SPRING 2022 / VOLUME 90 @nwmnfoundation
@NMF_1986
RESOURCE COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
Inside
• A note from our President • Scholarship success stories • A look at our Hub Grant • Celebrating our Northwest SBDC
A note from our President Hello Neighbor,
Our Mission The Northwest Minnesota Foundation invests resources, facilitates collaboration and promotes philanthropy to make the region a better place to live and work.
Board of Directors Steven Anderson, Chair Michelle Paquin, Vice Chair Cheri Gunvalson, Secretary Todd Beckel, Treasurer Jason Carlson Kaitlyn Grenier Jill Johnson
This spring, we at the Northwest Minnesota Foundation (NMF) embarked on an adventure. We visited 16 communities over 6 weeks and every single one of us attended an event out in community. Unfortunately, a few of our planned events were canceled due to weather, but still we were able to meet over 80 community members through these events. Our biggest takeaway — We’ve missed connecting with all of YOU, our neighbors, over these last couple of challenging years. During these events we heard a range of positives and bright spots about your communities, and we also heard about some serious challenges. We took lots of notes and are now compiling a report that we’ll use to share back what we heard to participants, and the whole region, later this summer. We continue to be amazed and inspired by your energy, ideas, and resiliency, helping to build better lives for all of those who call our community home. We support community by connecting people to resources, building tomorrow’s best future alongside all of you, our neighbors. Come join us on an adventure! If you want to hear more about our work, or you think we should know more about yours, or attend a community event, let’s talk. 218-759-2057 or frontdesk@nwmf.org Your neighbor,
Mike LaRoque Connie Lindstrom Bruce Reeves
Karen White, President
Kristi Thorfinnson Debra Zak
Roseau
Kittson
Lake of the Woods
We continue to be amazed and inspired by your energy, ideas, and resiliency, helping to build better lives for all of those who call our community home.
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@nwmnfoundation @NMF_1986 nwmf.org 2
Northwest Minnesota Foundation | RESOURCE
IDEA Competition announces its winners! WINNER
Megan Pederson, Fertile Her idea is Community Voice, a mobile app intended to serve communities by increasing community engagement, increasing transparency among community leaders, and connecting people to services. Prizes: • $10,000 in cash Pictured are, from left: Jorge Prince, CFO of LaValley Industries, a Silver-level sponsor of the IDEA Competition; winner Megan Pederson of Fertile; and Mic McCrory, IDEA Competition coordinator.
• Named the 2022 Minnesota Cup semifinalist for Northwest Minnesota.
RUNNER-UP
Kenna, Chloe, and Rocky Cook / Cook Family Farm, Bemidji Their idea expands on the development and sale of dryer balls from alpaca fibers and organic soil enhancers from alpaca manure. Prizes: • $4,000 in cash • $2,500 in marketing services from Evolve Creative
Pictured are, from left: Mic McCrory, IDEA Competition coordinator; Kenna Cook, 18; Rocky Cook, 15; Chloe Cook, 16; and Jorge Prince, CFO of LaValley Industries, a Silver-level sponsor of the IDEA Competition.
RUNNER-UP
Merlin Olson, Lengby His idea is the Motor-grader Debris Blower, a debris blower that can be attached to a road grader, allowing debris to be quickly and easily cleared from roadways. Prizes: • $1,000 cash • $5,000 in engineering and technical writing services from LVI Supply • $5,000 in patent and trademark legal services through HSML Law in Minneapolis • $5,000 in services provided by IDEA Works for general consulting, including advanced business planning, facility acquisition, and vendor selection
Pictured are, from left: Jorge Prince, CFO of LaValley Industries, a Silver-level sponsor of the IDEA Competition; and Merlin Olson of Lengby. The pair is standing behind and next to the Motor-grader Debris Blower, a road grader attachment developed by Olson Road Patrol. SPRING 2022 | nwmf.org
Since its inception, the IDEA Competition has awarded more than $465,000 in cash prizes and $50,000 in in-kind awards. 3
‘A built-in study group’
Fosston triplets reflect on importance of scholarships
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he cost of one child’s college tuition is hard to manage; for the Balstads, there were three entering college all at the same time. Trent, Faith, and Lance Balstad all graduated high school in 2021. “Education is very important to my husband and I, so even from the time they were very little we were putting money aside for college for them,” said Lori Balstad. “The cost was a concern because there’s three.” All their children, including Trisha, the triplets’ older sister, were encouraged to work hard in school.
Pictured are, from left: Faith, Lance, and Trent Balstad
Every year, we hear from successful scholarship recipients who nearly didn’t apply because they didn’t think they had a strong chance at actually being awarded. At NMF, we believe that students must take advantage of all educational opportunities presented to them. It’s a misconception that scholarships are only awarded to valedictorians and those with perfect grade-point averages. With more than 110 scholarships available, we encourage all students to apply to those scholarships for which they are eligible (based, for example, on their school district or potential field of interest), because 4
you just never know how awards will be determined. To illustrate this, we’re sharing here the story of the Balstad triplets: Trent, Faith, and Lance Balstad. All three Fosston High School graduates were studious students who juggled a variety of activities and athletics, and each earned scholarships in recognition of their achievements.
“From the time they were very little we told them to get very involved in school, but the main thing is to do your best and keep your grades up high because that will help you get scholarships,” Lori said. “We pushed academics pretty hard.” While they each ultimately earned high grades in high school, academics didn’t come equally easily to all of them. Since all three also took advantage of AP courses in high school, they all experienced both the challenge of college-level coursework and also the benefit of graduating high school with a few dozen college credits already earned.
The Northwest Minnesota Foundation believes that the community members who will have the most impact in our communities are young learners who are prepared for success. Northwest Minnesota Foundation | RESOURCE
Submitted photo. Pictured are, from left: Faith; Gabriel Eronmosele, Trisha’s husband; Trisha; Tennis, Lori, Lance, and Trent Balstad.
MOM TIP: “Because they were so involved in extracurriculars – basketball is huge right at the time you’re filling out scholarships in January, February – they started working on scholarships before Christmas. Over the Christmas break, they were pushing each other to make sure they got those essays written because they knew they would be short on time.”
“I had to study a lot,” Lance said. “I’m not a very good test taker. I could do all right on the homework, but when it came to taking tests, I would be studying for a couple of hours.”
Nearly $300,000 was dispersed in 2021 through scholarships housed at NMF.
“I definitely studied a lot,” Faith said. There’s no way I could have taken a test without studying and done well. But, also, I feel like it helped that we all three were in the same classes because we could study together.”
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Some scholarships are open to the entire region, others are targeted toward specific school districts, potential field of study, or certain extracurricular activities.
NMF has more than 110 scholarship opportunities available to students in Northwest Minnesota.
Most of the scholarships are for high school seniors; however, there are also opportunities for nontraditional students or college-enrolled students.
SPRING 2022 | nwmf.org
“Like a built-in study group,” Lance said. That proved particularly beneficial once COVID-19 emerged. “It was a lifesaver, Faith said. “We could do our classes together, use the same computer, or be in the same area together. It helped to keep the motivation going.” Each scholarship was a win – not only for the teen who earned it, but for everyone. “Us being siblings, it could be easy to be like, ‘Ugh, he got the scholarship,’ almost like, ‘I’m jealous,’” Faith said, “But if any of us got a scholarship, it was actually, “‘Okay, that’s super cool,’ because in the end it helps the whole family.”
Are you interested in learning more about our scholarship programs, or do you want information on how to establish a scholarship? Please visit nwmf.org/scholarships for details or email scholarships@nwmf.org
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TRENT
Scholarships earned (those housed within NMF only): • Mildred Beckstrom Memorial Scholarship • Team Industries – Don Ricke Scholarship • East Polk County Fair Scholarship
Extracurriculars: • Sports: football, basketball, baseball • Arts: band and choir • Robotics • Knowledge Bowl • Student Council • National Honor Society • 4-H
College: Attending NDSU, studying Computer Engineering “We toured it and it looked really nice. It is a very good engineering college. I knew I wanted to go into that, but I wasn’t sure what type (initially).”
FAITH
Scholarships earned (those housed within NMF only): • Team Industries – Don Ricke Scholarship • East Polk County Fair Scholarship
College: Attending University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, studying Nursing “My second option was also NDSU, just because it’s a really good nursing school, but we went on a family trip once to Colorado, and I loved it. Looking into colleges, kind of as a joke, I searched best nursing schools in Colorado. I knew I’d have to pay out of state (tuition) so I wanted a cheaper one too, because there are ones there that like are pretty good nursing schools but they’re also very expensive – and it kind of just fell into place.”
Extracurriculars: • Sports: swimming, basketball, softball • Arts: band and choir • Robotics • Knowledge Bowl • Student Council (president) • National Honor Society • COVID Response Team
LANCE
Scholarships earned (those housed within NMF only): • John and Faye Hedin Scholarship • Team Industries – Don Ricke Scholarship Extracurriculars: • Sports: football, basketball, baseball • Arts: band and choir • Robotics • Student Council (vice president) • National Honor Society • 4-H
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College: Attending NDSU, studying Computer Science “I wanted to go somewhere close. We toured a bunch of colleges close by and NDSU was my favorite. I originally was going into Engineering, so it was the best choice for me, but I changed (majors) and Computer Science is also really good at NDSU.”
Northwest Minnesota Foundation | RESOURCE
‘Thinking about the whole family right away’ HU B G R A NT A IM S TO CO N N EC T FAMI LI ES WI TH SERVI C ES
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he Northwest Minnesota Foundation is committed to strengthening support for children and families throughout our region. As one of our three key drives, that commitment to our region’s children propels several of our internal programs and initiatives. One of these is our Hub grant. In 2021, NMF was awarded a two-year grant through the Minnesota Department of Human Services to develop a system through which families would be connected to services. The goal of the Hub grant is three-fold: make it easier for families to get what they need; increase access to services; and grow community engagement and support community-developed services. The best way to illustrate how that work is actually accomplished through NMF is to first reflect on the definition of a hub itself:
NMF, as the grant recipient, is charged with carrying out the state’s goal of developing a Hub model through which families can be connected to services. NMF contracts with community partners throughout Northwest Minnesota, who then work directly with families to provide the supports and services needed. Kari Cooper, an NMF program officer, acts as the program manager – serving as the point of contact with the Minnesota Department of Human Services – and then communicates and works with the “hubs,” six partner agencies that cover our region: • Bi-CAP: Beltrami and Cass counties • Inter-County Community Council: Clearwater, East Polk, Red Lake, and Pennington counties • MAHUBE-OTWA: Mahnomen, Hubbard, Becker, Otter Tail, and Wadena counties, and White Earth Nation
noun
• Northwest Community Action: Kittson, Roseau, Marshall, and Lake of the Woods counties
1. The central part of a wheel, rotating on or with the axle, and from which the spokes radiate.
• Red Lake Nation: serving Red Lake Tribal Nation and its enrolled members throughout the state
2. The effective center of an activity, region, or network.
• Tri-Valley Opportunity Council: Marshall, West Polk, and Norman counties Hub Grant continued on Page 8
SPRING 2022 | nwmf.org
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Connecting families to resources Hub Grant continued from Page 7 How it works: Red Lake
How it works: MAHUBE-OTWA The work funded through the Hub grant is not necessarily new, explained Dana Patsie, the director of child care programs at Mahube-Otwa. But it does fund additional, more targeted outreach. “Mahube tries to connect clients to resources every day,” she said. “Our Head Start families have wrap-around services – (such as) their family service worker, their home visitor, the center staff – so we’ve been doing that connection work for as long as we’ve been in existence.” With the Hub funding, Mahube-Otwa has strengthened its focus on implementing a whole family approach to services. For example, if someone applies for energy assistance, there is more consideration and follow-up rather than just looking at the energy assistance application for approval or denial. “We might see they have a senior in the household and say, ‘Do you know about our senior programs?’ … or, if they are eligible for Head Start, they’re most likely eligible for so many other things – medical assistance, food support,” Patsie said. “We are just thinking about the whole family right away, rather than waiting for them to come back. It seemed like a really good fit.” An initial challenge has been staffing levels needed to capture all of the necessary data across all of their offices and programs, so the focus thus far has been capturing data through early learning scholarship families in Mahnomen and Hubbard counties. “We’ve been reaching out to them, those that we’ve awarded – those that are on a ‘need more information’ list, those that we deny – and connect with them to let them know that we could do a screening for services, if they’re in need of (supports).”
Read more about the Hub Grant online at nwmf.org/hub
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Ruby Gurneau is the child care development director for Red Lake Nation. She works at the new Red Lake Child Development Center along Highway 1, which opened in January 2021. Her work is centered around child care, including not just the center but also the child care providers throughout Red Lake. The number of providers fluctuate, but in February there were 45 providers in addition to the child care center, which can accommodate around 40 children. Through her position, she is able to help pass along information about available services and supports to all the providers to can then, in turn, get it out to their families. “When I get the information here, I print it out so I can give it to the providers and let them know that if they want copies for their families, they can let me know and I can add that to their list,” she said. Information that is shared with young families is robust: The March newsletter from the child care center was 10 pages and included detailed explanations about how to do a safety check of car seats, why art education is key an important component of early childhood education, and a month-long calendar full of tips for how to keep children and families moving and active. Red Lake Nation has staff available at Oshkiimaajitahdah in Redby to help families and individuals apply for services and supports. The work supported through the Hub grant for Red Lake Nation extends beyond the boundaries of the Red Lake reservation. In the state’s grant report on activities funded through its Preschool Development Grant (which includes the Hub grants), they highlighted an effort of Red Lake Nation as a Community Resource Hub Spotlight: Red Lake Nation purchased two shuttle buses to expand their Ombimindwaa Gidinawemaaganinaadog (“Uplifting Our Relatives”) program to their Minneapolis urban office for Red Lake Nation citizens and descendants. The program includes cultural services, intake and response, family preservation, reunification, assessment and referral, counseling and rehabilitative services along with case managers and Indian Child Welfare Act team members. Northwest Minnesota Foundation | RESOURCE
Hub grant outreach efforts in Year 1 in Northwest Minnesota (April 1, 2021 through December 30, 2021): • Number of families referred to services: 327 • Inquiries: 954 Note: There are a multitude of reasons why everyone is not referred to services immediately. For example, requests for child care and housing cannot always be fulfilled, as our region does not have the capacity to immediately meet those needs. Others might come in seeking help but do not want to go through the intake process.
SPRING 2022 | nwmf.org
Families assisted
Top services requested
31% – American Indian
child care
1% – African American
financial support/ insurance/benefits
5% – 2 or more races 5% – Hispanic
housing
20% – white / Caucasian
mental health
38% – unknown and/or did not identify
transportation
food
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Northwest SBDC is ‘leading the way’
Pictured are, from left: Northwest SBDC consultants Colleen Falk, Jaimee Meyer, Deb McGregor-Plfeger, and Grant Oppegaard; Mic McCrory, Northwest SBDC coordinator; Philip Knutson, Northwest SBDC regional director; Brian McDonald, Minnesota’s SBA district director; and Bruce Strong, state director of the SBDC.
Northwest SBDC celebrated as Center of Excellence The Northwest SBDC, which is hosted by the Northwest Minnesota Foundation, provides free information, confidential counseling, and one-on-one support to start, build and grow local businesses. In announcing the award, the U.S. Small Business Administration noted that the Northwest SBDC provides outstanding quality business and computer training seminars and workshops to businesses and entrepreneurs throughout the region to enhance the knowledge and increase efficiencies of area businesses.
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In 2021, the Northwest SBDC assisted 811 small businesses and entrepreneurs, helping them access over $17 million in capital and supporting nearly 1,600 jobs. “Entrepreneurs in Minnesota are truly fortunate to have a strong Small Business Development Center network here to work with,” said Brian McDonald, Minnesota’s SBA district director. “The team at the Northwest SBDC is leading the way with exemplary dedication to small businesses in their region demonstrating their expertise to a variety of challenging business issues.”
Northwest Minnesota Foundation | RESOURCE
Soyko is Minority-Owned Business of the Year The Northwest Small Business Development Center has had an exciting spring! Not only was the Northwest SBDC recognized as the Minnesota 2022 SBDC Center of Excellence, but Soyko International Inc. – one of the Northwest SDBC clients – was honored as the Minnesota Minority-Owned Small Business of the Year.
Jade In
SPRING 2022 | nwmf.org
Soyko International was named the Minnesota Minority-Owned Small Business of the Year, as the U.S. Small Business Administration recognized the Gary-based business for its success in producing and exporting non-GMO and organic soybeans, as well as small grains, with markets in South Korea, Japan, Canada and Mexico. “Minority business owners bring a wealth of diverse ideas and experiences to the marketplace,” said Brian McDonald, SBA’s Minnesota district director. “We are celebrating Soyko International, led by owner Jade In, for her success in taking our homegrown products to overseas markets.” Jade In grew up on a family farm in South Korea, where her family were rice farmers. She came to the U.S. for high school and received
her bio-chemistry degree at Denver University. In the late 1990s, she visited Gary on a business trip and saw how large, rich and beautiful the region was. In 2000, she established J&J Corporation, a company working with the domestic growth, sales and export of domestic grains. Seeing the potential in the Gary area, in 2009 her corporation took over Circle C Seeds, renaming it to Soyko International Inc. Soyko, which currently has 12 employees, has since 2010 completed three expansions in facilities and land, and has a fourth expansion in the works. The Northwest SBDC, which nominated Soyko for the award, worked with the company on a $3.8 million expansion that began in 2019. The company has also benefited from SBA-backed financing.
Brian McDonald, SBA’s Minnesota district director, awards Jade In, owner of Soyko International Inc., with the Minnesota Minority-Owned Small Business of the Year.
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201 3rd Street NW Bemidji, MN 56601
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As a force and resource for Northwest Minnesota, we champion ideas that stabilize and strengthen our communities. Working side by side with neighbors and local leaders, together we address today’s challenges and build tomorrow’s best future. Join us to make a difference in your life and in the lives of those around you. Visit us online: www.nwmf.org Give us a call: 218-759-2057