IQ Magazine - Winter 2006 by Initiative Foundation

SUPPORTING COMMUNITY GROWTH

Bear Pause Theater, Hackensack, MN With the support of area businesses and subcontractors, the local theater owners worked with the Cass County Economic Development Corporation and the City of Hackensack to make their business dream a reality. Located in the heart of the Northwoods, this new state-of-the-art cinema theater caters to both year-round and seasonal residents alike. More than a movie theater, it is a multi-purpose facility for the surrounding community.

National Award-Winning Builder Brainerd, Baxter / 218-829-0707 / www.kuepers.com MN LIC 0002599

WINTER 2006

CONTENTS FEATURES 12

The Rise, Fall & Resurgence of Minnesota’s Rural Communities

Vital Advice for Revitalizing Downtown

Every town has it. Thriving towns find it.

What’s worth growing and saving?

Business Booms in Fiery Hometowns

Tests of Time

Street Smarts

Treasure Mapping

Unique Preserves

Bang for the Buck

DEPARTMENTS 4 Beginnings Fire

10 Leadership Chief Exports

36 Housing Reasonable Doubt

42 KeyNotes The Foundation Newsletter

6 Buy Local Homegrown Economics

34 Poverty Circle of Strife

40 Philanthropy Pay it Forward

48 Guest Editorial The Leader Within

“Our mission is to unlock the potential of the people of central Minnesota to build and sustain healthy communities.”

Cass Lake Schley Bena

Wilkinson Federal Dam Leech Lake

Boy River

Tobique

Onigum Walker

Brevik

Remer

CASS

Ah-Gwah-Ching

Whipholt

Longville Inguadona Hackensack

INITIATIVE FOUNDATION FOCUS AREAS

Pontoria Backus

Outing

Oshawa

Huntersville

Chickamaw Beach

Menahga

Fifty Lakes Emily

Swanburg

Manhattan Beach

Pine River

Crosslake Nimrod

Sebeka

Jenkins Pequot Lakes

WADENA

Breezy Point

Oylen

Blue Grass Leader

Nisswa Lake Shore

Leaf River

Trommald

Lake Hubert

Cuyuna

Crosby Ironton

Merrifield

Riverton

Wadena

Deerwood

Legionville

CROW WING

Verndale E Gull Lake

Aldrich

BAXTER Hewitt

Bay Lake Duquette Kerrick Ellson

Barrows

Philbrook

Willow River

Garrison

Bruno Rutledge

Bertha

COVER

Actor Peter Jensen travels through time from 1930 to present-day Wadena. Photography by Jim Altobell.

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Lincoln

Pine Center

Opstead

Finlayson

Shephard Vineland

Cushing

Clarissa

TODD

Warman

M O R R I Pierz SON

Hillman

MILLE LACS KANABEC

LITTLE FALLS

Genola

Flensburg Sobieski

Round Prairie

Gregory

Elmdale

Holdingford

St. Rosa

Opole

St. Anna

Freeport New Munich

Albany

Farming

Jakeville Gilman

Roscoe

Cold Spring St. Nicholas

Carmody Long Siding

Watkins

ISANTI

Wyanett Pine Brook

CAMBRIDGE

Walbo

SHERBURNE

Clear Lake St. Augusta Luxemburg Clearwater

Orrock

Zimmerman

Oxlip

Bodum

Isanti

Rock Creek

Rush City

Stark

Spring Lake

Bradford Spencer Brook

Rush Point

Edgewood

West Point

Palmer

Blomford Weber

Harris

NORTH BRANCH

Kimball

Hasty

Almelund

Center

Lindstrom City Stacy

BIG LAKE

Enfield

Fair Haven

Silver Creek

ELK RIVER

MONTICELLO

South Haven

Annandale Albertville

Maple Lake

French West Lake Albion

W R I G H TBUFFALO

ST. MICHAEL

Albion Center Knapp

Cokato

Albright Highland

Waverly

Lake Rice Lake

Rockford Montrose

Stockholm Howard

Oster

Delano

Sunrise

CHISAGO

Crown

Becker Marty Maine Prairie

Eden Valley

Greeley

Braham Stanchfield Springvale Grandy

Dalbo Estes Brook

Glendorado Santiago

ST. CLOUD Cable

Richmond

Paynesville

Coin Day

Pease

Foley

Duelm

Princeton

WAITE PARK

West Rock

Brunswick

Milaca

Foreston

Oak Park

Ronneby

SAUK RAPIDS

Grasston

Bock

St. Joseph

Jacobs Prairie Rockville

Lake Henry

Pine City

Rum River

BENTON Popple Creek

SARTELL Collegeville

STEARNS

Spring Hill St. Martin

Belgrade Georgeville

Watab St. Wendel

Avon

Greenwald

Cloverdale

Beroun

Ogilvie

Granit Ledge

Novak's Corner

Mayhew

St. Stephen

St. Anthony

Melrose Meire Grove

Elrosa

Brennyville Silver Corners

Rice

St. Francis

Sauk Centre

Ramey

Morrill

North Prairie

Padua

Brooten

Little Rock

Royalton

Bowlus

Upsala

Hinckley

Henriette

Mora Burtrum Grey Eagle

Ward Springs

Brook Park

Quamba

Buckman

Swanville

Little Sauk

West Union

Wyoming

Chisago City

Cloverton Duxbury

Friesland

Kroschel

Onamia

Lastrup

Freedham

Darling

Long Prairie

Gutches Grove

Sandstone

Wahkon

Cove

Harding

Camp Ripley Junction

PINE

Groningen

Isle Bayview

Randall Browerville

Kingsdale

Askov

Fort Ripley

Eagle Bend

Clotho

Nickerson

Sturgeon Lake Denham

BRAINERD

Pillager

Motley

Palmdale

Taylors Falls Shafer Franconia

Markville

• Strengthen Children, Youth, and Families • Promote Economic Stability • Preserve Space, Place, and Natural Resources • Build Capacity of Nonprofit Organizations • Embrace Diversity & Reduce Prejudice • Increase Utilization of Technology

BEGINNINGS

Fire Dear Friends, It was spring in 1931 and the Kaspersons welcomed the warmth of afternoon. Since daylight, they had broken the chilly, windswept fields for planting. Lunch by the fireplace was an everyday blessing. Marvin, just six years old, waited all morning for his grandfather, Axel, to return. Perhaps it was Marvin who smelled the charred chimney smoke first. Perhaps he told his grandmother, Anna. But the roof appeared normal, so the men went back to work. By two o’clock, they were too far away to notice the black billows from the wooden shingles. High winds quickened the blaze. The house was lost. Marvin didn’t understand why his Swedish grandparents were near desperation. To the city-boy from Duluth, the farm was a fun place to visit. To Axel and Anna, the farm meant a better life, hope for the family’s future, and a community they called home. With strong faith and commitment, they persevered. Over the years, they rebuilt their farm and joined their neighbors to raise up churches, schools, parks, and businesses. The Kaspersons and Pearsons (Anna’s family) helped to settle the Milaca, Bock, Pease, Foreston, and Cambridge areas. Minnesota’s rural communities have risen, fallen and come back to life in recent times. Faces have changed, but the resolve to build strong communities remains. Also unchanged are the realities that we need each other and that we can make a better life by working together. In this issue of IQ, we share Minnesota’s most promising advice and success stories that inspire us to continue the rural resurgence—to reclaim the hometowns of Axel and Anna, my great-grandparents, and Marvin, my father. Enjoy the magazine!

Kathy Gaalswyk, President Initiative Foundation Brainerd, Baxter, Crosby, Staples, Little Falls

(218) 829-0371 | www.mmfcu.org Federally insured by NCUA

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> VOLUME 4, WINTER 2006 INITIATIVE FOUNDATION Executive Editor & Director of Communications / MATT KILIAN Communications Associate / ANITA HOLLENHORST PUBLISHERS Evergreen Press / CHIP & JEAN BORKENHAGEN EDITORIAL Editorial Director / JODI SCHWEN Assistant Editor / TENLEE LUND ART Interim Art Director / BRAD RAYMOND Senior Graphic Designer / BOB WALLENIUS New Mom / ANDREA BAUMANN Production Manager / BRYAN PETERSEN Lead Photographer / JIM ALTOBELL ADVERTISING / SUBSCRIPTIONS Business & Advertising Director / BRIAN LEHMAN Advertiser Services / MARY SAVAGE Subscriber Services / MARYANN LINDELL

IQ EDITORIAL BOARD Initiative Foundation President / KATHY GAALSWYK Northwest Area Foundation / JEAN BURKHARDT Northern Minnesota Utilities / CAL CLARK Cass Lake Tourism Bureau / DAN EVANS Village Emporium / DAVE EVERT University of Minnesota, Center for Small Towns / DAVID FLUEGEL Program Mgr. for Community Development / DAN FRANK Center for Rural Policy & Development / DR. JACK GELLER Program Mgr. for Planning & Preservation / DON HICKMAN V.P. for Economic Development / JOHN KALISZEWSKI Blandin Foundation / JIM KRILE CR Planning & Hometown Minnesota / BRIAN ROSS First Integrity Bank / MARV ROTHSTEIN Little Falls Convention & Visitors Bureau / CATHY VANRISSEGHEM V.P. for Community Initiatives / KARL SAMP Board of Trustees / G. GEORGE WALLIN, PH.D. Initiative Foundation 405 First Street SE Little Falls, MN 56345 320.632.9255 www.ifound.org

IQ is published by the Initiative Foundation in partnership with Evergreen Press of Brainerd, Minnesota. www.evergreenpress.net For advertising opportunities, contact: Lois Head 320.252.7348, lmhead@stcloudstate.edu Brian Lehman 218.828.6424 ext. 25, brian@evergreenpress.net Kristin Rothstein 320.251.5875, kristin@cpionline.com

WINTER 2006

BUY LOCAL

BY BRENDA MAAS

Homegrown Economics Keys to a Vibrant Economy: Support, Unite Local Businesses

he heartbeat of Small Town, Minnesota, is changing—it’s moving from downtown to the edge of town. Or worse, out of town. Over the past two decades, national retail chains or “Big Box” stores have arrived in a tidal wave. For some communities, the increased traffic may give hovering bottom lines and the local tax-base a noticeable boost, at least for the short term. And the quantity of jobs increases, even if the job quality is often controversial. In order for new shoppers to enter one arena, however, they must exit another. Economists often cite the rule of thumb that every dollar spent with local merchants typically cycles at least three times in the local economy. In some cases, communities have regretted trading their locally owned economies and downtown vitality for the bargains and convenience of national retail chains. A recent study in Maine estimated that local businesses returned 45 percent of their revenue to the local economy, with another nine percent being spent elsewhere in the state. In contrast, the study suggested that as much as 86 percent of consumer dollars spent at national retailers left town. The Todd County Development Corporation and Economic Development Authorities of Long Prairie and Staples analyzed county retail services in 2004. According to the report, residents opted to spend 56 percent of their retail and service dollars outside of Todd County. This “outshopping” trend may have exported $78 million in potential local sales in just one year.

“Often, community members simply haven’t considered the importance and impact of buying locally when possible,” says Kathy Gaalswyk, Initiative Foundation president. “Awareness campaigns and cooperative efforts are an important way to inform and engage citizens.” In central Minnesota, communities are working smarter to attract and support new entrepreneurs and promote the benefits of buying locally. Two dozen farmers’ markets have worked with the Initiative Foundation and the University of Minnesota Central Region Partnership to develop cooperative information guides and seasonal advertising campaigns. According to Linda Ulland, Central Region Partnership executive director, local businesses have more power and their marketing dollar goes farther if they join forces and find their niche. “They have to find ways to differentiate themselves from big box stores, and that’s a real challenge,” she says. “It seems to me that there’s a real move toward ‘small is beautiful’ again.” After completing the Initiative Foundation’s Healthy Communities Partnership program, Pine City leaders conducted a survey of their manufacturing and retail/service industries. The efforts helped to retain a local manufacturing company that was considering an expansion outside the community. Lynda Woulfe, city administrator, believes that opening the lines of communication also opens the door for new opportunities. “They know that we care and are willing to help,” she says. The Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a national nonprofit organization with offices in Minneapolis, promotes self-sustaining communities by providing research, analysis, and innovative policy solutions. ILLUSTRATION BY BRAD RAYMOND

CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

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WINTER 2006

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6

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Senior researcher and author Stacy Mitchell notes three key components of a healthy rural economy.

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Look at land-use and zoning policies as tools to define the small town and prevent the most destructive forms of development. Examine potential economic impacts before approving new retail. Similar to an environmental impact study, this course of action has been incredibly revealing in many cases. Mitchell stresses, “Communities have choices. They need not relinquish their local economies to distant corporate control or accept a onesize-fits-all model of development.”

Revitalize Downtown and Emphasize Small Businesses Shift existing economic development resources back to locally owned businesses, and mentor entrepreneurs with mature businesses. Keep public buildings downtown while updating storefronts to accommodate more pedestrian traffic. Creating an identity and a sense of place nurtures the personal relationships that consumers seek.

Educate and Unite

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Use the power in numbers by pooling local businesses together for things such as advertising, purchasing, and public voice. Learn from what other business alliances are doing across the nation. Create an awareness of trickle-down effects with “Buy Local” campaigns. Thank consumers with reward programs for local purchases. “Like many changes that our rural areas are facing, this retail transition provides a crucial opportunity for community leaders to support their local businesses and promote unique community identities,” says Gaalswyk. In her 1961 book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs wrote, “Everyplace becomes more like every other place, all adding up to Noplace.” By working together to create a hometown identity, building upon unique assets and supporting local businesses in every way possible, rural Minnesota can continue to be its own original someplace. IQ

Institute for Local Self-Reliance, www.ilsr.org

Outside the

BIG BOX

Tips for Competing with National Retailers

Look for voids in the mass merchandiser’s inventory. Try to handle different merchandise. Focus your advertising by stressing your competitive advantages. Every store has one or more and they must be stated clearly and often. Get rid of merchandise that does not sell and clutters the sales space. Extended business hours are a necessity! Mass merchandisers handle fast-moving items. Try to stock complementary merchandise. Adopt a “no hassle” returns policy. Unfortunately, “All sales final!” signs have little place in today’s retail stores. Consider upscale merchandise. Not all customers desire or demand lower-priced goods. Emphasize expert customer service and advice. Smaller stores can build a loyal customer base with knowledgeable owners and employees. It is not possible for small merchants to carry every conceivable item in inventory. Develop special order capabilities.

Source: Impact of the Wal-Mart Phenomenon on Rural Communities, Dr. Kenneth E. Stone, Iowa State University

WINTER 2006

LEADERSHIP

BY BRITTA REQUE-DRAGICEVIC

Chief Exports Local Programs Manufacture Unlikely Leaders, New Ideas

n 2001, Brian Mackinac moved to Little Falls with no political aspirations. Four years later, he became the town’s mayor, and by all accounts, a pretty good one. An increasing number of hometowns are realizing the importance of injecting fresh faces and ideas into the well of local leadership. “I just saw a situation where something needed to be done,” says Mackinac, “and I thought, well, why not me?” Inspired by the Little Falls Chamber’s “Leadership Lindyland” program and at the urging of his friends and co-workers, he decided to run for public office and eventually won the 2002 mayoral election. “When I entered the program, I wanted to meet people in the community and get a better understanding of how the local economy worked,” he says. Today, as Little Falls mayor and as a CPA at Schlenner Wenner & Co., Mackinac cites the skills he learned as essential to his public and professional duties. “It taught me that everyone has an opinion that must be heard, respected, and listened to. That’s proven to be very valuable.” As part of a national model, the Little Falls Chamber developed its nine-month program to help foster economic understanding within the community. “Leadership Lindyland” brings citizens together to improve interpersonal skills, refine management styles, and introduce participants to key sectors of the community they may not have an opportunity to experience otherwise. Both the Brainerd and St. Cloud area chambers have similar programs. The program has produced sixty-six new leaders—one out of five Little Falls Chamber members employs a Leadership Lindyland graduate. “The end-result is a more confident employee with enhanced capabilities, adding value to the workplace and the community,” says Debora Boelz, the chamber’s executive director. The Initiative Foundation and Blandin Foundation (Grand Rapids) have underscored community leadership as a key factor that determines a healthy hometown. Through a variety of programs, the Initiative Foundation has trained more than 3,300 citizens to take on key leadership or volunteer roles that strengthen communities and nonprofit organizations. “Leadership—that’s the key,” says Dan Frank, the Initiative Foundation’s program manager for community development. “You have to have leaders who are dedicated and passionate about keeping

Former Little Falls Mayor Brian Mackinac: “I just saw a situation where something needed to be done and I thought, ‘Well, why not me?’”

the process going. We call them community sparkplugs. Without them, none of our programs would succeed.” Frank says communities should do everything possible to create servant leadership opportunities, especially reaching out to those people who don’t see themselves as leaders, but possess unique talents and viewpoints. “Our foundation is built on inspiring everyday citizens and training them to determine their own future,” adds Frank. “When the privilege of leadership is closely held instead of CONTINUED ON PAGE 32

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WINTER 2006

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Tests Time of

The Rise, Fall & Resurgence of Minnesota’s Rural Communities

By Cynthia Moe

tiny sapling may go unnoticed as it sits in the middle of a thousandacre forest or it may be the focus of attention as it slowly grows in the middle of a courtyard. Wherever it is rooted, it will go through cycles—weathering cold, bitter winds in sub-zero temperatures or sweltering days where its leaves are crisp to the touch. Going through cycles of growth and prosperity, stagnancy and decline are just as common for Minnesota’s rural communities.

Photos courtesy of Stearns History Museum and Minnesota Historical Society Schoolhouse near Lanesboro ca. 1940.

WINTER 2006

Ever since French fur traders settled in the Grand Portage area, the small towns and scattered farms we know as Minnesota’s rural communities have played a vital role in our state’s development. They are essential indicators of economic, social, environmental, and physical growth and now, more than ever, they are leading the way to a healthier, more prosperous Minnesota. Prior to 1800, Native American tribal villages and tiny fur-trade outposts were the primary evidence of human existence in the lands that would eventually become Minnesota. As westward migration made its way into the Midwest, prospectors and industrialists recognized the territory’s most obvious natural resource, a wealth of virgin timber. By the 1840s, the timber trade exploded in Minnesota, and between 1838 and 1848, St. Paul, St. Anthony, and Stillwater—the state’s first three cities—were founded. People came from the eastern

states and Europe to work the forests and mills and to carve a railway through the trees. Many stayed and built homes on the rich farmland. In 1859, Chicago welcomed its first shipment of wheat from Minnesota. In the coming years, wheat would grow to become the king of agricultural exports. Pillsbury’s new “A” mill, built in 1881, was the largest flour mill in the world. The discovery of iron ore in 1884 led to the first exports of mined metals. By the time the lumber trade hit its peak in 1905, mines were being opened across central and northern Minnesota. In order to secure a steady work force, mining companies designed and built housing in the various mining communities across the Cuyuna, Vermillion, and Mesabi Iron Ranges. Hearing the call for laborers and hungry for a new life, immigrants poured in. The state’s non-native population grew from 4,000 people in 1849 to more than 150,000 in just

ten years. These industries created a demand for food, clothing, and other products. Farms and villages emerged where massive stands of timber had been just a few years before. They developed their own infrastructure, with schools, government buildings, public roadways, and utilities. Often, the economic heartbeat of these communities depended on a few major employers—the mines, the timber companies, and the railroads. Those industries eventually fell into decline. Between 1930 and 1935, half of the world’s iron ore originated from a Minnesota mine. Thirty years later, declining demand for ore and competition from mines in other parts of the world took their toll. The last shipment of iron ore left the Vermillion range in 1963, and mining ceased to be a primary industry in the state. Similarly, the timber and railroad industries reached a state of equilibrium, where the

Minnesota’s Milestones 1819

1862

1900

The U.S. government wants to strengthen the American fur trade in the Northwest. That means keeping British traders out and keeping peace among the Indians. The Fifth Regiment of Infantry arrives to build Fort St. Anthony (later Fort Snelling)—the northern-most outpost in a string of forts protecting the northwest frontier.

Minnesota's first railroad line begins operation and within ten years, the state is laced with railroad lines, opening up vast inland regions to farming and lumber.

At the height of the lumbering era, 40,000 lumberjacks are cutting timber in the north woods.

1880

Cuyler Adams forms the Orelands Mining Company and names the Cuyuna Range by combining "Cuy" from Cuyler with "Una" after his pet St. Bernard.

1839 More than two-thirds of Minnesota is covered with trees when Minnesota's first commercial sawmill is constructed at Marine on St. Croix.

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Minnesota wheat and the power of St. Anthony Falls make Minneapolis the nation's capital of flour milling. A year later, Pillsbury's new “A” mill is the largest flour mill in the world.

1884 With the state's first shipment of ore from the Vermilion Range, Minnesota's iron industry is launched.

1903

1930–1935 More than half of the world’s iron ore originates in Minnesota mines.

1941 Thousands of Minnesota women don coveralls and take manufacturing jobs to support the war effort.

need for high numbers of workers gave way to the need for fewer workers with more specialized training. The remaining small towns were primarily farming communities. Volatile farm incomes during the 1970s and ’80s led to an unprecedented agricultural crisis. Farm after farm closed while supportive industries, such as grain elevators and mills, followed suit. Many main street businesses, once the hubs of social and commercial activity, closed their doors. In 1900, 66 percent of Minnesotans lived in small communities. A century later, less than 30 percent of the population remained in rural areas. That number continued to shrink as young adults raised in rural communities migrated toward more urban areas, taking with them the potential for the next rural generation and leaving behind aging populations. That might have been the end of the

story for Minnesota’s rural communities, were it not for the energy and determination of rural residents. Thousands of people, government agencies, foundations, and nonprofit organizations helped author a remarkable comeback. In 1986, for example, The McKnight Foundation toured the economic devastation and helped form the six Minnesota Initiative Funds, now called the Initiative Foundations, each serving a specific geographic area and charged with empowering local people to revitalize their hometowns. McKnight has granted around $200 million to the foundations. They have translated those dollars into 2,800 business loans totaling more than $130 million, 12,000 grants totaling $91 million, and many successful leadership training and community-building programs. Today, the benefits of rural living, such as less-crowded streets, lower crime rates, more outdoor recreational opportunities,

and a quieter, more natural environment, are drawing people from the metro areas back to their rural roots. A report by the state demographer’s office reported that the loss of population in rural communities that occurred on the heels of the farm crisis in the 1970s and early ’80s was reversed during the 1990s and into the twenty-first century. From 1990 to 2004, Minnesota’s population increased by more than 700,000. Thirteen counties in central Minnesota saw at least 1 percent growth during this time; Sherburne County, which grew by 22.3 percent, was second in the state. Rural Minnesota communities go through cycles of life, just as any other living thing. However, with leadership development, an eye on the future, and a solid infrastructure, they, unlike other living things, will not perish. Minnesota’s rural communities will succeed and thrive. IQ

Photos Above (left to right): Henry Villard train passing through St. Cloud, 1883; Potato digging party, Richmond, 1895; Watab Paper Mill, Sartell, 1905; Lumber mill unit, Rockville Township, 1909; Auger drilling, Godfrey Mine, Chisholm, 1935; Kiddie parade, Waseca, 1945

1949

1980

1991–2001

Turkey farmer Earl Olson buys a processing plant in Willmar, the beginning of Jennie-O Foods. Wheat feed and the growth of Jennie-O and related companies make this region a hub of turkey farming.

Last iron ore shipment leaves the Cuyuna Iron Range. Four years later, the last shipment leaves the Mesabi Iron Range, effectively ending Minnesota's direct iron ore industry and confirming a difficult depression on the Iron Range.

The durable manufactured goods industry grows by $9.6 billion, a growth rate of 83.5 percent. Employment in the manufacturing industries increases by 9.8 percent.

1950

1984

For the first time, the census shows more Minnesotans living in cities than in the country.

"Groundswell" brings 1,200 people together at a rally in Worthington to call attention to the growing rate of farm foreclosures and bankruptcies.

Minnesota's agricultural cash receipts increase from $6.9 billion (in 1990) to $7.5 billion, an 8.6 percent growth.

1955 Taconite promises to save an Iron Range that is running short of iron. Reserve Mining Company opens a mine and processing operations.

1986 The McKnight Foundation helps to form the six Initiative Foundations in order to strengthen greater Minnesota communities.

2002

Source: Minnesota Historical Society & Department of Employment & Economic Development. WINTER 2006

Street +Smarts Vital Advice for Revitalizing Downtown

By Britta Reque-Dragicevic

+ Illustration by Ted Tollefson +

ake a walk downtown on a December eve. Light snow drifts softly around you, lights glitter across the storefronts, and holiday carols echo in the clear, cold air. A vibrant rural streetscape can become the basis for generations of memories and a solid economic future. As new development sprawls across the highways, more rural communities are challenged to preserve Minnesota’s Main Street heritage. What can we do to ensure that downtowns remain the vital heartbeat of our communities? It takes passionate citizens that come together with creativity, planning, and sound design principles to transform a hibernating downtown into a vibrant citycenter that creates, attracts, and reshapes a community’s future. “Downtown design can be interpreted in various ways, but at its core is the premise that it must incorporate all aspects of the community,” says Brian Ross, director of Hometown Minnesota, a nonprofit that helps communities revitalize their downtowns. “Making sure the downtown is vibrant is the only way communities will truly thrive.” Ross asserts that you cannot make decisions about investments on the edge of town without first considering how it

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Brian Ross, Hometown Minnesota: “Too many communities, even thriving ones, say yes to everything without considering their downtowns.”

Photography by Jim Altobell will affect the downtown. “Too many communities, even thriving ones, say yes to everything without considering their downtowns,” adds Ross. “You have to be tough and realize that if an investor isn’t willing to consider how he can help your downtown, you just might have to say no.” While developers are not mean-spirited, they may assume that profitable ventures are good for long-term community and economic development. According to Ross, that’s not always the case. He believes that it’s the community’s responsibility to advocate for its preservation. Ross suggests researching and implementing downtown design elements that have proven successful in other communities. Complementary land-uses can create a productive flow from the downtown to outer commercial zones and planning corridors. Smooth, logical connections can ensure that people utilize the entire commercial district. Kent Robertson is a downtown revitalization expert, author, and director of community development at St. Cloud State University. He recommends communities follow a process that includes developing a long-range vision and plan, identifying and building upon local assets, building a strong public-private partnership,

Nisswa's quaint stores with "up-north" façades keep visitors strolling and shopping downtown.

enhancing the downtown’s sense of place, and determining the downtown’s market. Both Ross and Robertson make the following design recommendations for downtown preservation and revitalization. Robertson is quick to point out that while these design elements can create a pleasant atmosphere, they do not replace the need to consistently plan, promote, and organize events that draw attention to the value and uniqueness of the downtown area. “As the downtown goes,” says Ross, “so will the community.” Recognize the value of historic buildings Historic buildings have both architectural value and cultural meaning. Citizens remember the history of their town and restored buildings can create a deeper sense of pride and connection to the roots of the community. While it may be cheaper for businesses to construct new buildings on the edge of town, they cannot replace the sense of attachment and character that a renovated building can offer. Repair or redesign building facades to create unique character Many communities have adopted design standards for their façades that ensure that the small-town atmosphere will be maintained. Façades reside within the

“public realm,” even though the stores are privately owned. Towns must recognize that there is a public interest in the “private realm” and work with business owners to create a mutually beneficial environment.

ed that most customers are willing to park farther away if they can see a store entrance. If they have to drive around the block twice to park, they will go to a superstore or mall where they know they’ll find a spot.

Incorporate artistic elements and points of interest Use attractive features such as brick pavers, flowers, trees, clocks, flags, or banners to provide color. Benches invite people to linger and enjoy being in the downtown. Sculptures, murals, and unique art offer points of interest. The longer people linger downtown, the more stores they will visit and the more dollars will be spent, Robertson adds.

Create attractive links to natural resources and open space If a downtown is near a waterfront, incorporate the natural beauty that will attract people to spend time there. Make sure there is a connection that naturally invites people to walk downtown. Coffee shops and ice cream parlors are natural complements to waterfronts and beaches. Create pocket parks and gardens in vacant lots, and be creative in using parks to connect waterfronts to the downtown.

Make the downtown pedestrian-friendly People can only enjoy the ambiance of a downtown by strolling leisurely along attractive sidewalks and intriguing storefronts, but they have to feel safe, Robertson stresses. Crosswalks must be clearly marked, speed limits lowered, and areas well-lit. Give careful consideration to parking issues Parking must be easy, well-marked, and as close as possible to the entrances of buildings. According to Ross, research has suggest-

Connect downtowns to adjacent neighborhoods Every neighborhood border is a gateway and should encourage residents to walk downtown. Provide inviting, attractive connections that showcase more than alleys and the backs of buildings. Creating higher density housing near or within the downtown can create more activity. Some communities have prioritized downtown senior housing, so seniors can walk to area shops and enjoy a sense of community in a safe area. IQ WINTER 2006

10 8

Main Street 18

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Fresh Ideas Minnesota’s Downtown Revival from

Façades can be renovated and designed to reflect the community’s vision and historic flavor. Nisswa boasts a charming atmosphere with up-north facades.

2 Parking must be close to shopping or in well-marked areas such as behind stores, where visitors can be sure they’ll find a spot.

3 Brick pavers, benches, clocks, streetlights, and unique

artwork attract visitors and encourage them to stay a while. Little Falls installed old-fashioned lamp posts and artistic murals.

Preserve or restore historic buildings. Staples is working to reopen an opera house and return a historic railroad depot to its original splendor.

5 A downtown area shouldn’t be independent of its unique natural assets. Walker connected a city beach and harbor to its downtown.

6 Use open space to create parks and relaxation areas. Park Rapids transformed vacant lots into flower gardens and pocket parks.

7 Adjacent neighborhoods can feature attractive gateways, inviting residents to walk downtown.

8 Create corridors that lead visitors through the downtown to outer commercial zones. Bemidji’s main entrance flows through the downtown before it reaches other business districts.

9 Make your downtown pedestrian-friendly. Lower speed limits and install attractive lighting and well-marked cross-walks.

10 Consider higher-density housing. Crosby planned for senior housing near its downtown, so seniors can walk, shop, and enjoy a sense of community.

Makeover

map is the essential travel companion, a simple device that defines the path ahead and the road behind. Your final destination is best determined by thoughtful planning, taking inventory of assets and listening to the ideas of every traveler. Then, you go. Milestone after milestone. Seldom looking back. A detour here. A rest-stop there. The dots on the map come to life with the history, places and the people who inhabit them. Two central Minnesota communities placed a map on the table, invited everyone to be heard, and embarked on an extraordinary journey to unearth the treasures in their community. Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what they happened upon.

Mayor Wayne Wolden, on the track to a new Wadena.

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TREASURE MAPPING

Every town has it. Thriving towns find it. By Catherine Stoch Photography by Jim Altobell

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he stories of Melrose and Wadena are rich with history, of travelers and immigrants moving about, searching for a place to call home—not so vastly different from today. Both have populations under five thousand, mostly homogeneous, yet facing a wave of newcomers. They also have common economies and a strong commitment to planning for the future. The latter wove them together as participants in the Initiative Foundation’s Healthy Communities Partnership (HCP) with the shared desire to plan the future of their communities.

Community Development works from the inside out, under the principles that local people know best and that everyone who is affected by a decision should have an opportunity to participate in the decision-making process. From there, the foundation trains volunteer leadership teams comprised of twelve to twenty residents who represent the area’s social, economic, and professional diversity. Leaders help facilitate community discussions and a public “visioning session,” where the foundation essentially asks everyone the same question: “If you could

In German-rooted Melrose, George O’Brien shares authentic Mexican food with Ana Santana.

While many communities tend to focus on “what’s wrong,” the foundation encourages an alternative approach called Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD). “Imagine if every day, you look in the mirror and only notice what’s wrong with your face, your body, your voice, everything you can’t do,” says Karl Samp, the foundation’s vice president for community initiatives. “How would that change the way you feel and act? Sometimes communities can spend a lot of energy lamenting things that cannot be changed. That’s depressing and it siphons away their optimism and pride. We try to help them identify and mobilize the good things that already exist—their assets.” Those assets include the gifts and talents of residents; the power of their associations; their public, private, and nonprofit institutions; and their physical and natural resources. Asset-Based

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imagine the best possible future for this community, what would it look like?” When citizens arrive at a collective answer, volunteers turn that vision into a simple plan of action, which can earn foundation grants and support. In Melrose, a community steeped in German roots, the recent and growing Latino population posed a unique opportunity and set the wheels in motion for cultural exchange and understanding. At least 12 percent of Melrose’s three thousand residents are Hispanic, an underreported number that swelled more than 10 percent between 1990 and 2000, according to U.S. Census data. Most Mexican families are attracted by employment opportunities at the Jennie-O Turkey processing plant. Such rapidly growing diversity prompted Melrose’s forward-thinking leaders to bring all citizens together to envision and plan a brighter future through the HCP program.

“This program was to find other leaders in the community, and we found a lot of people who made great leaders,” says Rose Ann Inderrieden, an original HCP volunteer and former city administrator. “We wanted to point out the good in the community and to get people thinking positive.” To respect both the German and Latino cultures at its HCP visioning event, Melrose residents shared an eclectic meal that included German potato salad and quesadillas. For the first time, ideas and concerns were voiced in both English and Spanish. Perhaps most important, the visioning led to the creation of a nonprofit organization called Communities Connecting Cultures. Ana Santana, a 2001 Melrose High School graduate with Mexican roots, serves as a cultural liaison to new immigrant families. With funding and office space from Jennie-O, she helps to explain American customs, laws, and services. “I help however I can, everything from showing a mom how to clip her baby’s fingernails to organizing a free tax preparation day,” Santana says. “That netted $240,000 in tax returns for more than one hundred people.” “The biggest barrier to acceptance is the language barrier,” says George O’Brien, former mayor and Melrose resident for forty years. “That’s going to get changed, but it’s going to take a couple of generations to do it. It took a couple of generations for my grandparents.” Bilingual welcome-home packets, city newsletters, and street signs also now exist. While a Mexican grocery store shares Main Street frontage with longtime family businesses, a new soccer field unites youth who share the same international pastime. Other goodwill-building projects included installing outdoor safety lights at Rose Park, a Latino neighborhood. Residents not only receive services, but they have also provided hundreds of hours of volunteer time and labor to their new hometown. “Melrose didn’t look at their new citizens as a problem to be solved,” says Samp. “They saw them as an asset. They searched for what everyone had in common and they included them in the planning and action process.” The city of Wadena floats like an island off the woodland edge of the state’s western prairie. Built around a Northern Pacific Railroad depot in the late 1800s, the community endured a rural depression that forced out businesses and longtime residents. One by one, the storefronts disappeared from its once-bustling main street. And each boarded-up business seemed to take away a piece of Wadena’s heritage and hometown pride.

focus on downtown revitalization and youth programming. Today, downtown Wadena is cozily historic, with new streetlights, a youth-managed Cyber Café, a renovated train depot, small-business incubator, and puzzle-piece-shaped alley murals that depict the history of Minnesota. With spunk, cash, and hard work, these Youth serve up conversation and coffee at Wadena’s Cyber Café. efforts have taken hold “J.C. Penney had just left and there sat a from the original vision, and are being expandgreat, big empty store,” says Kay Browne, HCP ed upon by a new generation of leaders. Wadena volunteer and city council member. “There were youth have been noticeably moving into leadermany other boarded-up stores with broken winship roles because of the Cyber Café. With a dows. When people met and talked at coffee thriving downtown and infusion of youth enershops, they were really getting discouraged with gy, Wadena is the kind of place where young the future of the community.” and old alike can share a good cup of coffee and Through the commitment and focus of stroll through the past, while taking full advancommunity residents in the HCP program, eight tage of what lies ahead. priority projects spun into motion, with a major “The foundation gave us the tools to do

what we already knew we could do,” says Wadena mayor, Wayne Wolden, “and that is to revitalize inside people that now it’s time to take charge ourselves.” The Initiative Foundation invested more than $100,000 in Wadena, but those dollars leveraged an astonishing $4.5 million dollars in external grants to support downtown revitalization, main street renovation, youth programs, and other community projects. According to Browne, the cash infusion is due directly to the efforts of a committed citizenry who believe in where they are, where they are going, and where they want to be. “That’s the power of asset-based thinking,” adds Samp. “We provide a compass and they draw a map to the future they want to achieve.” The hometowns of Melrose and Wadena learned together that the road to successful community planning is challenging, inspiring, and full of surprises. Yet, with everyone reading from the same map, translating where necessary, and keeping focused, they discovered amazing things about their communities and themselves. IQ

Vision Correction

The Wheel Thing

The graphic below illustrates the power of a hometown vision and plan. When people have their eyes on the same prize, the Initiative Foundation says, positive results are imminent.

The Initiative Foundation recommends hosting town-hall meetings to create a shared vision and plan for the future. After brainstorming hometown assets and voting on top priorities, people can put their imagination to work by signing up for volunteer committees. But be careful, the foundation says. Make sure all spokes of the community wheel are present so everyone buys into the master plan.

No Vision Groups move in various directions No plan or coordination

Imposed Vision Plan without community involvement Lots of energy expended resisting No forward movement

Shared Vision Community planning All groups acting in concert Plans become reality

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nique Preserves By Britta Reque-Dragicevic Photography by Jim Altobell

Every community possesses something so unique, so peerless that it ought to be protected in a virtual Mason jar and showcased for the world to experience. Those distinctions become a source of community identity and pride, an instantly recognizable recipe that smacks of the hometown spirit. The ability to identify, invent and maximize unique rural aspects often separates vibrant hometowns from those in need of revitalization. Preserving uniqueness—be it a gorgeous riverscape, a winter festival or those wonderful, quaint places that attract curiosity—can be a vital way to ensure that rural Minnesota communities thrive into the future. Forty years ago, the Cuyuna Range mining industry was heaving its last breath. Cast on the far-flung southwestern edge of the great mining fields, eight communities enjoyed a prosperous industry until the 1960s. Depleting the kind of iron that can be made into prized taconite, operations dwindled throughout the next two decades. Faced with no other economic base at the time, citizens won a hard-fought decision to build a hospital. That decision helped to ensure their own survival. “They had a strong belief in what was important to them, even though it was the absolute worst time economically to do that,” says John Schaubach, hospital administrator of the now state-of-the-art Cuyuna Regional Medical Center. “Their strength and willingness to risk at such a bleak time lay the foundation for a community that is thriving forty years later.” That change of self-identity, from a mining town to a regional medical center, prevented the Cuyuna Range communities from fading into ghost towns. Today, the citizens are still active in recognizing and preserving their assets. The mining graveyards have been transformed into one of the most unique recreational parks in Minnesota. Trails throughout the old fields were designed to highlight the history of the mines as well as to maximize prime vistas and natural beauty. The Cuyuna State Recreational Area is fast becoming a tourist destination. Crosby has redefined itself as the Antique Capital of Minnesota. Downtown storefronts host a charming collection of antique shops, restaurants, and local attractions. Bordered by Ironton and Deerwood and all three gracing the shores of Serpent Lake, the communities have marketed themselves as a place to come to relax, to enjoy the beauty of central Minnesota, and get a flavorful taste of regional history.

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WINTER 2006

Above: John Schaubach and Kathy Bussard helped to transform former iron mine areas into the Cuyuna State Recreational Area. Left: Traditional Native American dancers draw crowds to Cass Lake’s Rib Fest, one of four new festivals that define the community. Photo courtesy of Cass Lake Times. Opposite Page: Taylors Falls Mayor Mike Buchite: “Small-town historic character and scenic beauty are the building blocks of our community.”

“We have found that not only have we created a place where tourists come to use the trails and shop, but citizens are out there enjoying the land,” says Schaubach. “It’s ironic that people now come to a place that was once a dusty minefield to see natural beauty.” The communities recognized the importance of creating what nationally renowned consultant Jack Schultz calls a “sense of place.” Schultz, the founder of the Boomtown Institute and author of several bestselling books on rural revitalization, defines a sense of place as unique qualities that give citizens a strong sense of belonging, pride, history, and attachment. “By stepping back and taking a good, hard look at what might set them apart,” says

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Schultz, “be it natural resources, their setting, or even historic buildings, towns can create a sense of pride and find very creative ways to build on their assets.” He points to Leavenworth, Washington, a former logging and railroad town of five thousand that dropped to one thousand when its economy stumbled. A group of eleven women decided to take action. They helped arrange a series of town meetings, which yielded a shared vision and plans to model the town after a Bavarian mountain village. Stores and hotels now reflect the alpine tradition and the community can boast of a bustling convention center and a five hundred member chamber of commerce. Leavenworth was so successful at authenticating its Bavarian image that forty families from Bavaria actually moved there. “What it taught me was that experts don’t always know what beats in the hearts of the people,” says Schultz. “The idea of becoming Bavarian had no ties to the community whatsoever. It was just an idea those women came up with.” Ideas are what prompted the struggling northern town of Cass Lake, population 860, to create a better future. Set in the crossroads of pristine lakes, Cass Lake was a railroad town defined by its high rates of crime, poverty, and indifference. Ten years ago, a handful of citizens created the Cass Lake Miracle Group, which derived its name from the now-legendary comments of one person who said, “It will take a miracle to turn this town around.” The Miracle Group believed that despite its challenges, Cass Lake had potential. It enlisted the Minnesota Design Team (a group of volunteer architects, planners, and designers) to provide insight, ideas, and a glimpse into the future. Cass Lake then participated in the Initiative Foundation’s Healthy Communities Partnership program to invite everyone to create a shared vision and plan. Dan Evans, director of the Cass Lake Tourism Bureau, helped establish a Tourism Partnership that focused on revitalizing the local chamber of commerce and showcasing the unique natural resources of the community. His committee has been busy with the Lady Slipper Scenic Byway, connecting the cities of Cass Lake and Blackduck with more than two thousand state flowers along the road. Other projects included creating bike trails, opening a new tourism center, and establishing festivals throughout the year that help bring in visitors and revenue. One of the city’s most intriguing projects

Boomtown Brands “What branding does for companies, products and people, it also does for towns. A brand is a town’s calling card— it can put a town on a map and keep it there for all the world to see. If you’re located in the middle of nowhere, without a strong population base for hundreds of miles, you had better develop something that sets you apart from everyone else. The clearer your brand is, in terms of what it promises to outsiders, the more it will draw business and the greater your town will profit.” —Jack Schultz

is the restoration of one of the few remaining Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps in Minnesota. Camp Rabideau Conservation Academy & Learning Center has earned its status as the best preserved CCC camp in the country. “We plan to restore it to its original character and use,” says Evans, “serving youth and young adults ages fifteen to twenty-five. We’re collaborating with several partners to help revitalize it.” With the help of the Initiative Foundation, Cass Lake is also planning a multi-million dollar downtown revitalization that will improve infrastructure and give the aging downtown a major facelift. The Boys & Girls Club, currently the smallest club in the U.S., will also build a new facility downtown. “When you look back almost ten years,” says Evans, “Cass Lake has come a long way and realized many of the goals it set for itself back then. Now is the time to celebrate that and set some new ten-year goals.” For the citizens of Taylors Falls, preserving their community’s historic natural resources has been a priority for more than one hundred years. Nestled deep within the St. Croix River Valley and watched over by the towering Dalles bluffs, Taylors Falls has been a tourism destination since the early 1910s. The community is a gateway to Minnesota’s second oldest state park, Interstate Park, which lines both sides of the river. The community sought the wisdom of the Minnesota Design Team and the Initiative Foundation, which helped citizens create a “strategic guide” that outlines their vision for the future. The guide includes plans to extend its downtown riverwalk, build a pedestrian-friendly downtown gateway, and create a bike trail

hub that centers around its historic depot. Taylors Falls’ leaders also negotiated to keep power lines underground and to camouflage a cellular tower so they didn’t spoil the scenic views. When a fire tore through a central downtown block, citizens and officials seized the opportunity to formalize downtown architectural guidelines that ensured the smalltown atmosphere would be reflected in all future construction. “Small town historic character and great natural scenic beauty are the building blocks of our community,” says Mike Buchite, mayor of Taylors Falls. “That is the guiding principle of our new comprehensive plan.” Dan Frank, the Initiative Foundation’s program manager for community development, advises rural communities to, “find a uniqueness that sets you apart and then enhance it and promote it.” Buchite agrees and also recommends that communities make an effort to involve, and repeatedly re-involve, the community. “Have a bold vision, yet recognize it’s a long, slow process,” says Buchite. “Bite off small, do-able chunks to focus your resources and seek competent professional guidance in planning and design.” Whether it be unique places, events, or natural resources, recognizing and preserving them for the future is vital to a community’s health and well-being. The biggest challenge to communities can be finding the emotional strength to look at their community from a new perspective. “Often, the communities that need the most help are depressed and get down on themselves,” says Schultz. “It’s turning that attitude around that makes all the difference.” IQ

Communities with good brands: Mackinac Island, Michigan bills itself as the “All Natural” theme park. 80 percent is a state park and no motorized traffic is allowed. Tombstone, Arizona stages daily reenactments of the Shootout at the O.K. Corral. Branson, Missouri touts itself as the live music show capital of the world with more than forty theaters and one hundred shows that draw more than seven million visitors annually. Danville, Illinois developed a “Bricks to Chips” image campaign. Bricks were part of the town’s old history, while chips—as in computer technology—represent the new vision. Western North Carolina publicizes their “HandMade in America” initiative. Unique craftsmanship from six area towns has led to several road trails that lead to more than five hundred sites, including two hundred craft studios.

Source: Boomtown USA, The 7 1⁄2 Keys to Big Success in Small Towns, by Jack Schultz www.boomtowninstitute.com

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BANG for the Buck

Business BOOMS in Fiery Hometowns By Mike Rahn

Photography by Jim Altobell

conomic impact radiates like a silent explosion. When a local business booms in the economy, its shockwaves can be felt in living-wage jobs, purchases of cars, appliances, and even homes, in meals served in restaurants, rounds of golf played at the country club, espressos served in the coffee shops, and so on. Tax revenues fund police and fire protection, road repair, and other local government services. When a business is forced to close its doors, the losses are more visible and most acutely felt in smaller communities. In these places, the economic pie has fewer slicesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;each is more conspicuous when itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gone. The meat market, the hardware store, the five-and-dime, and the independent restaurant are all places where residents not only spend their money, but connect with one another and sustain their sense of community. Beyond lamenting such losses, what can be done to maintain or restore rural economic vitality? What can be done to lift both citizen spirits and sagging fiscal fortunes? What and where are some of the successes that may serve as models for other rural Minnesota communities? Few would expect one-size-fitsall solutions, but there may be common denominators, including tapping into community pride and commitment, creativity, and a willingness to try the untested. 28

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MINPACK’s Bob Thompson: “From the beginning, the Initiative Foundation was keenly interested and committed to helping us.” NASA depends on MINPACK’s microfilm cards to store data for five hundred years.

WINTER 2006

Wadena’s Comeback When retired Bloomington businessman, Dave Evert, became acquainted with Wadena, he was looking for a challenge and an opportunity. In 2003, he found both. Evert missed the business world. He, along with Carol Spearman and other partners, wanted to launch a project that would make a difference to rural communities and their citizens. “The community’s economy and its mood were at a low point,” says Evert. “There were thirteen empty storefronts on Main Street.” The J.C. Penney store—once a large employer and for years one of this small town’s economic bragging rights—stood as a vacant exclamation point. The last three years have seen the beginnings of a Wadena comeback. Evert and Spearman are prime movers in an innovative economic development experiment, a business incubator, called The Village Emporium. The former J.C. Penney store is now a bustling marketplace of specialty shops. Entrepreneurs “test drive” business concepts without a large investment and without abandoning their present livelihood. This is made possible by a combination of centralized cashiering, common support services, and flexible rent arrangements. Shops offer such goods as home décor items, crafts, antiques and collectibles, specialty foods, health

foods, used books, and computer recycling. A coffeehouse serves handdipped ice cream and provides a stage for regional musicians. Homegrown business development may be a more productive avenue for rural communities than “chasing smokestacks”—competing with other communities to attract a single, large, industrial business to provide quality jobs. There are not enough of these large businesses for every rural community to have or rely upon. Two of the businesses that began in the Village Emporium have matured into self-sustaining, independent businesses and have moved into those vacant downtown storefronts. Eleven more have helped buoy Wadena’s downtown since 2003. Evert believes that alternative, niche businesses offer opportunities to succeed in markets that are dominated by corporations. His keys to success are offering a distinctive, preferred product or service, and testing its merits in a supportive environment where risk is limited. “A lot of positive things that started before I got here are now beginning to bear fruit,” says Evert. “A lot of people are working in the same direction now.” Evert cites contributions made by the Initiative Foundation and its Healthy Communities Partnership, which has provided leadership training, planning assistance, and grants to Wadena.

Pine City’s Gone Digital

Entrepreneurs display their wares at the The Village Emporium, which offers low-risk opportunities to try out small business ideas.

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Besides creating opportunities for new businesses, rural economic development strategies may also include preserving existing jobs and businesses. Just as it is easier for any business to keep a customer than to replace one, rural communities may find it more beneficial to turn their attention to the businesses they already have. Dance with the ones who brought you, so to speak. MINPACK, owned by former 3M employee, Bob Thompson, proved to be a beneficial dance partner for Pine City. The company manufactures microfilm cards for archiving important technical information, such as engineering schematics, blueprints, and maps. One might have thought that the digital age had put an end to film for good, but technology that preserves critical documents for up to five hundred years is still in high demand. Engineering documents used by NASA, one of MINPACK’s clients, can certainly be of importance beyond a decade. From automobile manufacturers to the aerospace industry, clients recognize that the convenience of digital imaging requires, at least for now, the permanence of film technology. That leads them to Pine City. How does MINPACK fit into a rural economic development landscape? Pine City, a community of 3,200 located between the Twin Cities and Duluth, certainly qualifies as rural. At issue was not the creation of new jobs, but the preservation of almost one hundred existing jobs in a part of Minnesota not known for its surplus of high-salary opportunities. The technology at the heart of MINPACK’s film archiving product dates to the 1950s, when 3M purchased and perfected it. In the late 1990s, after three decades of operating its microfilm operation, 3M “spun off” this product and its Pine City manufacturing plant in a corporate reorganization. When Thompson saw an opportunity to purchase the business and save one hundred local jobs, he sought advice from Pine City business leaders and received “gap-financing” from the Initiative Foundation. “From the very beginning, the Initiative Foundation was keenly

Left: Entrepreneurs Carol Spearman and Dave Evert renovated a vacant JC Penney into a cutting-edge business incubator in downtown Wadena. Below right: Local needs drove Jim Johnson to develop Hackensack’s Senior Class, a new clinic and assisted-living facility.

MINPACK

economic life of east central Minnesota. Both he and Musgrove are now leading Pine City’s early childhood coalition, as well as economic development efforts. “Our payroll of ninetynine employees is not something that could easily be replaced if it were to go away,” says Thompson. “Fortunately, our business continues to grow. As this happens, we see MINPACK being able to add professional level jobs, including finance, sales and marketing positions. That will be great for the community and the surrounding area.”

than thirty minutes for the ambulance to arrive. The product of the residents’ ambition is an assisted-living facility named Hackensack Senior Class, built on the site of a former high school. An adjacent clinic serves the facility’s residents as well as the general public. In January, 2007, the new facility will meet needs from birth to senior citizenship. The 3,500 square-foot clinic will offer physician and nursing care to meet typical needs, plus those of an aging clientele. The assisted living complex will feature thirtyseven private apartments in six configurations as well as a pool, exercise facility, barber shop, and beauty salon, all of which will be fully handicapped-accessible. Community leaders hope that clinic traffic and new senior residents will also provide an economic boost to downtown businesses.

Hackensack’s “Senior Class” interested and committed to helping us,” says Thompson. He also points out the benefit of having local educational resources to support staffing and training needs. “Bob Musgrove of Pine Technical College has been a coach and mentor,” says Thompson. “He’s been a strong supporter, including adding a manufacturing curriculum designed to help students in the workforce adapt existing skills, and transition into new technical skills.” 3M remains one of MINPACK’s largest clients. In addition to its archiving products, MINPACK also provides assembly services for some of 3M’s consumer products. Under Thompson’s leadership, MINPACK is continuing to make a positive impact on the

What does a small “up-north” community do when its residents decide they have gone without a local health clinic and senior living facility long enough? If you lived in Hackensack, you might have been among the contingent who approached local developer Jim Johnson and asked him to build one. Hackensack residents have long been faced with limited healthcare choices—many must drive almost an hour to see their family doctors. If their health declined, seniors often didn’t have the option of remaining in their own hometown. When citizens came together at a townhall meeting hosted by the Initiative Foundation, they identified access to medical services as their top priority. The need became tragically evident that evening, when a woman suffered a fatal brain aneurism. It took more

“This was a project with a lot of dots to connect,” says Gail Leverson, Cass County Economic Development Commission. These “dots” included the First National Bank of Walker, City of Hackensack, Small Business Administration, Minnesota Business Finance Corporation, the Minnesota Department of Human Services, Faith in Action, and the Initiative Foundation. Together they secured commercial financing, planning assistance, grant funding, and—collectively—a solution to a small community’s dilemma. IQ WINTER 2006

LEADERSHIP

1JDL BO "DF

shared and recycled, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s when things start to stagnate and people feel powerless and apathetic. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a death-sentence.â&#x20AC;? For the past twenty years, Jim Krile has led the Blandin Foundationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Community Leadership Program, which has trained five thousand citizens from more than 250 rural Minnesota communities. His book, The Community Leadership Handbook , is the compilation of Blandinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s training experience and core program elements. (See Krileâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s guest editorial on page 48.) â&#x20AC;&#x153;The truth is that rural life is getting more complex, not simpler,â&#x20AC;? says Krile.

An increasing number of hometowns are realizing the importance of injecting fresh faces and ideas into the well of local leadership.

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Communities must invest in and care about their existing and upcoming leaders. Like anything else, if itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s neglected, there will be a price to pay.â&#x20AC;? Blandinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s program includes eight days of training designed for teams, not individuals. A typical team is made up of twenty-four diverse citizens who spend a week learning what Krile considers to be the core competencies of leadership: Framing Ideas, Building on Social Capital, and Mobilizing Resources. Before he died in 2003, the Initiative Foundationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lead trainer and program architect, Don Bargen, challenged leaders of rural communities to put their own agendas aside and create opportunities for shared leadership and volunteerism. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You do your best when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re humble enough to realize that you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have all the gifts. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not for you to come in on a white horse with shining armor to remake the community,â&#x20AC;? said Bargen. â&#x20AC;&#x153;(Forming a shared) vision always comes before the ego. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s another way of saying that the common good of community has to take precedence.â&#x20AC;? IQ

Community Leadership

Skills

PROBLEM PARTS?

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10

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Framing Ideas Helping a community recognize and define its opportunities in ways that result in action.

Building Social Capital Developing and maintaining relationships that allow us to work together and share resources in spite of our differences.

Mobilizing Resources Engaging a critical mass in taking action to achieve specific outcome(s).

Source: The Community Leadership Handbook, by James F. Krile. Available at blandinfoundation.org

WINTER 2006

POVERTY

BY CYNTHIA MOE

Circle of Strife Poverty Cycle Harder to Break in Rural Communities

nderstanding rural poverty and its effects on Minnesotans is no small task. In a region of the country known for its high work standards, remote homesteads, and mindyour-own-business philosophy, being among the rural poor can create a sense of hopelessness and isolation. Debbie described her experience with rural poverty this way. “Every time you manage to take one step forward, something happens to send you three steps backward,” says Debbie. “Poverty is so overwhelming. You live on the edge without security. The feeling of hope is that tomorrow things will be alright.” Debbie, an Onamia resident and single mother of three daughters, works full-time but is one of thousands of Minnesotans living in rural poverty. In 2005, the federal definition of poverty was an annual income of less than $19,806 for a family of four. That figure assumes that onethird of the total income, or about $125 a week, will provide sufficient food, and another third, or about $550 a month, is enough for adequate housing. The remaining third must then pay for transportation, health care, clothing, heat and utilities, and any other expenses. “I can’t imagine any family of four surviving on $20,000—it takes more like $40,000,” says Kathy Gaalswyk, Initiative Foundation president. “Community leaders must recognize that these guidelines understate the problem.” The definition does not take into account differences in the cost of living in different parts of the country. “One of the biggest issues related to poverty is how prevalent poverty is among children,” says Liz Davis, University of Minnesota’s Department of Applied Economics and member of the national Rural Poverty Research Center. “About 18 percent of children nationally (are poor).” That statistic is most alarming—stopping the generational cycle of poverty depends on

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each new generation’s ability to get and keep living-wage jobs. “Research is quite conclusive on the negative impacts of growing up poor on children’s later success in life,” says Davis. While facing poverty in any region is difficult, being poor in a rural area presents unique challenges. Nationally, poverty rates are about three percent higher in rural areas and the needs are more often overlooked due to greater isolation. But ultimately, whether being poor in an urban area is better than being poor in a

rural area has everything to do with the resources available. Michele, a woman who was displaced by domestic violence and found herself poor and homeless in a rural area, was baffled as she tried to figure out where to turn for help. She explains that one of her most difficult situations was finding housing that was both affordable and acceptable. “It was hard to find a place that was decent and in good shape,” she says, “where the utilities would not exceed the rent.”

Poverty in Central Minnesota According to the Department of Health & Human Services, a family of four is considered to be in poverty when they earn less than $20,000 per year. Annual average wage (2004)

Poverty rate (2003)

Unemployment rate (2006)

Benton Cass Chisago Crow Wing Isanti Kanabec Mille Lacs Morrison Pine Sherburne Stearns Todd Wadena Wright

$31,332 $24,639 $30,910 $29,917 $29,566 $29,432 $27,735 $27,859 $26,971 $33,097 $32,301 $26,356 $27,215 $31,822

7% 12% 6% 9% 6% 9% 9% 9% 11% 5% 8% 11% 12% 5%

3.4% 4.2% 3.7% 3.6% 3.5% 4.7% 4.9% 4.0% 4.6% 3.4% 3.5% 4.0% 5.1% 3.3%

Average

$29,225

4.0%

State

$40,892

3.6%

Source: Northwest Area Foundation (www.nwaf.org)

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Michele was lucky. She eventually found a suitable home she could afford. But housing is a huge concern for those in rural poverty. The lack of housing is often the one issue that forces people in Michele’s position to leave rural areas altogether. Another hurdle is transportation. Small towns can rarely afford to make public transit widely available. Even if a person can manage to buy a car, insurance and maintenance costs are prohibitive. One large repair bill can equal disaster for a struggling family. The geography of rural areas coupled with harsh weather make walking to work difficult at best. “Transportation is an absolute necessity and a big barrier,” says Michele. Her best advice? “If you can, live very close to where you work.” Perhaps the single greatest challenge is finding and keeping living-wage work. Although jobs that offer six or seven dollars an hour are plentiful, the $12,000 to $14,000 annual salary is far below all of the parameters used to identify poverty. To qualify for livingwage work, education is key. In a poll conducted by the Center for Rural Policy and Development, Dr. Jack Geller reports that about half of rural residents have considered getting additional education and training, which is available within thirty miles of home. Programs designed to help non-traditional students can be accessed for virtually any accredited program, but the energy required to work full-time and attend school is considerable. Michele was able to find help from a number of resources to help her get back on her feet, including living with relatives for a time. It still took her about two years to recover financially as well as emotionally. She now spends her days working with Lakes and Pines Community Action Council, helping other people find hope and resources to work their way out of the poverty trap. IQ

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WINTER 2006

HOUSING

BY CHRISTINE HIERLMAIER NELSON

Reasonable Doubt? Affordable Housing Concepts Return Hope to the American Dream

hen Jason Bryant moved his family back from northern Virginia to take a teaching job near Cambridge, he and his wife, Jody, thought that $150,000 would be more than enough to purchase a home. They were wrong. “Anything livable without a lot of maintenance was $160,000 or higher minimum,” says Jody, an image consultant who planned to stay home with their two-year-

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programs for existing homes and not enough commitment by developers for new affordable housing. If the housing boom taught anything, it’s that real estate investment builds wealth. It also promotes stable families and keeps people of all ages in a community to live and work, generating more high school graduates and economic growth. To increase these opportunities in rural Minnesota, community and nonprofit

In Cambridge’s Heritage Greens neighborhood featured in Time magazine, the Bryants found an affordable and attractive home.

old son. “Most were much higher.” The Bryants are the new face of an affordable housing dilemma in rural Minnesota. Existing housing is aging while new homes seem out of reach. Housing agencies cite excessive consumer debt as one barrier. Exacerbating the problem is a combination of expiring federal tax credit

groups are getting creative. “There are certainly going to be more shortages in affordable housing than we have now,” says Sheri Harris, executive director of the Central Minnesota Housing Partnership (CMHP). Central Minnesota Housing Partnership recently closed on an affordable, ninety-

one-unit rental property in Benton County. By transferring ownership to a nonprofit group, rents will stay low. But current resources allow only one or two of these deals per year, Harris says. Another project in Long Prairie involved restoration of a historic hotel to create seventeen new apartments in the downtown area, providing ready customers for downtown businesses.. More than five thousand rental units in central Minnesota, formerly subsidized by a federal tax credit program, may revert to market rate housing in the next few years as they near the end of the compliance period, according to Harris. “Many of the renters will be forced to a nursing home or end up leaving the community,” she says. Jean Novicky, fifty-two, has moved four times since coming to the Brainerd area in 1991. She has four children, two still at home. She earns $11 an hour. After paying $627 a month just for her rent in Nisswa, Novicky was barely making ends meet. She heard about a program in Brainerd where families work together to build their own homes. Sponsored by the Region Five Development Commission, the Self Help Housing Program is the only one of its kind in Minnesota. Mortgages are held by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and provide 100 percent financing with interest rates as low as 1 percent. Payments are based on income rather than the cost of the home. Novicky has lived in her new home, painted autumn yellow, for a year. After helping to build four homes for her family and her neighbors in eleven months, she has the confidence to hang drywall in her basement and asks that visitors remove their shoes. “Instead of saying, ‘I can’t do it,’ I can at least try,” says Novicky. “It makes me feel really good about myself.” Affordable-housing needs in greater Minnesota are multi-faceted and they vary by community, notes Warren Hanson, president and CEO of the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund. The GMHF strives to provide flexibility in technical assistance and funding to address different needs. But it CONTINUED ON PAGE 38 WINTER 2006

HOUSING CONTINUED FROM PAGE 37

takes creativity on the local level to develop the most effective housing programs, he says. “It takes a combination of public leaders and private business people who have to have in their heart the desire to address the need.” For the Bryants, it started with their realtor, who knew about a new program called the Central Minnesota Community Land Trust. The land is placed in trust with a nonprofit for ninety-nine years and taxes are waived for a time to bring down the cost of the home. The first-time homebuyer will receive a portion of the land equity when the home is sold.

If the housing boom taught anything, it's that real estate investment builds wealth. Affordable housing promotes stable families and generates economic growth. The Bryants moved into Heritage Greens, a new urbanist community planned for 292 mixed-income housing units, green space, and commercial use. The project, located on an eighty-six-acre abandoned state mental hospital site, is part of the GMHF Growth Corridor Initiative. Designed to link to a central park and trail system that connects to downtown Cambridge, the project was featured in Time magazine. “We must have worked with six to ten different financing sources, but it was worth it,” says Jody of her new home, which will have four bedrooms and two baths when finished. “Our payment is less than we would have paid for rent in the area, but we can build equity and all those positive things with owning a home. The challenge is getting the first one.” IQ

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WINTER 2006

PHILANTHROPY

BY ANITA HOLLENHORST

Pay it Forward Community Funds Enhance Rural Tradition of Giving Back

arker Brothers has a new version of its Monopoly board game. A Toyota Prius and New Balance running shoe have replaced traditional playing pieces, such as the race car and old boot. New York’s Times Square dethroned the coveted Boardwalk. A few sacred elements have endured. The Community Chest cards remain on the board, adjusted for inflation and popular culture. Now, a player can win $100,000 for appearing in a reality The Initiative Foundation’s Mark Lease and Cathy Hartle join Staples Community Fund TV show, instead of the members Sally Gorton and Alan Judd. meager $10 seconddents to give back to the area where they live, place prize in a beauty contest. Similar to play, and work. Donors know how their dolMonopoly’s old-fashioned Community Chest, lars are spent and how they benefit local projMinnesota’s rural community funds continue ects. Besides promoting the spirit of giving to mature and provide windfalls of financial back, community funds build a sense of pride support to keep their hometowns a few and local ownership. spaces ahead in the game. “Community funds are really a vehicle for “The benefits are visible when the folks donors,” says Chuck Christian, a board memwho live next door are affected,” says Alan ber for both the Three Rivers Community Judd, Staples Community Foundation advisoFoundation (TRCF) and Initiative Foundation. ry board member. “Our donors get a chance to The Initiative Foundation helped Elk River, be visible, they see it in the newspaper, and Rogers, and Zimmerman area citizens form know that it’s a local group of people that are TRCF in 1989 and now serves as its fiscal host making things happen.” and partner. “Donors have a vision of what The Staples Community Foundation their assets can do in their community. We determined that the appearance of their town serve as a resource for those donors, plant was important to residents. Since 2001, their their seed money into a project, and get others foundation has provided $8,000 to projects excited about the work.” that have helped to increase highway signage, Community funds offer a way for resicreate new gardens, add city street banners,

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and support community beautification efforts. The foundation also works to strengthen youth and families and increase community involvement. The funding priorities guide their projects, but remain flexible. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If something comes up,â&#x20AC;? says Christian, â&#x20AC;&#x153;funds can be directed in a different way. Priorities may shift, but the money stays in the community.â&#x20AC;? This philanthropic spirit may gain substantial momentum in the next fifty years. â&#x20AC;&#x153;As the baby boomer generation ages and moves on, an unprecedented amount of wealth will change hands,â&#x20AC;? says Curt Hanson, vice president of donor services at the Initiative Foundation. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in a communityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best interest to make sure that it has a local fund in place that can accept donations, bequests, and other gifts from good people who want to leave a legacy in their hometown.â&#x20AC;? A Boston College study predicted as much as $41 trillion in assets could transfer hands between 1998 and 2052. The study also estimated that $16 trillion would benefit charitable activities. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Think of the good that could be done on behalf of our communities, our quality of life, our children, and our environment,â&#x20AC;? adds Hanson. And like a savings account, community fund endowments are investedâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;only the earnings from those investments are spent. When a community is interested in starting a fund, the foundation may assist leaders and volunteers with matching funds, leadership training, staff assistance, and cofunding of projects. A staff liaison provides hands-on guidance to a local advisory board, which sets funding priorities and a geographic service area. The Initiative Foundation hosts five community funds in central Minnesota. In addition to the Three Rivers and Staples Community Foundations, other foundations include the Greater Pine Area Endowment, the Isle Area Community Foundation, and the Little Falls Area Foundation. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The support weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve received from the Initiative Foundation has been incredible and really made the difference in our success,â&#x20AC;? says Judd. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If a community is thinking of a foundation or mechanism to offer grants in their own area, there isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a greater partner than the Initiative Foundation to make it a reality.â&#x20AC;? IQ

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WINTER 2006

> E A R LY C H I L D H O O D

CHILDREN FIRST Little Falls, Pine City Join Early Childhood Movement

t a Headstart meeting in Little Falls, teachers discussed how to tackle the serious challenges faced by new kindergarten students. Some children didn’t even know their colors. “We realized this problem had to be addressed from a community perspective, involving parents and everyone,” says Rande Smith, principal of Little Falls’ two public elementary schools. Both Little Falls and Pine City turned to the Initiative Foundation’s Minnesota Early Childhood Initiative (MECI), a

INITIATIVE QUARTERLY

statewide project that helps communities create the best possible future for children ages five and younger. With training and grants, volunteer coalitions will focus on kindergarten readiness, quality childcare, and family education. The Minnesota Department of Education reports that 50 percent of all children entering kindergarten are not fully prepared to succeed, an early trend that can hinder them throughout school and life. “We want to raise the bar in the Pine City area,” says Robert

Principal Rande Smith (back right) and members of the new Little Falls early childhood coalition.

Musgrove, Pine Technical College president and coalition leader, “by identifying gaps in services to our young children and then bridging those gaps.” Projects in sixty-two other MECI communities have ranged from providing preschool transportation services to mailing free monthly books to children.

Many have hosted family-fun and learning events. “The first five years are literally the opportunity of a lifetime,” says Kathy Gaalswyk, Initiative Foundation president. “What we do as parents and as community members sets the stage early, and we all have a stake in the process.” IQ

> ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

MOBILE DENTIST FILLS THE GAP Foundation Finances Community Needs

ou hop in the van. Dr. Utley hits the gas. It’s time for your root-canal. Welcome to Lakes Mobile Dental, a full-service dental office that changes its address by the week. The clinic-white van—customized with two reclining chairs, cabinetry, and a friendly dentist (all optional equipment)—is the pride and joy of hygienist-turned-entrepreneur Rebecca Wilson. With business financing from the Initiative Foundation, Wilson now serves ten central Minnesota counties. Her clientele includes

rural patients as well as those with subsidized insurance. “We see a lot of patients who had to drive two or three hours to get dental care,” she says. “There is a huge need in parts of the state.” Only about one out of four dentists in Minnesota accepts patients in state-subsidized programs, which can leave low-income families with few local options and often without proper care. Formerly insured by Minnesota Care herself, Wilson experienced such challenges firsthand. “By being mobile, we can

reach a lot more communities,” she adds. “It can take a bit longer to get the work done, but we’re in Little Falls, St. Cloud, Milaca, and Sandstone at least once a month.” The Initiative Foundation helps businesses meet community needs and create living-wage jobs by providing financing in partnership with other lenders. Since 1986, the foundation has financed more than seven hundred local companies, which secured eight thousand quality jobs. IQ Contact Lakes Mobile Dental at 1-877-562-7874.

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WINTER 2006

> H E A LT H Y O R GA N I Z AT I O N S

RIGHT AS REIN Riding Program Selected to HOP

he four-beat gait moves through Evan’s waist and hips. The heat relaxes his muscles and imitates a casual walking sway he may never have known, but for the animal beneath him. For several minutes, Evan forgets about the physical therapy and the exercise balls and the ever-present aching of cerebral palsy. He’s just riding a horse. St. Cloud-based Project ASTRIDE provides horse-assisted therapy for about fifty children and adults that have myriad physical, developmental, and sensory chal-

lenges. Along with five other organizations, it was recently selected to the Healthy Organizations Partnership (HOP), an Initiative Foundation program that trains nonprofit leaders in effective planning and management. “We want to become an organization that is driven by a vision,” says Clare Palmquist, executive director. “We’d like to develop a focus that looks beyond the everyday activities.” By entering HOP, Project ASTRIDE is seeking to step-up its impact from a trot to a gallop. A

new facility, expanded services and eliminating the oneyear waiting list for new riders are among the top priorities. “Many organizations take the tools that we provide and just run with it,” says Cathy Hartle, the foundation’s senior program manager for organizational effectiveness. “With a little hard work, many of them have been able to accomplish amazing things.” IQ

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WINTER 2006

sGUEST

EDITORIAL

BY JAMES F. KRILE, PH.D.

The Leader Within Building Community is Everyone’s Job

he changes taking place in rural Minnesota certainly fit Yogi Berra’s famous quote: “The future ain’t what it used to be.” Our communities are changing in terms of who lives in the community, where they came from, and how old they are. Our communities are increasingly impacted by a global economy and the changing roles of state and federal government. As a result, rural communities are becoming complex and diverse in ways we have not seen before. Our task is not to revitalize them. It is to build on the new life, the energy, the new and diverse assets, and possibilities that already exist. As a community’s population becomes more diverse, it must deal with a variety of traditions, values, and viewpoints that can be seen merely different from each other at best—or directly opposed at worst. We will have to learn to set aside old thinking, old rivalries, and old concepts of “turf” that get in the way of working together. Community leadership must build on our diverse assets by finding forces that unite us, which are stronger than the forces that divide us.

“This nation could die of comfortable indifference to the problems that only citizens can solve.” Whose job is it to provide the leadership that will bring us together to make the best use of our diverse assets and gifts? John Gardner, a leadership scholar who served as advisor to four United States presidents, gave an eloquent answer to that question: “I keep running into highly capable people all over this country who literally never give a thought to the well-being of their community. And I keep wondering who gave them permission to stand aside! I’m asking you to issue a wake-up call to those people—a bugle call right in their ear. And I want you to tell them that this nation could die of comfortable indifference to the problems that only citizens can solve. Tell them that.” In other words, it’s our job to provide leadership whenever and however we can to build healthy, vital communities. This

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ILLUSTRATION BY BRAD RAYMOND

means that we need to think of community leadership in new ways. Community leadership occurs when anyone, regardless of official position, or lack of it, works to develop and sustain the health of his or her community. We need to think of leadership as a role that is defined by what people do rather than by their personality or position. Every time we spend an hour working with someone on a community project, every time we vote, every time we comment in the parking lot on what is going on in the community, every time we write a letter to the editor, we are doing community leadership. Healthy, vital rural communities will not happen by accident. Rural communities will be vital and healthy when enough people get actively engaged in building on our diverse assets and support each other in that work. As my father used to say, “If you’re not involved, you will probably get the community you deserve, not the one you want.” IQ Jim Krile is the director of the Blandin Foundation leadership programs, which includes the awardwinning Blandin Community Leadership Program. His professional involvement prior to joining the Blandin Foundation includes: Department of Rural Sociology, University of Minnesota; Center for the Study of Local Government, St. John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota; Center for Community Organization and Area Development, Augustana College, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Jim joined the Blandin Foundation in 1986.

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