Direct From the Pie Capital of Minnesota...

If you didn't know... Braham, Minnesota is proudly hailed as the Homemade Pie Capital of Minnesota (declared such by former Governor Rudy Perpich in 1990).

But you know what else is special about Braham? ...and no, it's not that they're a participant in our HCP program!

Not only does Minnesota's first woman lieutenant governor, Marlene Johnson, hail from this small town of 1,600 but so too does our new Children, Youth & Families Specialist, Sara Dahlquist!

Sara started with us just a couple weeks ago and yesterday she participated in her first official training session with our three new early childhood coalitions from Elk River, Pine River-Backus and Wadena County. Here's a clip of Linda's introduction of Sara and a bit of her in action:



Sara replaced Jana Shogren, who is enjoying her new position as the executive director at Bridges of Hope in Brainerd. We'd like to welcome Sara to the foundation - we're so glad you've joined us!

If you'd like to learn more about Sara feel free to read the news release or find her in our staff directory.

IQ Receives Gold!

Our IQ Magazine recently won a Gold Award from the Council on Foundation's Wilmer Shields Rich Awards for Excellence in Communications!

We were named the best magazine/periodical in North America among foundations with up to $100 million in assets. Our nomination included the following issues:

• Winter '08 (early childhood mental health)
• Spring '09 (Initiative Award winners/philanthropy)
• Summer '09 (manufacturing)
• Fall '09 (employment)

Judges evaluated all entries based on the following criteria:

• Overall outcomes/impact
• Message and design effectiveness
• Organization of content
• Outreach/distribution strategies

According to the Council on Foundations’ website, “The awards, which originated in 1984, showcase the ways foundations and corporate giving programs use communications strategies and techniques to advance their grantmaking goals.” An award ceremony took place yesterday morning at their annual conference in Denver, Colorado.

Thank you and congrats to our IQ Team for all of their hard work!

Second Time's A Charm for Lake Association

Big Fish Lake, located near Cold Spring, MN is one of the largest lakes in the state. It’s popular for boating, fishing and other recreation (like bird-watching as these photos from Big Fish show!).

Recently, their lake association joined our Healthy Lakes and Rivers Partnership (HLRP) program.

Big Fish Lake Association isn’t a stranger to the program though; it was also a participant back in 2002. But this time around, there is new and dedicated leadership involved and everyone is looking forward to figuring out how they can make Big Fish the best it can be.

Participating lake or river associations must attend two of our leadership training sessions as part of the program, which is exactly what Jim Sand of Big Fish Lake Association has done.

“After attending the training workshop I did increase my knowledge base, but I realized there is still so much more to learn,” said Sand. “Hearing from other lake associations at the training and making connections with others has given me a wealth of resources.”

Big Fish’s Lake Association hasn’t quite determined what their top priorities will be for the lake, but they hope to work with area farmers and governmental agencies to clean up the water that enters the lake from cropland which will have a positive effect on our overall water quality, said Sand.

HLRP works with associations in many different areas including developing strategic management plans, restoring shorelines, upgrading septic systems and enhancing habitats.













Sand’s recommendation to other groups thinking about participating in HLRP?

“Be prepared to get to work! Attending the workshop is the easy part, it will be the follow up work that you and your team do that will really take up your time and energy, but it is also that work that will give you great satisfaction.”

For more info about HLRP, visit our website or contact Don Hickman.

Your idea could be worth $15,000!

Have you always had ideas on how to make your community better, but never knew where to go with them?

Now you can do something with those great ideas!

All you have to do is visit Minnesota Idea Open's website at www.MNIdeaOpen.org to suggest solutions to important community issues.

Idea Open’s goal is to sponsor idea challenges that will get Minnesotans thinking and talking about issues, and more importantly... solutions! Their first idea challenge is focused on obesity and the community with the best idea will receive a $15,000 grant.

So get going... visit their website... and submit your ideas today!!

48th Winter Institute - In Review

Touted as a merger of academic horsepower and business horse-sense, the 2010 Winter Institute proved to be just that.

The 48th annual academic and business event, held March 4 in St. Cloud, drew nearly 500 people throughout the day.

This was the first time the foundation joined with St. Cloud State University, the St. Cloud Area Chamber of Commerce and Times Media to sponsor and organize the event.

The morning's academic event was at St. Cloud State and the afternoon/evening business event followed at the Best Western Kelly Inn. The evening's events kicked off with an interactive panel discussion, complete with a new twist: live text polling. (It really was pretty fun to see the results coming in the on screens up front!) The discussion was moderated by Minnesota Public Radio's Chief Economics Correspondent, Chris Farrell.

That was followed by the traditional area economic forecast and something new this year - some comedy (and yes, even a non-economics person like me found it pretty funny!) from Yoram Bauman, The Stand-Up Economist.

Many agree that the economy is slowly turning around, including Randy Olson, our VP for Economic Opportunity, “I think the worst is behind us. What happened in 2009 was probably the worse we’ll see. It’s important for our region to have a strong economy because it means there are jobs, growth and consumer spending.”

The attendee survey revealed that half of the participants were there for the first time - 60% said they'd attend again!

The event also received some nice media coverage - take a look (or listen)!

St. Cloud Times Articles:

• Economists, business leaders focus on future at Winter Institute
• Experts say Great Recession is over

Minnesota Public Radio:

60 people + 1 day = 11,664 packaged meals

Many people get time off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but for VISTA and AmeriCorps members, it’s a day on; a day for a community service project.

At the MLK National Day of Service Event (this past January 18) nearly 60 people helped pack food for the Kids Against Hunger (KAH) program at their warehouse in Sauk Rapids.

This was the first time the VISTAs and AmeriCorps members worked with KAH. They decided to work with KAH this year because it’s a great cause and it was something they could all do—indoors, said Chris Fastner, our VISTA Program Manager.

“The whole process of that day was empowering,” said Fastner. “It was a unique opportunity for all these VISTA and AmeriCorps members to come together and do something as a group that was very tangible with an immediate result.”

That day there were 11,664 meals (54 boxes) packaged, which were all taken and shipped to Haiti.

KAH relies heavily on volunteers to help in the packaging process so that they can send food worldwide when it’s needed. According to their website, “More than 8,000 volunteers have packaged over 5 million meals since opening on March 1, 2003.”

For more information about KAH visit: http://www.kidsagainsthungercm.org or about the VISTA program visit: http://www.ifound.org/effective_volunteers.php.

To see all the pictures from the days’ event visit the MN Initiative Foundation VISTAs’ Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=photos&gid=126833602116.

Hickman Preparing for Vietnam Trip

Vietnam may be over 8,000 miles away from Minnesota, but a group of 80 people are soon going to make the long trek.

Our own Don Hickman, along with his wife and two kids are among those in the group planning to go - their daughter, Ellen, was adopted from Vietnam almost ten years ago. Hickman’s family will be helping to build houses as part of their six-day venture.

The Catalyst Foundation (the trip's sponsor) is a nonprofit based in Northfield, MN, that improves the lives of at-risk Vietnamese by working to prevent child trafficking and building houses and schools. Once the homes and schools are built, children learn to read and write and be recognized as citizens so they are better able to receive assistance.

Hickman’s family traveled to Vietnam in 2000 to adopt Ellen, so this time they want to go and return the good deed by helping in anyway possible.

While in Vietnam, Hickman’s daughter wants to bring school supplies with to teach the Vietnamese children English. The trip is set to take place in this month and each of the families are expected to donate $3,000 to help purchase building supplies.

Hickman is hoping people are willing to donate to the Vietnam Aid Expedition to help raise the funds needed. For more information or to donate contact Don or visit the Catalyst Foundation at: http://www.catalystfoundation.org/

New office chair: more than just a great place to sit.

Kathy recently received a new chair for the office from the Anderson Center of St. Cloud.

She received the chair as a “Thank You” for participating in the Anderson Center’s Roundtable Forum - a gathering of Minnesota business leaders who are committed to excellence and business development.

The chair is eye-catching and fits in quite nicely with its wood frame, blue cushion and engraving of the Anderson Center Roundtable’s logo on the backrest of the chair.

What's the significance of a chair?

“It’s about partnership,” she said. “Having gone through their Executive Forum, I can attest to the high quality of their training.”

She went on to say: “We're proud to be a partner with the Center in supporting the growth and development of local companies that provide quality jobs. These services complement our business financing programs and community and economic development mission very well.”

The Anderson Center’s mission is to provide management and business development services that facilitate economic progress in Greater Minnesota. They work with the six Minnesota Initiative Foundations by proving scholarships to nonprofits and other small organizations so that they can attend a Center Forum.

Learn more about the Anderson Center at: www.acmbd.org.

170 Jobs Secured at Larson Boat!

We are incredibly excited to share news about a loan that we just closed on a few hours ago...

Larson Boat Company has been a key business in Little Falls since the early 1900's. At it's peak a few years ago, the facility employed nearly 900 people. Because of the economic crisis though, boat sales plummeted, jobs were cut and the whole company was at risk.

With the help of four other organization we helped put together a financing package that will keep the Little Falls manufacturing facility open and secure about 170 full-time jobs. (Larson also hopes to add another 150-175 more jobs over the next couple years.)

The other groups that were involved included:

• The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development's Minnesota Investment Fund,
• The Economic Development Authority of the City of Little Falls,
• Community Development of Morrison County and,
• The North Central Economic Development Association, Inc.

In the words of Kathy Gaaslwyk, our president: "I’m very proud of our organization for being involved in this project—it’s a great example of why we exist and why we do business loans."

And even though we share this good news, our thoughts go out to the 180 people who were recently laid off from the Crestliner/Triton manufacturing facility here in town. It sounds like some of those people will be able to relocate to New York Mills but it's still a harsh blow to a lot of families here.

And it's proof that there's still a lot of work to do to bring jobs back to our central Minnesota cities!

For more information about the Larson Boat Company project read the official news release from today, a recent article from the Morrison County Record or visit the Larson website.

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.