Who gave them permission to stand aside? The Call for Community Stewardship

Midwest Rural AssemblyAugust 10, 2009

“The future just ain’t what it use to be…” Yogi Berra

• The “how-tos” of becoming a successful community are radically different than just a few years ago.

• Why? Global Trends effect us too…– Technology has created incredible opportunities, and challenges

– Now, most people and businesses can locate virtually anywhere

– GEOGRAPHY matters less, but PLACE matters more

• Great communities today are built, not born– Key quality of life characteristics are now developed, not inherited

What does this mean?

It means our best excuses no longer hold

water.

It occurred to me I had it wrong…

• Communities have worked hard to build success…to identify “what” they had to do to be successful

• Successful projects don’t necessarily make a successful community

• We learned it wasn’t the WHAT successful communities did, but HOW they did it that set them apart.

HOW do you build a successful community?

• Collective: Communities can afford to have only one, common strategic direction.

• Strategic: It doesn’t make any difference how fast you are climbing if your ladder is on the wrong wall!

• Sustained: There are no short-term solutions to our long-term challenges

• Civic Effort: Implies an attitude of “we are all in this together”

What do I see in communities today?

• The issues and opportunities facing communities in the 21st century aren’t so neat and pretty anymore.

• A shorter term focus…and a lack of patience

• Communities with fuzzy identities

• Communities are struggling with the same issues…– We can’t get on the same page.

– We can’t seem to work together.

• Civic involvement has become a spectator sport.

• The true responsibility of stewardship has been lost.

What do I see today (cont.)…

We need new, civic entrepreneurs to emerge…

• We call them stewards…

– “Stewards are more than leaders…they are special leaders who are committed to the long-term well-being of our communities. Stewards cross boundaries, take an integrated approach, and build coalitions for action.  They have 360 degree vision.  Stewards operate at the center of tough issues, not on the edges. Stewards are risk-takers and are passionate and energetic.  They are people of vision.”

- Help them to create their destiny….then plan from the future

“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No

single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration

of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to

accomplish.”

—President John F. Kennedy

America’s most notable statement of Destiny..

Center for Community Stewardship…

Blackduck 2020

Seventh GenerationInitiative

Who are we anyhow?

• The community was slipping away from us

• Resting on our lead

• A community without a rudder- “we can’t seem to get on the same page”

• A community that has no idea how to work together

What has been done…

• Help the community acknowledge that we are the ones who control our future

• Challenged to define one common destiny

• Encouraged people to become a community in the truest sense of the word

• Challenged people to act

How we got to the destiny

• Listened for over a year to community members

– What are we passionate about?

– What can we be great at?

– What will bring us prosperity?

• Presented and listened at over 100 community meetings

• Completed a community perception survey and published “Which Way, Bemidji”

• Challenged leaders to lead…to be true stewards

Bemidji’s Shared Destiny…• Through intentional, collective action, Bemidji will be:

– A healthy community, successfully balancing regional center amenities and small town beauty and character;

– A vibrant economic center recognized for its innovation, creativity and knowledge;

– A social, cultural, recreational and educational magnet;

– An embracing, culturally diverse community;

– A people committed to shared prosperity and long-term community stewardship; and

– The star of the north, a national model of community success.

Destiny drivers will get us there…1. The performance of our students (PK-16) will rank in the top five in the state by 2015

2. Bemidji will have the lowest incidence of drug and alcohol abuse in Minnesota by the year 2015

3. We will have a multi-purpose event center in Bemidji by 2008

4. Bemidji will have access to the best technology in the world

5. We will plant 10,000 trees per year for 10 years in the community

6. Bemidji State University/Northwest Technical College will have five centers of excellence that will drive the regional economy

7. The SE Lake Bemidji area will be the centerpiece lakeshore development in Minnesota

8. The regional airport will be developed into a regional economic engine

9. We will have the best trail network in the state by 2015

10. Lake Bemidji will be the cleanest urban lake in Minnesota

11. Downtown Bemidji will be the vibrant center of community life

12. By 2010, our hospital will be selected as one of the top 100 hospitals in the United States

13. We will create 200 high skill, good paying jobs per year…for ten years

14. We will have five clusters of economic innovation by 2008

15. The Twin Cities area will have a four lane access to Bemidji

16. We will have a community-wide legislative agenda and a Bemidji Day at the Capital by 2006

17. Over the next year, community leaders and organizations will sign a “Declaration of Interdependence”

Has it worked?

People are focusing on our destiny

Bemidji Green Up! planting trees

Bemidji Education Council Formed

Bemidji City and Townships Work Together!

Bemidji Bio Looks Toward Our Economic Niche

The Airport is Becoming an Economic Engine for the Region

DreamCatcher Aviation to locate customization services to Bemidji airportSunday, January 08, 2006

By Brad SwensonStaff Writer

An airport means more to a regional economy than just allowing vacationers to come and go, Bemidji Regional Airport officials say.

It can provide a campus for high-paid aircraft industry jobs, such as the manufacturer that will locate at the Bemidji Airport, Airport Manager Harold Leeuwen said Friday.

The Regional Event Center has Legs for the First Time in 15 Years

The community came together behind a common legislative agenda….

And on and on…• Interdependence Day Celebration Held in Bemidji with

over 200 leaders in Bemidji committing to working together

• Bemidji DDA says “Bemidji Leads! has given us permission to dream again” and they are reinventing downtown Bemidji

• The arts community is looking to start a dialogue at how to be the arts and cultural center of northern Minnesota

• At last count, over 400 stewards are acting on improving the Bemidji community as a result of the buzz started by Bemidji Leads!

Governor calls Bemidji Leads! Spot-On

Gov. Pawlenty offers praise for ‘Bemidji Leads!’Saturday, January 07, 2006

By Brad SwensonStaff Writer

Bemidji, as a regional center, needs dynamic local leadership that embraces challenges in order to succeed, Gov. Tim Pawlenty said Friday. And, after hearing a pitch about “Bemidji Leads!”, the community’s group of stewards and the destiny they have laid out for Bemidji, Pawlenty said it exists here.

“Bemidji Leads! is Spot-On. Do not underestimate the power, the potent power, of what it means to have positive, dynamic leaders at a community and local level,” Pawlenty said at a Northwest Technical College-Bemidji lunch which drew about 80 community leaders.

Governor Pawlenty…• “It wasn’t that long ago, when there were some real questions about

the future direction of this community. There was a question whether Bemidji was going to be moving in a positive direction or whether Bemidji was going to be a community that was not going to be able to meet that challenge. There was sense of maybe discouragement or a sense of things not going in the right direction, maybe not having the right kind of energy or vision for the future — and it was a worrisome thing.”

• “Now when I come here, you get a different feel. There’s a sense of teamwork, there’s a sense of kind of a dynamic and hopeful and optimism. You can see it as you move around the community. Bemidji has strategic vision, and forward-looking leadership.”

Bemidji Leads! Honored

• 2008 Recipient of the National Excellence Award from the US Chamber of Commerce/Alliance for Regional Stewardship

• 2008 Innovation Award from the National Association of Development Organizations

Bemidji has figured out the power of…

• Agreeing on where we want to go

• Aligning our resources to get there

• Learning to work together

• Expecting stewardship from our leaders

• Somewhere in the past three years, Bemidji Leads! went from being a project to being a movement

The dirty little secret….

• Any community can do as much as Bemidji……and more.

• The CCS is set up to help

Our motivation at the Center for Community Stewardship…

• “Every community has enough leaders to run a small nation, but they’re not leading. They are hiding out, living comfortable lives giving little or no attention to the current and future problems of their community. Who gave them permission to stand aside?”

• John Gardner

David Hengel

Center for Community Stewardship

Headwaters Regional Development Commission

P.O. Box 906

Bemidji, MN 56619

(218) 333-6533

dhengel@hrdc.org

www.centerforcommunitystewardship.com