Help Wanted: Kid Specialist

Want to work at the Initiative Foundation? Here's your opportunity...

We are now seeking a Children, Youth & Families Specialist to support citizen-driven early childhood community coalitions, early childhood mental health coalitions, youth engagement teams and other regional and community-based early care and education initiatives.

Bachelor’s degree in community development, human services, education or related with three years experience or equivalent. Qualified candidates will be experienced organizers with human service, training and community development background. Yes, we are an Equal Opportunity Employer as well as a top-flight place to work hard, have fun, make a difference, and advance your career.

View the position description on our website, and submit application (required) with your resume by February 19, 2010.

MN Compass Provides Local Trends, Stats

Looking for LOCAL statistics on any of these topics?

• early childhood
• educational attainment
• employment
• crime
  
• environmental quality
• civic engagement
• housing

Minnesota Compass (www.mncompass.org) might be your answer! The new website, which launched this past Tuesday and was created by the Wilder Foundation, is an expansion of their Twin Cities Compass but provides information on critical trends for the well-being of communities in Greater Minnesota.

Data is taken from a wide variety of sources and is presented by county so that you can compare your stats to other regional and statewide peers. The project is supported by the Minnesota Initiative Foundations, The McKnight Foundation, Bush Foundation, Blandin Foundation and others.

We plan to use the information in a variety of ways but mostly to help communities in our Healthy Communities Partnership program identify and work on areas that either represent economic opportunities or where they lag in comparison to others.

To learn more: read our 1.26.10 news release on the website's launch or visit the website.

One Way to Beat the Winter Doldrums

Although April is National Volunteer Month I thought this would be a nice piece to share now. Getting out of the house and helping others might be just the thing for beating those mid-winter blues!

The Minnesota Association for Volunteer Administration (MAVA) recently released results from their November 2009 survey: The Status of Minnesota’s Volunteer Programs in a Shifting Environment.

The survey found that:

• nearly 60% of organizations reported an increased reliance on volunteers compared to a year ago.
• over 50% reported an increase in volunteer hours of service.
• 44% of respondents reported increased numbers of inquires from potential new volunteers.
  
• 52% reported volunteers were more likely to have strong work skills.
  

Respondents shared hundreds of strategies for volunteer programs to respond to the current times. The survey included responses of 280 Minnesota nonprofit and governmental organizations. For the full survey report go to: www.MAVANetwork.org/shiftingenv.

Are you looking for volunteering opportunities in central Minnesota? Contact one of our HOP participants or check the United Way's website for more ways to get involved in your community!

Got a Fresh Idea?

Pepsi-Cola will be awarding more than $20 million in 2010 for your fresh ideas!

Their Pepsi Refresh Project invites people, businesses and nonprofits to submit their creative ideas for "moving the world forward" by improving their local communities and neighborhoods. Ideas can be submitted in one of six different categories:

• Health
• Arts & Culture
• Food & Shelter
• The Planet
• Neighborhoods
• Education

Ideas can be submitted at any time (up to 1,000 will be accepted every month) via the refresheverything.com website and then the public's votes decide which ideas get funded.

Bernick's Beverages and Vending, the Central Minnesota Community Foundation and United Way of Central Minnesota will be hosting an informational meeting about the project on Monday, January 25th, 2010 from 3:30 - 4:30 at the St. Cloud Library.

For more info watch their video on YouTube, download the news release or visit www.refresheverything.com to submit your idea and vote!

Thank You!

We recently said "goodbye" to a few special people...

MaryAnn Schefers started working at the foundation in September 2002, and worked in both our donor services and finance departments throughout the past seven years.

Today she starts a new adventure in Pine City working in the accounting department at Pine Technical College. Curt Hanson, who probably worked the most with MaryAnn, had this to say:

"MaryAnn could be a poster child for the “typical central Minnesota farm kid,” in that she thrives on hard work, is reliable and very conscientious, and solves problems rather than pointing them out and complaining about them. Pine Tech made a good choice."

We will miss her dedication, attention to detail and great sense of humor!

Thank you, MaryAnn!

*********************
In December we recognized a few foundation friends who "retired" from our board of trustees. Gloria Contreras Edin of Inver Grove Heights and G. George Wallin, PhD. of Big Lake had both served since 2000. Jim Anderson, of Crosslake and Key Largo, Fla. had been a Trustee since 2007.

In recognition of their service to the foundation, all three were invited to select a charity of their choice to receive a $1,000 grant. They selected:

• Perseverancia (Cold Spring), to support opportunities for Latina leaders, in recognition of Gloria Contreras Edin,
• Saron Lutheran Church (Big Lake), for the hospitality committee, in recognition of G. George Wallin, PhD., and
• Kinship Partners, Inc. (Brainerd), to support a youth mentoring program, in recognition of Jim Anderson.
  

To learn more about their contributions to the board, read the news release from last week or to meet our current board members, visit our website.

Free paints & coatings!

Valspar Corporation (headquartered in Minneapolis) has helped us out for the last 12 years by supplying area nonprofits and communities with FREE paint and coatings. Some of last year's projects included:

• Audubon Center of the North Woods, Sandstone: Interior and exterior paint for wildlife barn, office, dining hall and outdoor structures used for activities and classes.
• City of Big Lake: Interior paint for the food shelf expansion and new senior center.
• Crow Wing County 4-H, Brainerd: Interior and exterior paint stage and new electrical room in the 4-H building at the fairgrounds.
• City of Little Falls: Exterior painting to preserve a historic barn by the Pine Grove Park.
• Long Prairie Hockey Association: Exterior and interior paint for the exposition arena which is used for hockey, 4-H presentations, trade shows and community gatherings.
• Minnesota Pioneer Park, Annandale: Exterior paint for Big Woods building and Finnish Apostolic Church at the history museum.
• The Refuge Network, Cambridge: Interior paint for addition to a home for women and children fleeing domestic abuse.
• St. Cloud Housing & Redevelopment Authority: Exterior paint for “Paint the Town” event, painting low-income homes in northeast St. Cloud area.
• Sebeka School District: Interior paint for students who will paint murals on high school walls.

Applications for this year's program are due to the Foundation office by March 5th. For more information on the program and how to apply download the fact sheet/application or the official news release that we just sent out today.

HAPPY PAINTING!

Making the Most Out of Mentoring

Ever thought about becoming a mentor? You should. Kinship Partners in Brainerd is looking to match 47 kids with area adults.

Understandably, your first thoughts might be: “What would we do, and how much does it cost?"

I'd answer with this: In my 6 years as a Kinship mentor I have simply involved my partner in doing things that I like to do anyway. And Kinship Partners is very good at matching mentors with a young person that has similar interests. When you have those common interests you don’t have to plan something special, just make room for another person to share the experience with you. The financial cost is minimal (if anything) because you'd probably be doing those same things by yourself anyway.

I look forward to my meetings with Nick. I definitely don’t think of him as a project, or a burden, but as a friend. I would recommend this to anyone who really wants to make a difference!

Read through their latest news release or Kinship's website to learn more about becoming a mentor.

A Magnificent Memorial

Today at the Foundation office, members of the Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery Memorial Association along with internationally-recognized artist, Charles Kapsner, revealed five original sketches to area media and the public.

The Association commissioned Kapsner to design and paint 8x10-foot oil canvases that will be hung in the Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery (7 miles north of Little Falls, near Camp Ripley). The canvases "represent all who served, commemorating their sacrifices in all wars, rather than eulogizing a particular war."

I got a chance to look at them and they are truly amazing pieces of work!

If you're interested in supporting the project, you can make a donation to the Manifest Destiny Fund through the Foundation by contacting Curt Hanson or donating online through GiveMN.org.

For more information about the project and to see the sketches visit: www.buonfresco.com/veterans.

Developing Leaders for Life

“I feel like I just left church – so refreshing and encouraging!”

“I realize I am in the driver’s seat (of my life).”

“I will try to be more self aware of my frustrations or ignorance in conversation and how I can make changes to get more out of those conversations.”

These are just a few comments from the evaluations of a recent AmeriCorps*VISTA training session on communication. I think they express the general sentiments of the group that learning to be a better communicator is not only valuable... but rewarding!

I’ve found that nearly 25% of our VISTA members go on to be employed by their project sites or other nonprofits so I realized that we have a golden opportunity to not only improve our program but also build future leaders for our area nonprofits.

To this end, we’ve experimented with a series of professional development trainings that we call Developing Leaders for Life. They provide our VISTA members with opportunities to build their “core” skills, which are essential to success in most jobs - things like:

• good communication,
  
• clear awareness of personal strengths,
  
• an understanding of goal-setting & action planning,
  
• knowledge of group development &
  
• techniques for managing conflict, etc.

These workshops are hands-down one of our VISTA members’ favorite aspects of the program as they see the value both personally and professionally. And I just have to believe that, as a result of this program, our members deliver more for their VISTA sites. I think they'll go on to do better work no matter what they do for a job or in what capacity they serve their communities.

We are truly developing leaders for life who will make a splash on central Minnesota communities and service agencies!

Do you know of a nonprofit that could benefit from hosting a VISTA member? We're currently recruiting - check our website for more info!

The Nerdery's Website Challenge

Anni O'Neill at the Southern Minnesota Foundation is a good friend of mine who recently forwarded me a great resource for nonprofits and community groups.

Every year Sierra Bravo, a website company in Bloomington, holds an overnight website development challenge. Programmers from around the midwest team up to provide selected nonprofits with 24 hours of free design, development and programming in order to create a new website for them. When all's said and done, each nonprofit receives over 200 hours of service for FREE!

This year's challenge is being held on March 20-21, 2010 in St. Paul. Nonprofits can apply for the challenge on The Nerdery's website: www.overnightwebsitechallenge.com.

Anni's husband works for Sierra Bravo and she says, "I've attended the final hours of the event for the past two years, and it is an amazing experience to witness."