAGO

Regional Investment Highlights

CASS

KANABEC

WRIGHT

WESTERN MORRISON COUNTY | Going Beyond ¡Hola! and Adiós Royalton Spanish-language students aren’t just talking the talk, they are reading it, too, thanks to grant support from the Royalton Education Foundation, an Initiative Foundation Partner Fund. Royalton High School’s Spanish Free Voluntary Reading Library was installed in 2021 so students can read everything from Spanish-language biographies to graphic novels. Teacher Lake Mathison reports that each student has finished multiple books since installation.

TODD COUNTY | Crafting a Fund to Honor Teresa Crews Teresa Crews passed away unexpectedly in 2017. To carry on the 53-year-old’s legacy, Teresa’s father, Charlie, who lives in Staples, partnered with the Initiative Foundation to create Teresa’s Stash Legacy Fund. A lifelong quilter, crafter and seamstress, Teresa had 28 quilting projects in process at the time of her death. Her Christmas tree skirts, hot pads and bridesmaid dresses can be found throughout the Twin Cities. The donor-advised fund will support Todd County nonprofit organizations.

WADENA COUNTY | Wadena Area Takes Library Remodel to the Bank WADENA: The Wadena Library will be moving into the former First National Bank building. Photo courtesy of Michael Johnson.

The former First National Bank in Wadena is undergoing a makeover, and when it opens this summer as the Wadena Library it will transition from depositing dollars to lending literature. The Friends of the Wadena Library created the Wadena City Library Fund, an Initiative Foundation Partner Fund, and raised $1.2 million toward the $2.7 million project. Capital improvement bonds will cover the remaining costs. The ADA-compliant library will include a makerspace and more room for library materials and meetings.

NORTHERN CASS COUNTY | Funding Fosters Fresh-air Fun for Area Kids Kids at Happy Dancing Turtle in Pine River can now hang out in hammocks, boogie on balance beams, and tinker in tents, thanks to a grant from the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), distributed by the Initiative Foundation. Happy Dancing Turtle enhanced its outdoor classroom for its many summertime camps and programs. Since the onset of the pandemic, the Foundation has collaborated with MDE to award more than $470,000 to 65 organizations supporting Central Minnesota kids.

CROW WING COUNTY | New Brainerd Shelter Welcomes the Unhoused A new warming shelter in Brainerd is providing a safe place to sleep and a roof overhead for those experiencing homelessness. Crow Wing County, several churches and nonprofits, including the Initiative Foundation and Sourcewell, came together to support the warming shelter, coordinated by Bridges of Hope. The shelter has been open from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. since December 2021 with space for 20 people.

MILLE LACS COUNTY | Project Preserves Ojibwe Language CASS: Happy Dancing Turtle added a hammock and other fresh-air fun to its outdoor classroom.

6 Initiative Foundation ifound.org

In the Ojibwe language, zaagi’idiwin means love and nibwaakaawin means wisdom. These words and more are being preserved by the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe in partnership with Rosetta Stone, a language software company. Several project liaisons participated in the Initiative Foundation’s fall 2021 Enterprise Academy through a Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures partnership to improve their business expertise and support the language preservation initiative.

“ The Initiative Foundation listens to the community and facilitates the distributive flow of resources to maximize the common good for humanity! Much respect.” – Suzanne Begin

ARC Retreat Center, Stanchfield, Minn.

SOUTHERN BENTON COUNTY | Tutors Log In to Support Students’ Learning In late 2020, St. Cloud-area employers recognized the difficulties employees were having in balancing work and at-home learning responsibilities. With support from area higher education institutions, AmeriCorps Seniors and the United Way, the Greater St. Cloud Development Corporation (GSDC) launched Around Cloud Tutors. During the program’s first year, English-, Somali- and Spanish-speaking volunteers tutored nearly 300 students. The Initiative Foundation is a GSDC annual investor.

SHERBURNE COUNTY | Grant Stocks Shelves With Multicultural Foods Family meals and the ingredients to make them are a part of our cultural identity. Community Aid of Elk River is expanding its food shelf offerings with grant support from Three Rivers Community Foundation, a Partner Fund of the Initiative Foundation. From fufu flour to goat meat, the expansion is a reflection of the community served. When those facing food insecurity can obtain familiar ingredients, it’s much easier to cook for their families.

STEARNS COUNTY | Grant Helps to Ignite After-school Programs After-school hours are a crucial time for development, yet thousands of Minnesota youth are left unsupervised. Programming through the Central Minnesota Community Empowerment Organization (CMCEO), a partner of the Initiative Foundation, is getting a boost with support from a $1.2 million Ignite Afterschool grant. CMCEO coordinates programs that support East African youth in their academic, social-emotional and mental health needs. The grant will support programming into 2024.

SHERBURNE: Multicultural foods are available at the Community Aid of Elk River food shelf.

WRIGHT COUNTY | Program Paves Path to Financial Independence When someone is living in a domestic violence situation, they may be financially dependent on their abuser. An Initiative Foundation grant is helping staff at Monticello’s Rivers of Hope implement a program that will aid domestic abuse victims on their path to financial independence so they might escape their situation. The mission of Rivers of Hope is to end family violence through advocacy, education and collaboration.

EASTERN

CHISAGO COUNTY | Lindstrom Downtown Revitalization in the Works A thriving and beautiful downtown increases business attraction and hometown pride. Partially funded by an Initiative Foundation grant, the Lindstrom Economic Development Authority (EDA) is partnering with a design firm to study downtown parking and housing; establish connections to lakes and trails; address pedestrian safety; and update the stormwater system. The goal of the project is to transition to a safe, welcoming and beautiful downtown.

ISANTI COUNTY | Advocacy Center Virtual Tour Eases Anxiety A first-time visit to Braham’s North Star Family Advocacy Center can trigger anxiety for a child or a vulnerable adult who has experienced abuse. Prospective clients can now visit the center’s website for a virtual tour with close-ups of the waiting area and interview rooms. The virtual tour is supported by grants from the Initiative Foundation and East Central Energy. Staff report the visually driven features of the website helped to reassure clients and encouraged new year-end donors.

KANABEC COUNTY | Love the Journey Expands to Hinckley Lori Peterson started Love the Journey in 2014 to provide outpatient mental health counseling in Mora. When it came time to purchase the Mora building and renovate it in 2017, Peterson accessed an Initiative Foundation loan. Now, Peterson has expanded Love the Journey to Hinckley, thanks to a partnership with Neighborhood National Bank and a subsequent Initiative Foundation loan. The expansion has resulted in increased mental health services and the creation of jobs in Hinckley.

ISANTI: A virtual tour website feature allows wouldbe clients to see the North Star Family Advocacy Center before they visit.

PINE COUNTY | Sandstone Library Writes New Chapter Grants are sometimes a long-term investment. Take, for example, the Sandstone Library. As part of its 2013 participation in the Initiative Foundation’s Thriving Communities Initiative, volunteers logged hundreds of hours on a host of projects, including the local library. This summer, the library will move to the former Pine Habilitation and Supported Employment, Inc., building on Main Street. The handicapaccessible renovation will offer space for community gatherings and children’s activities.

SPRING 2022

economy

LAM CHUOL: “If you have a business idea that’s viable, the Initiative Foundation is in a position to help you out.”

Aid for Entrepreneurs Wrap-around support makes small business owners’ path to success less taxing By Kevin Allenspach | Photography by Paul Middlestaedt

Tax season can create anxiety for anyone. For low- to moderate-income individuals, especially new Americans, the path to filing a return can be intimidating. With help from the Initiative Foundation, Lam Chuol is making a career out of calming those fears. Born in Sudan, Chuol was 9 when his family came to the United States in 1998. He graduated from Minneapolis Roosevelt High School, earned a basketball scholarship to Ohio Valley University and received his accounting degree in 2010. He worked for various national tax preparers for several years before he branched out independently. “I would have to charge people $300 to $400 and I was getting paid minimum wage,” said Chuol, who moved to St. Cloud in 2018. “A person who didn’t get their taxes done on time came to me once and I was able to help him out. I charged $100. That was my first client, and word spread.” Chuol soon had people hiring him from as far away as Rochester and Fargo, N.D. But it was hard to separate his business and personal revenue, let alone grow his business from a spare bedroom in a house shared with his wife and two young sons. Connections in the

Somali community led him to the Initiative Foundation’s Enterprise Academy, a 12-week program for underserved and early-stage entrepreneurs now in its fifth year. In January, after Chuol’s successful graduation from the program, the Foundation extended a microloan that provided capital for Chuol to rent and furnish an office for Lam Tax Service (www.lamtaxservice.com). “This was something I really needed,” Chuol said. “For two years, I’ve been thinking about getting an office because I see the possibility for growth.” The St. Cloud Enterprise Academy cohort meets for two hours each Saturday morning at the Greater St. Cloud Development Corporation offices in downtown St. Cloud. With the education and support provided by Initiative Foundation trainers, Chuol was able to shape and refine his business plan. “If you have [a business idea] that’s viable, [the Initiative Foundation] is in a position to help you out,” Chuol said. Chuol is now among nearly 100 Enterprise Academy graduates and, since 2019, one of 20 microloan recipients (up to $50,000). He also joins the ranks of some 250 people who have received technical assistance from the Initiative Foundation. These wraparound supports—education, lending and technical assistance—are CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

8 Initiative Foundation ifound.org

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SPRING 2022

economy, continued from page 8 three ways the Initiative Foundation is positioned to act on its mission to accelerate success for underserved communities.

STARTUP HUSTLE

Asia Walters of St. Cloud received a microloan for a business she started in the past year—a clothing line branded as Females That Hustle (www.femalesthathustlecollection.com). “I’ve been making money on my own since I was 13,” said Walters, who has six children and lives in St. Cloud. “I’ve been hustling. I work hard … I think women who hustle don’t get enough credit, and we like to dress nice. I’d go into a store and look for hours without finding the clothes I wanted to wear.” It turns out a lot of people agreed. So she created some styles she’d want to wear and brought them to pop-up shops and black entrepreneur events. Sales grew and, while most have been in Minnesota, she’s shipped to customers in nine other states. The microloan is helping her to stock inventory and buy machines to make her clothing. In February, she opened a metro-area boutique with weekend hours, taking some pressure off running everything from her home. She’s a potential Enterprise Academy student and believes the program will prove invaluable to help her learn more about marketing, bookkeeping, branding, web development, social media and legal aspects of business. “I was getting turned down left and right for grants and loans,” Walters said. “I can’t even tell you all the ways this is going to help me.” What started as engagement by the Initiative Foundation with East African and Somali entrepreneurs in the St. Cloud area has since grown to the Mille Lacs Tribal Economy and beyond. While Enterprise Academy has a special focus on serving racial and ethnic minorities, other underserved communities the program serves include veterans, women, low-income, small-town business owners, and anyone who wants to open a business and faces barriers. For example, Enterprise Academy graduate Shawn Hopman used a microloan from the Foundation to start Ya-Sure Kombucha, a taproom and brewery in Brainerd. “Shawn didn’t have a ton of money or equity when he started, but he had an awesome idea for a business,” said Brian Voerding, vice president for inclusive entrepreneurship at the Initiative Foundation. “We were able to step in and help him get going. Diversity is excellence when it comes to economic growth in our region, and we want entrepreneurs of all backgrounds to know we have access to helpful resources.”

Pam Thomsen is one of the primary trainers with the Enterprise Academy. She is a CPA who helps Foundation clients dive into every detail of business planning. Thomsen was able to help Chuol identify project costs and get estimates on everything from insurance to marketing, as well as estimating sales tax to help vet the financial viability of his idea. “We don’t just get entrepreneurs a check,” Voerding said. “We provide ongoing support—we check in and connect them to community resources. We love it when, for example, we’re able to help fund someone with a food truck and then find gigs for them. We’re the starter conversation and we help folks get in business and be sustainable, and then the next conversation they’re having usually is with the bank in town.” Voerding sees Chuol as a “force multiplier.” With Foundation support, his business will have the potential to thrive, and he’ll help other entrepreneurs achieve clean tax records and registrations. That will make it easier for the Foundation to help even more people in the future. “Lam has a tax service, similar to other businesses in the same line, but a lot of what he’s doing is teaching, and that’s admirable because it’s a patient process,” Voerding said. “It’s hard enough for us who have lived here all our lives to figure that stuff out. When you have cultural differences and language barriers, it’s all the more difficult.” That is why Chuol is likely to succeed. “To the minority community in general, the word ‘taxes’ scares a lot of people,” Chuol said. “And a lot of them are going to people who might have the software, but can they explain why a client owes money? Or why a dependent claim is rejected. How can you help them? That’s what draws me to make this bigger.” That growth is happening now, in a suite of the East Village shops in St. Cloud. Chuol already has multiple desks, a warm waiting area and is looking to hire employees. “I believe everything happens for a reason,” he said. “I’m optimistic. The invitation to learn more about the Initiative Foundation and the Enterprise Academy came out of nowhere. If you have the vision to do something good with your business, the help, support and guidance is there.” To learn more, visit ifound.org/economy/enterprise-academy/

PATHWAYS TO INITIATIVE FOUNDATION PARTNERSHIPS Enterprise Academy Technical Assistance

10 Initiative Foundation ifound.org

Technical Assistance Microloan

Microloan

Workshops and Mini Sessions

Initiators Fellowship Technical Assistance

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nonprofits

BUILDING SUSTAINABILITY: The Fundraising School has helped Pastor James Alberts build Higher Works Collaborative, providing skills to develop his donor base and offer more services to fill growing needs.

The Confidence to Ask Fundraising School gives nonprofits the tools, training to seek donor support. By Gene Rebeck | Photography by Paul Middlestaedt

Nonprofits rely on fundraising to build a sustainable organization, yet asking for donations can be fraught with doubt and uncertainty. Pastor James Alberts, founder and CEO of Higher Works Collaborative, knows the struggle all too well.

nonprofits with strategies to address a necessary but sometimes daunting task: fundraising. Collectively, the 27 graduates of the first two cohorts raised more than $1 million to support their missions— and the people they serve.

Since its founding in 2017, Higher Works Collaborative has provided a growing suite of services primarily for the Greater St. Cloud area Black community. Its programs support entrepreneurship, transportation, housing, employment and more. “We’re growing to the need that is out there,” said Alberts. “And the need is great.” With demand on the rise, Alberts found he had a need of his own—to take his organization’s fundraising to a higher level. To get there, Alberts joined the first cohort of the Fundraising School, a program launched in the spring of 2021 by the Initiative Foundation and Staples-based Sourcewell. A second, smaller cohort of six nonprofit leaders providing support to Black, Indigenous and people of color was offered during the pandemic. Alberts and his fellow students have profited from the program. Through its two cohorts (a third will be under way this spring), the Fundraising School has provided more than two dozen regional

“During the pandemic, everyone had to look at different ways of working and to secure funding that supports the mission,” said Tammy Filippi, Sourcewell community solutions specialist. “What we’ve found—and this is nationwide—is that those nonprofits that stay connected to their donors often receive funding if they actually ask for it.” Since 2001, the Initiative Foundation has offered programming to help strengthen the region’s 1,700 nonprofits with better management, governance, planning and fund development. Several years ago, the Foundation and Sourcewell partnered on the development of a digitallybased fundraising program called Jumpstart. The program had its successes, said Zach Tabatt, nonprofit development program officer at the Initiative Foundation. “What we found was that a lot of the nonprofits from smaller communities—really, all of our service area—didn’t have the capacity to spend as much time as the program’s software required.”

LEARNING NEW LESSONS

CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

12 Initiative Foundation ifound.org

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nonprofits, continued from page 12 So it was back to the drawing board. Tabatt and his team preserved the best features of the Jumpstart program and formed a new partnership with Rachel Ramjattan and her consultancy, Nonprofit Plus.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR DONORS

Ramjattan started Nonprofit Plus in 2015 as a way to give nonprofits actionable plans they could put to work right away. “I was concerned that a lot of nonprofits that are doing the most meaningful and impactful work don’t really get a fair shake in terms of funding,” she said. What’s more, they often lack the confidence needed to approach potential donors. In launching Nonprofit Plus, Ramjattan put to work what she learned in her fundraising career. For example, she was often frustrated by fundraising consultants who focused on processes and theory rather than practical strategies. The Fundraising School features six weekly four-hour sessions. Participants develop a technology plan, a case for support, a monthly giving and donor engagement plan, a special events or peer-to-peer campaign, a board recruitment and engagement plan, and a datadriven fundraising plan. Ramjattan also encourages nonprofit leaders to reframe their fundraising perspective. Smaller nonprofits, in particular, often are nervous about asking for donations. However, they can overcome their reservations by seeing their relationship with donors as a partnership for doing good in the community. “You are giving people the opportunity to change the world in ways that are meaningful to them,” Ramjattan said. “That’s the difference between begging and philanthropy.” Central to this change in philosophy is developing long-lasting relationships with donors who can potentially provide ongoing funding. Rather than one-off grants, nonprofits learn how to build a base of loyal supporters so they can rely on a steady level of income to fund their work. Having a predictable income stream contributes to long-term sustainability. It also helps to attract new donors and enables nonprofits to offer wages and benefits that attract and retain the talent they need.

“ You are giving people the opportunity to change the world in ways that are meaningful to them. That’s the difference between begging and philanthropy.” BEARING NEW FRUIT

Even before Fundraising School had concluded, Alberts and Higher Works Collaborative were able to secure $150,000 in new donations to support summer programming and another $525,000 in ongoing funding over the next 42 months. The infusion of financial support has allowed Higher Works Collaborative to expand its services and hire local professionals who might otherwise commute to the Twin Cities. They’re paid competitive salaries and can do their good work in the St. Cloud community—exactly where they’re needed. With his confidence bolstered and a clear and compelling story to share with donors about the good that Higher Works Collaborative does for the community it serves, Alberts is optimistic about the future. “I still don’t know everything,” he said. “But I’m much better educated on the vocabulary and the processes.”

To learn more about the Fundraising School and other nonprofit support programs, scan the code or contact Zach Tabatt, nonprofit development program officer, at ztabatt@ifound.org

— BUILDING CONFIDENCE, RAISING FUNDS — Through two cohorts serving 27 nonprofits, Fundraising School participants achieved remarkable results in just 10 weeks: • Acquired

341

new donors, including 40 monthly donors

• Secured more than

3,100

in monthly recurring revenue

• Raised

1,072,961

during the 10-week program

* Three participants did not submit exit surveys, which likely would have resulted in even higher donor relations and fundraising totals.

14 Initiative Foundation ifound.org

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CARE TO SHARE? By sharing his bipolar diagnosis, Marc Van Herr was freeing himself and lifting the stigma: “I got an amazing amount of support from friends and colleagues.”

Making It OK Businesses, organizations unite around campaign to reduce mental illness stigma. By Janelle Bradley | Photography by John Linn

Marc Van Herr can recall one of the darkest days in his life with absolute clarity. It was the early 2000s and he was sitting in his vehicle, a knife in his hand, with a plan to end his life. Ultimately, thoughts of his 4-year-old daughter gave him the strength to put down the knife and head home. It would be two years before Van Herr sought help. Stories like Van Herr’s are all too common, perpetuated, in part, by the stigma surrounding mental illness. Spurred by growing awareness and stepped-up advocacy, organizations across Central Minnesota are rallying around the Make It OK campaign championed by HealthPartners to have open and honest conversations—at work, at home, in public—about mental illness, its prevalence and the toll it takes on individuals and our broader society. “I didn’t share [my bipolar diagnosis] with anybody because I didn’t want it to affect my friendships,” said Van Herr, executive director of the Beautiful Mind Project and a recent graduate of the Foundation’s Initiators Fellowship. “I didn’t want it to affect my job opportunities. I didn’t want it to affect my career.” It wasn’t until he was diagnosed with diabetes in 2015 that Van

Herr really began to see the stark contrast between society’s response to physical illness vs. mental illness. He didn’t hesitate to share his diabetes news with family and friends. In fact, he found an incredible amount of support and affirmation to help him cope. In keeping his bipolar diagnosis to himself, Van Herr realized he was perpetuating the stigma. It was then that he decided to go public and tell story about his bipolar disorder and his brush with suicide. “It was the scariest thing I had ever done,” he said. “But it was also the most liberating thing I’ve ever done. I got an amazing amount of support from friends and colleagues. And that was when I started thinking about the Beautiful Mind Project.” By sharing relatable stories written by real people, Van Herr’s Beautiful Mind Project has contributed to reducing the stigma by putting a face to mental illness. An important offshoot of the Beautiful Mind Project is Urgent Care for Mental Health, which connects people to therapists who can provide care within 24 hours. The average wait time to receive therapeutic care for a mental illness in the United States is 25 days, Van Herr said. “So the concept is very simple: You give people the help when they need the help the most. With my work during the Initiators Fellowship, we’ve developed a system that enables us to get people in the same, or the next day. Not CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

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For more information contact: 615 Lake St. S, Long Prairie, MN 56347 • 320 732 2167 • tgray@cityoflongprairie.com

SPRING 2022

community, continued from page 16 everyone has a mental illness, but everyone has mental health. We want to eliminate all of the reasons to not get help.” Van Herr is now in the process of opening Mindology Mental Wellness Center in St. Cloud. Mindology aims to be accessible while proactively expanding mental health care to combine traditional therapy with other wellness techniques, including nutrition, massage, meditation and yoga. “One of the biggest challenges is that people feel like they’re alone,” Van Herr said. “We want to develop a community where people feel they belong and can have access no matter where they are in their mental health journey.”

ACCESS IS EVERYTHING

Reducing the stigma and having timely and ongoing access to mental health services saves lives, said Lisa Bershok, suicide prevention program manager at CentraCare. Suicide is the No. 10 cause of death in the United States. It ranks No. 8 in Minnesota. Bershok said the risk of suicide is highest among adolescents to young adults, especially in communities of color. Kahin Adam, a community health worker and psychotherapist at CentraCare, was awarded a 2021 Bush Fellowship for his work in the Greater St. Cloud area to reduce barriers for immigrants and refugees. A refugee from Somalia, he serves as an educator and community organizer and is using his fellowship to build a network of colleagues around the country to support the field of trauma-informed care. “We really use community outreach as a way to educate on mental health and wellness and the resources available,” he said. For many new Americans, “it’s the feeling of the unknown—the fear of not knowing how it works or what to expect.”

MAKE IT OK

In Central Minnesota, organizations like the Initaitive Foundation are embracing the Make It OK campaign to reduce the stigma and to create space in the workplace to talk about mental health wellbeing. “We want our staff to know that we understand mental health affects everyone,” said Matt Varilek, president at the Initiative Foundation. “It’s OK to be vulnerable. We model this with our staff because we want a healthy team. Just as learning about physical or financial health has helped our colleagues thrive in those aspects of their lives, we believe combating stigma around mental illness will strengthen our team as well. Our hope is that working in partnership with other organizations who have also embraced this campaign, we can have a positive impact on our community at large.” Visit makeitOK.org to learn how you can become a Make It OK ambassador or how your organization can align to the Make It OK campaign.

If you or someone you know needs to talk, consider the Minnesota Peer Support Connection Warmline. Certified peer specialists are available to listen, provide support and referrals at (844) 739-6369 from 5 p.m. to 9 a.m. seven nights a week. If you or someone you know are in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or text MN to 741741.

Make It OK is a campaign to reduce the stigma of mental illnesses, encouraging individuals to talk more openly about mental illnesses. The premise is simple: If we know more, we can do more. If we understand more, we’ll make it OK. WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF STIGMA? A set of negative and often unfair beliefs that a society has about something. Mental illness stigma comes in many forms, including exclusion, distancing, silence and labeling. WHAT CAN YOU DO? Talk. Listen. Replace awkward silence with empathetic questions and understanding. Spread the word that mental illnesses are often chemical imbalances that can be alleviated with proper treatment, including therapy and medication.

Things to say:

Things not to say:

"Thanks for opening up to me."

“It could be worse.”

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

“Just deal with it.”

"How can I help?"

“Snap out of it.”

"Thanks for sharing."

“Everyone feels that way sometimes.”

"I'm sorry to hear that. It must be tough."

“You may have brought this on yourself.”

"I'm here for you when you need me."

“We’ve all been there.”

"I can't imagine what you're going through."

“You’ve got to pull yourself together.”

"People do get better."

“Maybe try thinking happier thoughts.”

18 Initiative Foundation ifound.org

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SPRING 2022

MAJOR

INITIATIVE Meet the 2022-23 Initiators Fellows—eight emerging social entrepreneurs with big ideas for improving their communities By Laura Billings Coleman and Lisa Meyers McClintick

“There are so many people in small towns across Greater Minnesota who are amazing innovators, doing purpose-driven work and who are really committed to the betterment of their community.” — Chris Fastner Initiators Fellowship Program Manager

20 Initiative Foundation ifound.org

With more than 80 applicants and ideas drawn from 53 counties and six Native Nations, winnowing the pool of Initiators Fellowship candidates every two years to a shortlist of finalists is hard work that gives Chris Fastner great hope for the future of Greater Minnesota. “Too often people assume that great innovation and good ideas can only live in urban areas, but from what we’ve seen, that’s simply not the case,” said Fastner, who manages the Fellowship program for the Initiative Foundation and its Minnesota Initiative Foundation partners. “There are so many people in small towns across Greater Minnesota who are amazing innovators, doing purpose-driven work and who are really committed to the betterment of their community.” Since 2016, the Initiative Foundation and its partners have relied on a selective process to pick the most promising social entrepreneurs in the region for an immersive leadership development experience. The program provides each Fellow with a $60,000 stipend over two years and combines that investment with mentor support, peer-to-peer learning opportunities, business start-up expertise and technical assistance to help give life to big ideas that can transform Greater Minnesota. While the program is still in its early years, the goal is to build a network of next-generation leaders equipped with the skills, connections and confidence to take on some of the toughest challenges facing the area. “When I talk about the kind of social entrepreneurs we’re looking for, I sometimes borrow a phrase from ecology,” Fastner said. “Keystone species are those that have a disproportionate impact on the rest of the landscape. So in my mind, we’re looking for keystone leaders—individuals who, because of their energy, their passion or their unique perspectives, are poised to have an outsized impact on their communities.” The eight Initiators Fellows chosen for the program’s third cohort reflect a rich diversity of backgrounds, lived experiences and ideas across Greater Minnesota, with two emerging social entrepreneurs selected from each of four regions served by the participating Minnesota Initiative Foundation organizations: the Initiative Foundation, Northwest Minnesota Foundation, Southwest Initiative Foundation and West Central Initiative. From using food waste to create more environmentally-friendly fertilizer, saving struggling rural grocery stores, and making homeownership a reality for more of Minnesota’s immigrant families, the latest crop of Fellows is focused on solving problems they’ve seen up close. While some of the Fellows are newcomers to their communities, and others have been here a while, Fastner said, what they all share is a commitment to making a greater Minnesota. “Being rooted in your community can be a big motivator because we all want to see small towns succeed.”

INITIATIVE FOUNDATION REGION

ST. CLOUD

FARDOWSA

IMAN

Addiction treatment shaped by culture Iman focuses on recovery through faith, community lens With a troubling spike in opioid-related overdose deaths in recent years, no community in Minnesota has been immune from the crisis—including St. Cloud’s close-knit Somali and East African community. “Addiction has always been in our community, but it was hidden very well,” said Fardowsa Iman, a licensed alcohol and drug counselor in St. Cloud. “But over the last two years, there’s been an explosion of kids overdosing, and there’s no longer a way to shove it under the rug.” That’s why Iman intends to use her Initiators Fellowship to create a chemical dependency recovery clinic designed to serve the specific cultural needs of the region’s Somali immigrant community. Born in Uganda and raised in St. Cloud from the age of 8, Iman is a third-culture kid who can see why the traditional treatment paths might not be working for firstgeneration Somali Americans. “I wanted to become an addiction counselor because, when I was in college, I realized that when kids I was growing up with were having addiction problems, their parents were sending them back home to Africa, which was even more traumatizing because those kids grew up here,” Iman said. “And when they’d come back, the problem was still there.” As the Somali community that first settled in Central Minnesota in the early 2000s now begins a third decade in the region, it’s time to have culturally competent services to help new Americans get the help they need. Iman saw the need and offered up a solution. While the state has prided itself on the Minnesota Model of recovery, which focused on peer-to-peer, psychological support for people trying to overcome addiction, Iman believes it’s time for evidence-based recovery models to make more room for diverse cultural perspectives. For instance, Iman wants to include Muslim teachings and practices to promote mental health. “In my classes, I would sometimes hear my peers make recommendations that I know would be damaging to someone from my culture,” she said. “For instance, telling a patient to cut off relations with family members who aren’t good for you. How does that help them become sober?” Explaining the differences between Somali and American cultures can also be counter-productive for patients. “Feeling like you have to explain your culture all the time makes it hard to establish a connection to a counselor,” she said. “Having a counselor who understands those nuances is important.” With a 2017 degree in chemical dependency and community psychology from St. Cloud State University, Iman is eager to learn how to build a sustainable business through the mentoring she’ll receive as part of the Initiators Fellowship. “I tend to stay in my own little bubble sometimes, but I was so energized by meeting the other finalists and hearing what they want to do,” she said. “I know nothing about the business side of things, so this will help me to become more of the leader I want to be in my community.” Helping to remove the shame and stigma that’s often attached to addiction and mental health challenges is work she feels called to do. “The more people see someone like me talking about the effectiveness of treatment or mental health help of any kind, the more the older generation will grasp it and understand that it’s really OK to get help,” she said. “My generation knows that my community needs it.”

SPRING 2022

INITIATIVE FOUNDATION REGION

ST. MICHAEL

NORA

HERTEL

22 Initiative Foundation ifound.org

Hertel retools a sustainable news model Digital, nonprofit approach could fill outstate news gaps For more than a decade, journalist Nora Hertel worked in newsrooms where she saw first-hand the positive effect of well-told stories and the importance of expertly explored issues. She’s also seen a shrinking number of rural news outlets, dwindling advertisers, less in-depth reporting, and ever-fewer reporters who are expected to keep pace but burn out in the process. “The news landscape is changing,” said Hertel, who survived multiple layoffs while at daily newspapers in Wausau, Wis., and St. Cloud. As businesses appeal directly to customers and turn to social platforms for advertising, the breaking news reaches people as fast as a finger can hit send. As a result, the for-profit, advertisingbased publishing model continues to erode. Minnesota has lost 17 percent of its newspapers since 2003, according to the University of North Carolina’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media. “It has been painful to see traditional news outlets lose staff and reduce community coverage,” she said. “But I see an opportunity.” Hertel, based in St. Michael, will use her two-year Fellowship to build The Optimist, a Minnesota digital news publication with a nonprofit structure. Her inspiration stems from Madison Commons and The Wisconsin Center of Investigative Journalism, publications she wrote for while pursuing a graduate degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison 10 years ago. “They’re both digital-focused nonprofits that are public-service-based,” she said. Minnesota Public Radio, MinnPost and Sahan Journal in the Twin Cities also have nonprofit news models. Hertel also wants to pursue a new trend called solutions journalism. It requires rigorous evidence-based research to dive more deeply into community issues by explaining what’s at stake, how people are working to solve the problems, and their outcomes so far. There are a handful of topics Hertel and a growing stable of writers hope to tackle. The topics include the need to build more sustainably to reduce emissions that impact climate change, ways to combat the high rates of suicide among veterans, how to offer more support to community caregivers, and protecting natural resources such as peat bogs. “I really want these stories to inspire people to look at problems in a new way and try to tackle problems that seem intractable,” she said. “I want journalism to help us come together and solve problems.” Besides addressing larger issues in Central Minnesota and eventually expanding into Greater Minnesota, she hopes to re-establish residents’ trust in journalism and re-engage those who’ve felt burned out by negative news. Nonprofit digital news models are popping up across the country, according to a January 2022 feature in the Washington Post, and more than 70 local newsrooms have launched nationally to fill the need for accurate information during the pandemic, according to the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. Hertel knows she has much to figure out during her time as an Initiators Fellow, from the best way to deliver stories to how to find sponsors and build an audience. Fortunately, she said the ease of a digital format allows her to launch and evolve as she builds financial support and readership. “I want to be part of that wave,” she said. “And create a new kind of newsroom that responds to reader problems in Greater Minnesota and works to unite our communities in divisive times.”

NORTHWEST MINNESOTA FOUNDATION REGION

FOSSTON

BRENNA

ROLLIE

A cleansing approach to mindfulness and wellness Rollie stretches vision to bring healing to community Brenna Rollie believes it’s time for her friends and neighbors to take a deep, cleansing breath. As a certified yoga instructor with more than 500 hours of advanced training, Rollie knows the value of connecting mind, body and breath to help manage stress, shift perspective and support mental health. As a Fellow, her goal is to build on that knowledge to become a health and wellness leader in Fosston. She wants to bring the benefits of mindfulness and conscious movement to a community that, like many in rural Minnesota, has been hit hard by the pandemic. From job losses and loneliness to school closures and the lost connections to the everyday interactions that foster a sense of belonging and wellbeing, Rollie said, “there’s just so much emotion attached to all that we’ve been through the last two years, and living through this kind of uncertainty [takes a toll] in ways we don’t always know how to manage or to talk about.” A recent community needs assessment conducted by Essentia Health found wait times to see a mental health care provider in the area now typically last a month or longer, with rising demand for mental health care now seen in emergency rooms. Meanwhile, nearly two-thirds of high school students in the Fosston/Bagley area recently self-reported feeling hopeless or depressed in the last week. “There’s a lot of fear and grief and sadness that we need to understand and move through rather than repress,” said Rollie, a member of the Healthier Fosston workgroup, which has been studying these trends. A veteran instructor who moved to Fosston in 2019, Rollie did what many in her field did when the pandemic hit. She transitioned her small business, Aham Love Yoga, to online classes. But, as she’s gone deeper into her practice and developed curricula to train other yoga teachers, she began to wonder whether her work could do more. Could her work help prevent mental health problems in her community before they become a crisis or heal trauma in communities coping with addiction and domestic abuse? Rollie said being chosen as a Fellow in the Initiators Fellowship helped push her to think more broadly about making her community better and to come up with a business plan she hopes will include a training curriculum that could be used in area schools, corporate retreats, to help pandemic-affected police and first responders, and a camp for youth recovering from trauma. “I’ve always taught classes as a way to bring in money, and I never really had the ability to think about what this could look like long-term if I had the opportunity to build,” Rollie says. “This has given me the confidence to start thinking bigger about ways that this work could start healing communities.”

“ There’s a lot of fear and grief and sadness that we need to understand and move through rather than repress.”

SPRING 2022

NORTHWEST MINNESOTA FOUNDATION REGION

BEMIDJI

DANIEL

BARRIENTEZ

Inviting felons to the community table Barrientez focuses on food, skill-building for formerly incarcerated people During the height of the pandemic, Daniel Barrientez lost his job and then his apartment. Moving from Minneapolis to Bemidji to be closer to his in-laws, he hoped his prison record wouldn’t be another obstacle to making a fresh start. “I was incarcerated for five years and got out in 2010, but it’s always been a struggle to find work,” said Barrientez, who thought the region’s low unemployment and high workforce demand would make it simpler to get hired. “Instead, when I’d get called for an interview, pretty much the whole conversation turns into being incarcerated, what did you do, asking about your tattoos, and all that, but nothing about the skills I have or the work I can do. It gets so demoralizing you can see why some guys would just rather go back to prison.” Barrientez was able to find joy in the kitchen, using cooking skills he first learned from his grandmother and later from the culinary arts training he received at the Minneapolis Community and Technical College, where he enrolled after his release. “I was always hungry when I was incarcerated. All I thought about was food and cooking,” he said. “So even though the inspiration came out of a dark place, it turned into something good for me.” While getting support at the Northwest Indian Community Development Center (NWIDC), Barrientez mentioned his dream of owning a food truck that would serve his famous tacos while providing a path to full employment for other previously incarcerated men and women. A staff member there encouraged him to share the plan in an application for the Initiators Fellowship, convincing him he had all the right ingredients to be a social entrepreneur. “Nobody doesn’t like my tacos,” says Barrientez, whose family nickname “Sunny” is the inspiration for the food truck he hopes to name “Uncle Sun’s Tacos.” While he’s created a business plan for a simple menu with low overhead and fast delivery, Barrientez said, “I’m even more excited about helping people like me, struggling to find jobs, struggling to reenter.” With the help of the Fellowship, he hopes to partner with NWICDC to provide food service and professional kitchen training for people who have recently been released from prison and a steady supply of volunteer cooks for their community table program. “After they get cooking, the idea would be to get them jobs in town,” he said. “I want to get that taboo out that just because they had a criminal run-in they’re no longer members of society.” Since word of Barrientez’s Initiators Fellowship has gotten out, he’s earned a few catering gigs, recently wowing the staff of the Northwest Minnesota Foundation with his wares at a recent gathering and getting encouragement from restaurant owners in the area. He and his wife also found a contract-for-deed house where they’re happy to be putting down roots. “I went from being homeless to being a homeowner—I can hardly believe it,” Barrientez said. “I guess the lesson is that you can never give up.”

“ I’m even more excited about helping people like me, struggling to find jobs, struggling to reenter.” Barrientez is often seen wearing a large and elaborate hand-beaded necklace made for him by his wife. “It’s my superhero superpower,” he said. “It’s the love and work put into it that gives me my inspiration and belief that anything is possible.”

24 Initiative Foundation ifound.org

CHANGE MAKERS

2020-2021 Initiators Fellows are making their mark Nearly half of all small businesses fail within five years. But judging from the results the Initiative Foundation has seen among its first two Initiators Fellowship cohorts, investing in social entrepreneurs with good ideas for growing their businesses and bringing communities together has been worth the risk. For instance, hydroponic garden entrepreneur Jon Friesner had sold just a couple of his GroShed farms before starting his fellowship in 2020. Two years later, his company has made more than $500,000 in sales and sold 32 GroSheds. Other 2020-2021 Fellows are seeing similar success: •F inding a way to turn a family dairy into a tourism destination was Alise Sjostrom’s goal for Redhead Creamery, which more than doubled gross revenues since the start of her fellowship, offering 1,200 paid farm tours over the past two years despite the pandemic. •S ince the launch of Kivu Immigration Law just a few months into her fellowship, attorney Erin Schutte Wadzinski has offered more than 500 consultations and is ready to hire another lawyer to help. Schutte Wadzinski also has purchased a new building in downtown Worthington with lending support from Southwest Initiative Foundation.

• Anne O’Keefe Jackson of the Lower Sioux Indian Reservation in Morton is proudly pursuing her goal to increase the availability of traditional art supplies for native artists, including a mobile truck for traveling to events. • While managing against the effects of the pandemic, Rachel Stone of Moorhead is charging ahead with P’s & Q’s Etiquette to help young people express their hopes and dreams for their future. • And Marc Van Herr (featured on page 16) is expanding his mental health project, The Beautiful Mind Project, to include the Mindology Mental Wellness Center in St. Cloud. Mindology is a project that will expand mental health care through nutrition, massage, meditation and yoga on top of traditional therapy. “ Our recent Fellows show that investing in individuals can have a big impact,” says Chris Fastner, program manager of the Initiators Fellowship. “If we keep investing in people who are champions for their communities, even if there are failures and setbacks and changes in plans, we believe we’re still going to see a positive social impact for Greater Minnesota.”

•H amdia Mohamed’s Victory Plus Sober Housing program has more than doubled its capacity as she looks for a new residence for expanding transitional housing options in St. Cloud.

:: To see all of the Initiators Fellowship participants, scan the QR code.

Major funding for the Initiators Fellowship comes from a host of regional and statewide friends who believe in linking good people and good causes through diverse economic development opportunities. The Initiative Foundation and its Minnesota Initiative Foundation partners would like to thank Granite Partners, a founding and ongoing funder, the Bush Foundation and Sourcewell for their vision and belief in elevating promising entrepreneurs and their socially impactful ventures.

ALUMNI

NEW COHORT

11 8

* Fund balance as of 12/31/21

MIF PARTNERS

ASSETS

4 5.2M $

CONTINUED ON PAGE 28 SPRING 2022

THE ROAD TO GENEROSITY Have you considered including Central Minnesota in your will? You may be surprised to discover that there are many resources available to assist with gift planning. Let us help you make a turn in the right direction with a plan that’s customized for your goals.

BENEFICIARY DESIGNATION planning P R N D 1 2

your gift puts you in the driver’s seat

contact

us to receive your free estate planning guide.

explore

customized gift planning options created just for you!

Retirement accounts and life insurance policies are owned assets. If a charitable gift to the Initiative Foundation is in your plans, explore using your retirement account or life insurance policy to fund a gift. Navigating the process is easy. You can make a difference just by making the Initiative Foundation a beneficiary of all or a portion of one of your accounts or policies.

CHARITABLE BEQUEST Creating a will is an important step in your life journey. It’s your opportunity to plan how you will benefit your family and charitable organizations after your lifetime. Including a gift in your will, often called a bequest, is a great way to support the future of Central Minnesota without giving away any of your assets today. A bequest is a gift that can be changed at any time, if your circumstances change.

PLAN FOR THE ROAD AHEAD • Create a charitable fund to support nonprofit organizations and/or causes you believe in.

Visit ifoundgiving.org to access planning guides, calculators and a resource library to assist your gift-planning efforts.

• Plan a gift to support all of the Initiative Foundation’s work.

Or Contact:

405 First Street SE, Little Falls, MN 56345 (877) 632-9255 | ifoundgiving.org This information is not intended as tax, legal or financial advice. Gift results may vary. Consult your personal financial advisor for information specific to your situation.

Mike Burton mburton@ifound.org (320) 631-2059

Carl Newbanks cnewbanks@ifound.org (320) 631-2042

A Special Thanks to Our Annual

COMMUNITY BUILDERS CIRCLE Members. Your Region. Your Initiative. Your Foundation. The generosity of Community Builders Circle members unlocks the power of local leadership, nonprofits, small businesses and emerging entrepreneurs. Thank you for your annual contributions that help to make Central Minnesota an exceptional place to live, work and raise a family.

BUSINESSES $10,000+

• DeZurik, Inc.

• Marco Technologies, LLC

$1,000+

• Connexus Energy

• First National Bank of Milaca

• MINPACK, Inc.

• Anonymous Donor

• East Central Energy

• Long Prairie Packing Company

• Monroy Law Office, PLLC

• Dick and Mimi Bitzan Family Fund

• Granite Partners, LLC

• McDowall Company

• Neighborhood National Bank

• Sourcewell

• Microbiologics, Inc.

• NOR-SON, Inc.

• Stearns Bank, NA

• Sherburne State Banks &

• Park Industries, Inc.

of Central Minnesota Community Foundation • Michael & Kathleen Burton • Linda Eich DesJardins & Joseph DesJardins • David & Kim Ellingson • Don & Deanna Engen • Kathy & Neal Gaalswyk • Teri & Tom Hoggarth • Jo & Larry Korf • Joe Nayquanabe & Christina-Clitso Nayquanabe • Martin Paradeis • Robert Shadduck Family Fund of the Minneapolis Foundation • James & Wendy Shear • Kimberly & Denise Slipy • Rita & Everett Sobania • Charlotte Stephens • Ludmila Voelker • Dr. Robbyn Wacker and Jani Malkiewicz • Kristi Westbrock & Mike Bjerkness

• U.S. Bank Foundation

Sentry Banks

• Pequot Tool & MFG., Inc. • Pine Country Bank

$5,000+

$1,000+

• Compeer Financial

• American National Bank of

• Falcon National Bank

Minnesota • BankVista • Benefit Innovations • Brenny Transportation • Cambridge Medical Center on behalf of Allina Health System • Citizens State Bank of Waverly • Farmers & Merchants State Bank Charitable fund of the Central Minnesota Community Foundation • First Bank & Trust • First National Bank North • First National Bank of Milaca • First Western Bank & Trust • First State Bank of Wyoming • Frandsen Bank & Trust • Harvest Bank • IPEX, Inc. • LINDAR / Avantech • Little Falls Area Chamber of Commerce

• Schlagel, Inc. • St. Cloud Hospital / CentraCare

Health System • Stearns Electric Association • U.S. Bank $2,000+ • American Heritage National Bank • Anderson Brothers Construction

Company • Arvig Communication Systems • Bremer Bank • Bush Foundation • Central McGowan • CliftonLarsonAllen, LLP,

Northern Minnesota • Clow Stamping Company • Consolidated Telecommunications Company • Crow Wing Power

• RiverWood Banks • Schlenner Wenner & Co.,

St. Cloud • The Bank of Elk River • Todd-Wadena Electric Cooperative • Wadena State Bank • West Central Telephone

Association • WiDSETH • Wyoming Machine, Inc.

INDIVIDUALS $2,000+ • John E. Babcock • Rick and Helga Bauerly Foundation • Lynn & Darren Bushinger • Don Hickman & Sandra Kaplan • John & Bonnie Schlagel • Dorothy J. Simpson • Dianne Tuff & Murdoch Johnson • Maggie & Matt Varilek • Bernie Waldorf

Join the Community Builders Circle today. (877) 632-9255 | ifound.org 405 First Street SE, Little Falls, MN 56345

To make a pledge and join the Community Builders Circle, Contact Carl Newbanks (cnewbanks@ifound.org; 320-631-2042) or Mike Burton (mburton@ifound.org; 320-631-2059), or visit ifound.org/give to give online.

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, your Initiative Foundation contribution is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. The Foundation owns and manages financial contributions for the benefit of Central Minnesota communities.

SPRING 2022

SOUTHWEST INITIATIVE FOUNDATION REGION

MAJOR INITIATIVE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25

WILLMAR

Working to help new KHALIF AHMED Americans feel at home

BASHIR

Bashir sees home ownership as way to knit together community, close equity gaps and pave a path out of poverty After coming to the United States from Kenya in 2018, Khalif Ahmed Bashir found firsthand how hard it can be to settle into a new country and feel at home. “We all have our own cultures,” said Bashir, who lives in Willmar. Newcomers struggle with language barriers, different foods, rules for driving, figuring out health care and the educational system. The lower-income jobs refugees and immigrants often need to take until they speak English more proficiently make it challenging to rise above poverty. As an Initiators Fellow, Bashir wants to start a realty business, KB Realty, to support Hope Action Network, a nonprofit he started in 2021 to help newer Americans attain homeownership. That requires helping them build a credit rating, save for a down payment, translate the complex paperwork and navigate the lengthy purchasing process. He also wants to work with financial leaders to find an alternative financing solution for Muslim residents. Their faith precludes them from taking out loans that charge interest, which is the traditional route to homeownership. Finding a way over these barriers will be essential to creating racially equitable and culturally conscious homeownership policies and reducing racial wealth gaps. “I am determined to be at the forefront of this change and be the leader that eliminates these disparities,” said Bashir. “Homeownership will help families find a path out of poverty.” Having a home loan also lets families put monthly payments toward ownership rather than seeing it evaporate into monthly rental fees. But he also sees putting up a “Sold” sign as more than a financial issue. He said it gives kids a sense of permanency, teaches them important financial lessons, can help increase graduation rates and improve the level of community engagement and a sense of belonging. To close the racial gap, he’s leaning on his educational degrees in English and public administration from Kenya, a master’s in international development, and a policy fellowship with the Hubert Humphrey School of Public Affairs that he’ll wrap up this year. He also gains insight as a member of the Willmar Planning Commission and the Governor’s Advisory Council on Climate Change. “I’m a man with many hats,” he said, and he has many forward-thinking plans to pull it all together, from inviting the African community to help plant more trees in Willmar to talking with residents about ways to keep Willmar clean and green. An ultimate dream would be to build a few apartments or condominiums in Willmar that are more climate-friendly than currently available. “That is the bigger picture of where I’m heading to at the end of the day,” he said. The overarching focus is on equality and helping all residents connect. “I want them to feel at home,” Bashir said, with hopes they’ll exchange food and learn about each other’s culture and know each other’s names. “The moment we come together, we advance our causes together.”

“ Homeownership will help families find a path out of poverty.”

28 Initiative Foundation ifound.org

SOUTHWEST INITIATIVE FOUNDATION REGION

MADISON

KRIS

SHELSTAD

Shelstad creates more than a mercantile in Madison Returning resident plans a community gathering place When Kris Shelstad hands over a steaming cup of coffee in her Madison Mercantile Café, her mission reaches far beyond a shot of caffeine and comfort on a Minnesota morning. She’s looking to connect, gather ideas, and open conversations between residents. During her two-year Initiators Fellowship, she’ll be looking for the best ways to create a viable, creative, multi-use space where people from the town of 1,500 residents can come together. The yearning to open a coffee shop—something her mother once had along Main Street in Madison—led Shelstad to purchase a 15,000-square-foot former hardware store last year. It was more space than she needed but enough to safely bring together residents who have been isolated by both the pandemic and a lack of places spacious enough for social distancing. “That was a surprise to me—how many groups needed it as a meeting place,” Shelstad said. Unfortunately, like other small towns with consolidated school districts, there isn’t a high school in town that offers a hub for activities and events. Add to this another pandemic effect: formerly urban families who have opted for the safety and affordability of small-town life now that they can work virtually. They may want office space, reliable wireless signals, good coffee and an energizing dose of culture through arts and events. Shelstad knew she craved those amenities after living near Austin, Texas, where she and her husband had retired after military careers. When he passed away unexpectedly in 2018, she returned to Minnesota and her hometown. She has a sister, nieces and nephews in Madison and a brother only 10 miles away. After 31 years with the National Guard—21 of those on active duty in the United States and abroad—Shelstad knows how to break down big projects and get things done. She buzzes with ideas but wisely follows the advice of a friend who said, “Just listen to the community, and they’ll reveal what they need.” What’s risen to the top has been a larger room that can be a conference room and a good floor for dance practice and yoga. In addition, she envisions small studios that can be rented by artists, photographers or musicians, or used for small meetings. She also wants the walls to exhibit local art and for there to be a small stage for music and other performances. Another area has been pegged for a workshop modeled after The Men’s Shed, an international organization that recognizes men—especially older retirees—will better connect while shoulder-to-shoulder working on a project. “I couldn’t find any template for doing this,” Shelstad said of her mercantile space and all its possibilities. The challenge is to figure out enough for-profit operations to pay for remodeling, plumbing upgrades and ongoing expenses. Community encouragement has helped her keep the project moving forward with the coffee shop, a stage and art gallery to open in early 2022 after a six-month effort. “I think one of the things that surprised me the most is that I’m not panicking,” she said. “I wake up and think, ‘What are we going to do today?’ People want this to happen. The town is really behind it.”

“ Just listen to the community, and they’ll reveal what they need.” SPRING 2022

WEST CENTRAL INITIATIVE REGION

MOORHEAD

NOREEN

THOMAS

Thomas focuses on food waste solutions Moorhead biodigester project could divert materials from landfills and fill farm fertilizer needs Noreen Thomas feels deeply rooted to the land her in-laws have farmed in Moorhead since 1878. She’s now taking that passion and extending it, stretching into her community, across the open prairie and beyond. As an Initiators Fellow, she plans to use her agricultural expertise to team up with engineers at a business that produces 40 tons of food waste a year. Together, they hope to reduce the carbon footprint of the business by diverting materials from landfills and creating sustainable, locally sourced fertilizer. “There is a lot of data that has to be looked at,” she said, but the two-year Initiators Fellowship project gives her the time and resources to dive into it. Thomas, and her husband, Lee, grow and rotate organic crops such as wheat, rye, barley, buckwheat, edible soybeans, blue corn, oats, flax, and sunflower. But even with the famously rich Red River Valley soil across the region, they and other farmers rely on fertilizer to replenish lost nutrients each year.

“ It could benefit so many parts of agriculture. We’re all in this together.” Many farmers end up ordering imported fertilizer from countries such as India and China. Prices, though, have doubled, Thomas said, and deliveries are delayed by supply chain slowdowns. Thomas already has some experience turning local food waste into fertilizer through Moorhead’s post-Halloween pumpkin collection. Residents who participate help divert about 1.5 semi-trailer loads from the landfill. Once composted on the Thomas farm, the discarded pumpkins are reduced to about two pickup truck loads. The compost can be used by community groups or used on the farm. Traditional open-air composting won’t work for Thomas’s Fellowship project. Because meats and fats are included in the food waste, she and the engineers are working with a more intensive biodigestion process. The new technology uses a sealed system and oxygen. The build-up of energy in the process may be able to generate some electricity and create viable fertilizer for local farmers. If the project succeeds, the technology and most effective practices could be replicated by other businesses, farms and organizations wanting to reduce food waste while producing viable fertilizer and energy. Having studied food and nutrition, chemistry and microbiology, Thomas looks forward to digging for solutions with the biodigester project. It also fits with her longtime pursuit of unique ways to connect with the local community and be environmentally responsible. Past projects have led to growing organic grains for local restaurants, mentoring up-and-coming farmers, inviting hospice patients and struggling teens for restorative visits to their gardens and land, and helping the White Earth Indian Nation grow and preserve sacred heirloom seeds. She’s been creative with guiding their three kids with farm-based businesses, too. With her kids now grown, she has time for the complex research needed for the biodigester and ways to divert food waste. “This isn’t just for organic farms,” she said. “It could benefit so many parts of agriculture. We’re all in this together.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 32

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SPRING 2022

WEST CENTRAL INITIATIVE REGION

E VA N SV I L L E

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OSTENSON

MAJOR INITIATIVE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 30

A grocery store and so much more Ostenson sees self-serve market as key to small-town sustainability For many small towns, the local grocery store supplies more than morning doughnuts and weeknight dinner ingredients. A market for local growers and producers, a meeting place for neighbors, and a cornerstone for a healthy Main Street, a hardworking grocery store is one of the essential ingredients for a thriving community. “It’s bad enough to see these stores struggling, as many of them are, but when they actually go out of business, it’s even worse,” said Alex Ostenson, who moved from the Twin Cities to his hometown of Evansville just as the local grocery store was closing its doors, forcing neighbors to drive to the next town or the big box stores in Alexandria for basics. A diesel mechanic by trade but a problem solver by nature, the economic puzzle of making small-town groceries more sustainable is now the focus of Ostenson’s Initiators Fellowship. Last summer, Ostenson and his wife, Caileen, opened Mainstreet Market in Evansville, a rural grocer built on a brand new business model. From 9-to-5 on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, the market operates like a standard grocery store, where the Ostensons run the check-out counter and fill the shelves, and neighbors chat in the aisles. The rest of the week, it’s a self-service food pantry that residents can access anytime with a smartphone app and a $75 annual membership. The 24-hour access is an obvious boon for third-shift workers and others who can’t shop during traditional business hours. During the pandemic, the off-peak hours also proved popular with residents trying to limit contact with others.

“ It’s bad enough to see these stores struggling, as many of them are, but when they actually go out of business, it’s even worse.” “On Thanksgiving, we had people tell us what a lifesaver it was that they could pop in and pick up whatever they forgot for their family dinner that day,” Ostenson said. “And my wife and I didn’t need to be there.” With high operating costs and profit margins of 1 percent or less, the survival of small-town grocery stores has been a concern in rural areas for years. In fact, a 201920 Minnesota Grocery Survey Report from the Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships of the University of Minnesota Extension program found that 88 percent of store owners were concerned about their store’s economic sustainability, while 49 percent were concerned their stores were at risk of going out of business within five years. However, Ostenson believes self-serve stores like his could be part of the solution. He intends to use his Initiators Fellowship to launch a second store and see if the strategy could bring new grocery stores to rural food deserts or help save struggling family stores. While Ostenson is looking forward to working with a mentor to build his business plan, he’s also eager to share what he’s already learned about the value rural grocery stores can bring to communities. “Gas stations, grocery stores, cafes are some of the key businesses you need in a small town. Once you start to lose them, they cause ripple effects. How long before another business leaves? Communities this size really want to sustain themselves, and this could be the way to do it.”

32 Initiative Foundation ifound.org

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Planting the Seeds

How Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures is building a homegrown economy for their region By Elizabeth Foy Larsen | Photography by John Linn

34 Initiative Foundation ifound.org

THE BUSINESS OF THE BAND: Founded in the late 1980s and headquartered in Onamia, Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures was created as a political subdivision and tribal corporation to manage the Band’s business affairs.

Gaming was never supposed to be the answer. It was supposed to be the bridge that would propel us into something that was more self-sufficient.

The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe’s two casinos have been wildly successful since opening in the early 1990s. Bolstered by casino-generated revenue, tribal living standards have been on the rise as the Band’s business entity, Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures (MLCV), works to diversify the tribal economy beyond gaming. “The company and the tribe had come to a realization that gaming was never supposed to be the answer,” said Joseph Nayquonabe Jr., who grew up on the Mille Lacs Reservation and worked his way up from a college internship at MLCV to become its CEO. He also sits on the Initiative Foundation’s Board of Trustees. “It was supposed to be the bridge that would propel us into something that was more self-sufficient.” Founded in the late 1980s and headquartered in Onamia, MLCV was created as a political subdivision and tribal corporation to manage the Band’s business affairs. Its holdings include Grand Casino Mille Lacs, Grand Casino Hinckley, a host of hospitality businesses, including hotels, restaurants and resorts, a commercial laundry, cinema, grocery store, gas/convenience stores, and a golf course. Nayquonabe and his colleagues have talked for several years about investing in initiatives that support entrepreneurs. The conversation turned urgent in early 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic closed the casinos for 77 days. “Our casinos recruit a large volume of visitors to the area that make the economics of our rural region work,” said Dustin Goslin, MLCV’s vice president of business and economic development. “It was scary for all of us because we [wondered] what would happen if the casinos were no longer the economic engine.” Those fraught days and months spurred MLCV to step up its prioritization of other opportunities: support for entrepreneurs; expanded access to child care; workforce housing; and increased access to internet broadband. To explore greater economic potential within the wider Mille Lacs Tribal Economy, the Band hired Northspan, a Duluth-based economic development consultancy, to explore the development of a new entrepreneurial ecosystem. “We were the first tribe in the country to be fortunate enough to ride the gaming wave,” said Nayquonabe. “So, in some ways, we are the future of what other regions are going to be seeing. Eventually, [gaming] doesn’t continue to grow. We have to innovate in all lanes of business.” And the arc of innovation means investing in a host of initiatives that, when taken together, create a more holistic solution for economic opportunity.

SPRING 2022

HONORING THE LAND: A ground blessing at Red Willow Estates in Onamia took place in October 2021. Left to right are Sara Treiber, Patricia Bittner, Dustin Goslin, Bradley Harrington, Corey Wind, and Julius Aubid. (Submitted photo)

A Place to Call Home

The gaming business has provided insight into the role that affordable workforce housing plays in a healthy economy. The reality: More than 70 percent of the Mille Lacs Tribal Economy workforce lives outside the community and 60 percent commute up to 50 miles each day. To make the case that quality, affordable workforce housing is good for local businesses and families, MLCV drew upon past experience and old-fashioned storytelling. Their first project, Lady Luck Estates in Hinckley, was met with pockets of resistance. Despite the initial pushback, Lady Luck Estates opened to great success. More than 165 applications have been received since the development opened in 2018, and all 28 townhomes are occupied. “When we went in front of the Onamia City Council to propose our newest project [Red Willow Estates], everyone was excited and ready to roll,” Goslin said. By humanizing affordable housing and drawing on the real-life stories of Lady Luck Estates residents— including a school teacher, a baker, a hair stylist and tribal and nontribal families alike—opposition seemed to melt away. Last fall, MLCV held an Ojibwe blessing at the future site of Red Willow Estates. It will have 30 townhomes outfitted with attached garages and energy-efficient appliances. In addition, it will include a connection to the Soo Line recreation trail, Ojibwe-inspired landscaping themes, a community garden, a basketball court, a playground, and an outdoor community gathering area with grills, picnic tables and a covered shelter. Additional affordable housing projects are being considered across the region.

Bringing Broadband

Internet access has become another necessary utility, like water and electricity. Prior to the pandemic, MLCV wasn’t sure it had a role in bringing broadband to tribal economy communities. As stay-at-home measures went into place—as workers went remote and children across the region started going to school from their bedrooms—the lack of quality broadband coverage became evident. 36 Initiative Foundation ifound.org

The best way to predict the future is to create the future. Gaps in service were especially evident for Band members who live in what’s known as the last mile, or the final leg of a telecommunication network, where connections are spotty and service is expensive. Mille Lacs County ranks 69th out of Minnesota’s 87 counties in internet connectivity. Neighboring Kanabec County is 87th. “We quickly found out that broadband affected us very deeply,” said Beth Gruber, MLCV’s director of planning and community engagement and the point person for their broadband initiatives. So MLCV started asking the broadband community how other tribes were getting their internet needs met. The answers were disheartening. “We were told that tribes aren’t ready for broadband,” said Goslin. “That they’re not at the table, they don’t have plans.” MLCV knew the naysayers were wrong, so they set out to find new solutions. A trustee of the Grand Rapids-based Blandin Foundation, Goslin knew about the nonprofit’s work connecting Greater Minnesota with broadband resources. At his prompting, MLCV embarked on a 15-week Blandin program to educate a cohort of community members—educators and government officials from across the Mille Lacs Tribal Economy, including Pine, Kanabec and Aitkin counties— about broadband opportunities. With new knowledge and insights gained, MLCV set to work CONTINUED ON PAGE 38

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SPRING 2022

Planting the Seeds

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 36

MLCV’s genuine passion for building homegrown economies by investing in people is so critical—and it’s also rare. researching providers, including Starlink, the satellite internet service owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. An Initiative Foundation grant helped to support research on SpaceX technology in rural places. The Band ultimately decided to partner with Brainerdbased telecommunications company CTC to build and own their network. Several capital recruitment rounds have been completed, including an $11.3 million financing proposal to the National Tribal Broadband Grant program. The next step is to complete a feasibility study to understand service gaps.

Elevating Entrepreneurs

When plotting its business diversification strategy, MLCV understood the role entrepreneurs play in starting locally owned small businesses. Although entrepreneurism stretches back generations in tribal communities, MLCV wasn’t sure there would be enough community interest in a program that supports the needs of start-up businesses. To help get their efforts off the ground, MLCV partnered with the Initiative Foundation and its Enterprise Academy, the heart of which is a 12-week course in basic business principles and business plan development. Since 2020, MLCV has completed three cohorts with 30 graduates. A fourth cohort began in February. Graduates have completed business plans for a range of endeavors, including natural teas, a luxury car-detailing service, an online bead crafting supply store, and supporting efforts for a new Rosetta Stone course that teaches the Ojibwe language. Through the Initiative Foundation program, graduates receive ongoing support, and those with viable business plans are eligible for microlending. Some of these graduates will eventually bring their businesses to one of MLCV’s future incubator spaces, offering physical space and financial resources to businesses that support the tribal economy. The entrepreneurial project earned the 2021 Excellence in

Students from the Mille Lacs Tribal Economy work on their business plans during an Enterprise Academy class. (Submitted photo)

38 Initiative Foundation ifound.org

Economic Development Award from the Economic Development Association of Minnesota (EDAM). “MLCV’s genuine passion for building homegrown economies by investing in people is so critical,” said Brian Voerding, Initiative Foundation’s vice president for inclusive entrepreneurship. “Investing in people sometimes takes decades and generations to really pay off. It takes a really big vision and a really big commitment to make that investment, to stick to it and commit to it.” The entrepreneurship initiative has been such a success that MLCV envisions growing its reach. “We want to engage with all aspiring entrepreneurs in the tribal economy and be very holistic and inclusive of everybody who lives here,” said Gruber. “As a business leader in the community, we also want to inspire the youth to be future business leaders, so one of the big things we’ll work on over the next year is how we can get a youth program started.” It’s all part of a comprehensive and innovative approach to economic and community development. “We want to look forward seven generations and know that we helped start all of these new things that helped diversify the economy,” said Goslin. “We want to take all these cool things we’ve learned about launching this industry in the past 30 years and pivot and do the same thing in other areas so that we can continue to improve the trajectory of where quality of life’s heading for people in the tribal economy,” Nayquonabe said. “Before Indian gaming, tribal people suffered from poverty and low employment. That’s turned around dramatically in the last 30 years, and we don’t want that to stop for tribal and non-tribal people living in the Mille Lacs Tribal Economy.”

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SPRING 2022

A LITTLE GOES

A LONG Way

Years later, Initiative Foundation seed grants are still paying big dividends By John Reinan | Photography by John Linn

40 Initiative Foundation ifound.org

A blizzard was howling on the cuyuna range that night in january 2001, hardly a good omen for a gathering that could shape the future of the depressed mining towns of central minnesota. Organizers of a community meeting wondered if anyone would even show up to the gymnasium at Crosby-Ironton High School. Their worries were unfounded. More than 200 townspeople braved the storm and filled the gym, eager to share ideas on generating jobs and economic activity in an area where iron ore mining once reigned supreme. Out of that meeting came a proposal that many initially dismissed as unworkable, if not downright bizarre: Create a mountain bike trail amid the pits and mounds of the former mining area. The crazy idea found a supporter in the Initiative Foundation, which made a small grant to a community group to do a feasibility study. Now, a generation later, Crosby and the Cuyuna area are among the hottest destinations in the nation for mountain bikers, with an ever-growing trail network that’s drawn not only tourists, but permanent residents, as well. That small grant was a seed that supported a stunning revival in the old mining district with years of dedicated work from hundreds of residents. “It’s hard to imagine a community in our region that has been more transformed in the last 20 years than Crosby-Ironton,” said Don Hickman, Initiative Foundation vice president for workforce and community development. “Somebody saw something and imagined it could be bigger and greater.” Seed grants can be crucial, not for purely financial reasons but because they show a community someone believes in it. “One thing an infusion of dollars can do is provide hope,” said Lissa Pawlisch of the University of Minnesota Extension’s Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships. “There’s this level of, ‘Someone believes in this concept. Someone besides me has validated this concept.’ Hope and confidence allows lots of folks to take that next step and advance that project.” In this edition of IQ Magazine, we take a look at three projects that received early Initiative Foundation grant support and how they grew into sustained programs that continue to make a difference in people’s lives in Central Minnesota.

HILLTOP REGIONAL KITCHEN

With an aging population, rural Minnesota needed innovative ways to serve its older residents. The Hilltop Regional Kitchen in Todd County has shown the way—and is now expanding its mission to include housing as well as nutrition. About a decade ago, the Foundation gave a grant to the Eagle Bend community to develop a kitchen to prepare senior meals. An immediate success, it wasn’t long before the kitchen was outgrowing its quarters in the local senior center. With help from the Initiative Foundation, along with the Blandin Foundation, Lutheran Social Services and Sourcewell, Hilltop Regional Kitchen was renovated and moved into a larger space in the empty Eagle Bend High School building. The grassroots initiative allowed the kitchen to prepare frozen meals bundled in twoweek packages for delivery to seniors in Todd and Morrison counties. Seeing the value in the kitchen’s regional approach, the state of Minnesota gave the project a six-figure grant and hailed it as a model for others to follow. In 2020-21, as the COVID-19 pandemic raged, Hilltop delivered more than 200,000 meals. “The Hilltop Regional Kitchen is one of the phenomenal examples of success in our home grant program,” said Dan Pollock, assistant commissioner of continuing care for aging adults at the Minnesota Department of Human Services. “It has been vitally important during the pandemic, keeping people safe in their own homes, offering partnership models that use innovative approaches to help adults remain independent.” Verna Toenyan, Todd County’s director of aging services, said early Initiative Foundation support was crucial to the project’s success. “There is no way we would be where we are if it hadn’t been for the Initiative Foundation,” she said. “Not even a 1 percent chance.” The Foundation also is supporting the next step for Toenyan and her team of community volunteers to transform another

SERVING SENIORS: In 2020-21, as the COVID-19 pandemic raged, Hilltop delivered more than 200,000 meals.

SPRING 2022

wing of the vacant high school into senior living. The Foundation awarded a grant for a community housing survey to determine the need. Now the Legislature has appropriated $1.5 million to build about 20 apartments in the school building. The projects have galvanized the community and allowed residents to work together on a common goal. “If I told you the number of hours people have volunteered to work on this project, you wouldn’t know where to put zeros and commas,” Toenyan said. “One of the things the Initiative Foundation and the Blandin Foundation have taught me and our volunteers is how to do that connecting – how to bring people to the table.”

BRIDGES CAREER ACADEMIES & WORKPLACE CONNECTION Another program that has benefited from the Initiative Foundation is the Brainerd area’s Bridges Career Academies & Workplace Connection. In its 15th year, Bridges is an example of a program that’s continued to grow. The Foundation helped to fund, facilitate and guide the first planning and visioning session for Bridges, serving nearly 15,000 students in 28 high schools. Bridges began as a job shadowing experience, giving students exposure to career options. That

evolved into the current model, a deeper dive in which students enter a career academy focused on an area of interest, such as culinary or business management. Classes and career experiences with local businesses work together to produce high school graduates ready to begin a career or to pursue postsecondary education. Bridges is set to undergo another transformation. Core aspects of the program are transitioning to management by Sourcewell, the Staples-based public service cooperative and a close Initiative Foundation partner. The specialized career academies will be streamlined into three broad categories: manufacturing and agriculture; health and human sciences; and business and hospitality. Students will get exposure to different job possibilities within those broader categories and can focus on a specific path as they progress toward graduation. But the overall goal remains the same: preparing students for jobs and postsecondary education leading to careers in Central Minnesota, said Kathy Moore, who oversees the Bridges program as director of workforce development for the Brainerd Lakes Chamber of Commerce. “It’s so much easier to take the child that’s here, who loves the lakes and loves the nature, and mold them into something, rather than bringing in [a worker] from outside,” she said. “We all have the same

mission. We want the kids to succeed and we want a viable workforce.” Ted Abear is a prime example of what the Bridges program hopes to achieve. Abear went through the Bridges program in 2007 at Crosby-Ironton High School. He was hoping for a career in law enforcement. But after exposure to police work through the program, he decided it wasn’t for him. A job shadow with a paramedic squad had the same result. But when Bridges connected Abear with Deerwood Bank, it clicked. So when he graduated from St. Cloud State University, he returned to Deerwood and is now vice president of business banking. “Bridges showed me there’s a lot of good-quality, high-paying jobs that are close to home,” Abear said. Curtis Brisk found welding through the Bridges program at Pierz High School. Now he’s in his fifth year as a welding and small engine instructor at Brainerd High School, where he works with Bridges students. “These programs are just great for kids to get their feet wet in different careers,” he said. “Four-year college is definitely not for everybody. You can get a good career in a year or two [after high school] and make a living and support a family.” The Bridges program is an excellent example of how investing in education can help boost the economy and keep talented people living in the area.

CURTIS BRISK: “These programs are just great for kids to get their feet wet in different careers. Four-year college is definitely not for everybody. You can get a good career in a year or two [after high school] and make a living and support a family.”

42 Initiative Foundation ifound.org

CONTINUED ON PAGE 44

SPRING 2022

A LITTLE GOES A LONG WAY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 42

CUYUNA COUNTRY STATE RECREATION AREA The creation of mountain bike trails at Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area demonstrates how an idea can gain traction when given a boost. “We get a new business every month – a hardware store, a restaurant, a boutique,” said Crosby resident Barb Grove, who was instrumental in drumming up early enthusiasm for the mountain biking initiative. “There were 50 houses that were built for the miners by George Crosby, and the City Council was thinking of taking them down. And here comes Airbnb, and they remodeled all of them and brought them up to code. And so we’ve got this wonderful renaissance.” More than 160,000 mountain bikers rode the trails in 2020, an eightfold increase since the first section opened a decade earlier. One of those who rode that first year was Aaron Hautala, who was immediately hooked. It wasn’t long before he and his wife moved to Crosby and opened Strateligent, a marketing business.

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Under his leadership as president of the Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Crew, the single-track trail will grow by the end of this year to about 70 miles. It’s important for non-bikers to realize these aren’t just rough ruts carved haphazardly through the woods. Instead, these are professionally designed and built trails, carefully calibrated to give a thrilling and rewarding ride, using the terrain to provide natural momentum. How special are they? The International Mountain Bicycling Association rates them as better than the trails at the world-class resort area of Aspen, Colo. Early on, Cuyuna trail supporters commissioned an economic impact report showing that the trail system could return as much as $21 million a year in economic benefit to the region when it was built out beyond the early phase. In fact, ridership numbers have already blown past their goals, and the financial returns may be even greater. “I call it human-powered heaven,” said Hautala, noting that entrepreneurs, educators, healthcare professionals and young families have moved to the region

“ My view was always, we’ve got to go small to get big." in recent years just for the recreational opportunities. “Traditional economic development people always argued with me, saying we have to recruit a business with 300 employees that pays $90,000 a year,” Hautala said. “My view was always, we’ve got to go small to get big. We’ve got to make this into a place where people want to live. Then, hopefully, one day, we can recruit an outdoor manufacturing company and get that big business that the economic development people wanted to start with.” One packaged meal, one career step and one pedal at a time—each project began with the seed of a good idea and a little funding to help it gain momentum.

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SPRING 2022

generosity

LUKE BECKER: “As long as they find something they can enjoy, make a career, and have a good life, that’s really all I’m trying to do.”

‘ Houston, we have a solution.’ Two teachers are bringing NASA-inspired innovation into their classrooms By Joy Baker | Photography by John Linn

Two Central Minnesota science teachers are literally taking their teaching out of this world. Braham High School’s Luke Becker and Pequot Lakes High School’s Joshua Borchardt are taking Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) to the edge of space. Becker, an ag science and technology teacher, was named National Teacher of the Year in November 2021 by the Association for Career and Technical Education. He leads the NASA HUNCH Design Team (High school students United with NASA to Construct Hardware) at Braham High School and is pushing his students to the outer limits with future-inspired projects that are attracting the interest of NASA engineers. For the past three years, Becker’s students were tasked with designing a zero-gravity washing machine so NASA astronauts could wash their clothes in space. They’ve also worked on a scale model of the International Space Station’s Destiny module to be used as an exhibit at U.S. airports. Yet another project was a magnetic boot that would allow astronauts to adhere to the surface of the spaceship and walk rather than float in zero gravity. In addition to leading the HUNCH Design Team, Becker

also leads the school’s Supermileage Team. Each year, this group of students designs and constructs a fuel-efficient, hyper-mileage vehicle to compete at the Shell Eco-Marathon, held each April at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Becker is always looking for ways to enrich his teaching, which is why he was excited to learn about a $7,500 wind tunnel that wasn’t being used and was just taking up space in his friend’s shop. “He told me, ‘If you want it, it’s yours,’” Becker said. The wind tunnel would be perfect for testing prototypes for the Supermileage Team. The only problem was the wind tunnel was built for rockets, not cars. So to meet their needs, it would require a much more complex sensor. The sensor would help determine any lift or down-force on the axles, how much force was being blown onto the car, and how much drag is produced. Becker applied for a grant through the Braham Area Education Foundation, an Initiative Foundation-hosted Partner Fund, to purchase the ideal sensor—one that would allow the Supermileage Team to test 3D-printed models for efficiency and aerodynamics while another group of students could test for speed and stability. Over the years, Becker has helped many students find a passion— and connections—in STEM fields. “As long as they find something CONTINUED ON PAGE 48

46 Initiative Foundation ifound.org

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generosity, continued from page 46

“ I want to build people up, build new opportunities and build experiences.” they can enjoy, make a career, and have a good life, that’s really all I’m trying to do,” he said. “And if I can provide students with a line on their resume that says, ‘I designed something for NASA and it’s in space,’ that’s really pretty cool.”

GROWING WITH GRANTS: A grant from the Braham Area Education Foundation, an Initiative Foundation Partner Fund, helped Becker purchase a special wind tunnel sensor to test student projects for efficiency, aerodynamics and stability.

STELLAR STEM

In Pequot Lakes, Borchardt credits his graduate studies as a high-altitude balloon judge at North Dakota’s NASA Space Grant Consortium for the innovation he now brings to his own classroom. Borchardt leads the Patriot CubeSat Program at Pequot Lakes High School. Using grant funds he received from the Patriot Foundation, an Initiative Foundation-hosted Partner Fund that serves the Pequot Lakes school district, he’ll teach students how to design, build, launch and recover their own miniature NASA satellites. “Our students have a great work ethic and come from a mix of backgrounds,” Borchardt said. “Some have programming experience, some don’t, but they’re all in the club together helping each other out. For a teacher, that’s the best thing to see.” The group is working on eight satellites that are about the size and shape of a pop can. Each student, or small group, will receive their own satellite and be able to act as their own mission control. “With eight satellites, each student is in charge of the whole process,” Borchardt said—from programming, assembling and designing to doing lab simulations, including entry, descent and parachute-aided landing procedures to ensure a safe landing. “It’s much more of a hands-on experience than having to share one satellite for the whole group.”

Your resources can soar to new heights. To learn how you can create an Initiative Foundation-hosted fund and make a difference in your community, visit ifound.org/create-fund or contact Kate Bjorge at kbjorge@ifound.org or by calling (320) 631-2048. From donor-advised funds to community and education foundations, the Initiative Foundation and its Partner Funds are working together to ensure strong and vibrant communities throughout Central Minnesota.

48 Initiative Foundation ifound.org

All eight satellites, along with a virtual reality camera, will be attached to a high-altitude balloon and then launched from NASA’s Space Grant Consortium at either the University of North Dakota or the University of Minnesota. The camera, also funded by a Patriot Foundation grant, will allow students to see their satellites leaving Earth, rising to the edge of the atmosphere at 110,000 to 130,000 feet, and then—the big highlight—they’ll see the balloon pop. “At that point, they’ll get to see the darkness of space, the curvature of the Earth, the blue hues. It really looks like you’re in space,” Borchardt said. On descent, a small parachute will deploy and carry the satellite back to Earth. With assistance from Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) software that calculates ascent rate and atmospheric conditions, the students should be able to zero in on the satellite’s landing site. Once recovered, they’ll bring it back to the classroom for discussion and further analysis. Although this is Borchardt’s sixth launch as an educator, it will be the first for his Pequot Lakes students. “A cool thing about the space community is that it’s pretty integrated into the global community,” said Borchardt. “One of my long-term goals is to have a distance partner with a teacher from a country like France, Nigeria, Israel, or China and be able to collaborate as an international team.” While that goal may still be a few years out, Borchardt said his immediate goal is simpler. “I want to build people up, build new opportunities and build experiences,” he said. “And make sure it’s fun.”

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SPRING 2022

home made

Cuyuna Brewing Company Crosby, Minn. By Maria Surma Manka Photography by John Linn

What do vaccine production and beer brewing have in common? It all comes down to science, according to Nick Huisinga. As a vaccine production manager and a beer lover, Nick realized the scientific processes for formulating vaccines and for fermenting beer were quite similar. So he decided to test out whether his scientific chops could translate into a tasty homebrew. After trying a few home-brewing kits, the answer was a resounding yes. Nick added more equipment to his stockpile, experimented with grains and invited enthusiastic neighbors to taste-test his creations. Soon, Nick and his wife, Laura Huisinga, dreamed of opening a brewery. When Nick visited a friend in Crosby, his dream started to come together. Nick’s friend convinced him the community could support a local brewery. After taking in the area’s stunning beauty and meeting with economic development officials, Nick was also convinced. The Crosby area was reinventing itself from a former mining town into a vibrant recreational community (see related story about the Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area on page 44). The energy was palpable and Laura also saw the potential. “We just knew something cool was going to happen in the area,” she said. In 2016, the Huisingas purchased a building downtown and began renovations. Nick worked 40 hours Monday to Thursday in Willmar while Laura worked part-time from home and homeschooled their three children. Every Friday, the family drove two-and-a-half hours to work on the brewery. “It was a ton of work,” said Laura, co-owner of Cuyuna Brewing Company alongside Nick. “We slept in a camper in the building’s garage. We opened the brewery in January 2017, less than a year after we closed on the building.”

50 Initiative Foundation ifound.org

We caught up with Laura to hear what’s happening now at Cuyuna Brewing Company. 1. To start, Cuyuna was only open on weekends because the Huisingas commuted from Willmar. But the stress of the commute and the brewery’s success forced big changes. Within a few months, Nick quit his job, the family sold their house and moved to Crosby. 2. N ow, five years in, all the Huisinga children are old enough to work at the brewery, alongside a handful of servers. Laura manages the taproom and is responsible for accounting and human resources. Nick is the sole brewer, though they expect to hire an assistant brewer soon. 3. C uyuna brews 10-12 beers on site. The hazy IPA is a consistent customer favorite. “Our taproom is a gathering place. We have a lot of families and outdoor enthusiasts, like mountain bikers,” said Laura. “It’s such a good vibe.”

4. B eer is a fast-moving culture. There’s always a new trend to consider or flavor to try. After many requests for sour beer, Cuyuna will offer a strawberry rhubarb Gose (“go-suh”) beer this spring, along with a brown ale. 5. The Huisingas are committed to honoring the history of their new home. For example, the popular Silver Dollar Lager is a nod to a bar in Trommald, once famous for dance parties during the region’s industrial era.

9. U nzueta wanted to expand into Crosby, and this was the right opportunity. The Huisingas secured a loan from the Initiative Foundation to do the buildout for the new restaurant. Unzueta opened Burritos California in late 2021. “We love having them here,” said Laura. “We are both family-run and we prioritized high-quality food and service. Our values are aligned.”

6. The Miner 51 Light Ale is named after a brass tag found in the Huisingas’ building. Stamped “51” and “Cuyuna Ore Company, Mahnomen Mine,” it’s thought to be a way of tracking miners. A miner took a tag when he went into the mine and returned it when he came back up.

10. The Huisingas say the Crosby community saved Cuyuna Brewing during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown. “It was hard to only offer outdoor dining, but people rallied around us,” recalled Laura. “We had people order off-sale every weekend. People left very large tips. The community made sure we made it through.”

7. C uyuna sources most of its grain from Wisconsin, with some specialty grains imported abroad. The nonalcoholic beverages in the taproom are Minnesotamade, like root beer from Spring Grove Soda Pop and Brainerd’s Ya-Sure Kombucha, owned by Shawn Hopman, an Initiative Foundation loan client and a graduate of the Foundation’s Enterprise Academy. 8. After Cuyuna opened, the Huisinga’s building still had approximately 1,000 square feet of vacant space. Through the Small Business Development Center (SBDC), they were connected with Pedro Unzueta, another Initiative Foundation lending partner who owns the popular El Tequila restaurant in Baxter.

SPRING 2022

where’s IQ?

THINK YOU KNOW? Send your best guess to IQ@ifound.org by May 16, 2022. Three winners will be chosen, at random, to receive a $25 credit to apply toward their favorite Initiative Foundationhosted Partner Fund. HINT: This mural was painted by an internationally acclaimed figurative painter in her Central Minnesota hometown. Where’s it located? Congratulations to everyone who correctly recognized Milford Mine Memorial Park in the fall 2021 edition. Korie Wiggins and Kevin Nelson were the lucky winners of the “Where’s IQ” contest.

52 Initiative Foundation ifound.org

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