Helping children, youth and adults achieve their full potential.

United Way of
Bemidji Area

EDUCATION
Helping children, youth and adults achieve their full potential through education by investing in local partner agencies and programs, partnering with community initiatives and providing Venture Grants to the development of one time projects and/or start-up funds that address unmet human service needs and/or are preventive in nature.

United Way strategically engages and builds relationships with the following diverse community stakeholders, contributors, and partners to implement educational impact strategies that help us build a stronger community:

MN Early Childhood Initiative (ECI) Committee Member
To promote high-quality early childhood care and education for children from birth to age five throughout the community while supporting parents in their important work.

Our Partner Agencies provide programs and strategies to help children, youth and adults achieve their full potential:

ARC Headwaters

Advocacy and support for people with disabilities and their families in northern Minnesota.

1819 Bemidji Avenue

Bemidji, MN 56601

218-759-0097

Contacts: Cassandra Robinson or Randy Jurek

arcnw@paulbunyan.net

Boys & Girls Club of the Bemidji Area

Inspires and enables young people to realize their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens.

PO Box 191

Bemidji, MN 56619

218-444-4171

Executive Director: Leonore Potter

lpotter@paulbunyan.net

http://www.bgcbemidji.com

Civil Air Patrol- Northland Squadron

"I pledge that I will serve faithfully in the Civil Air Patrol cadet program, and that I will attend meetings regularly, participate actively in unit activities, obey my officers, wear my uniform properly, and advance my education and training rapidly to prepare myself to be of service to my community, state and nation."

PO Box 307

Blackduck, MN 56630-037

218-835-8121(home)

480-766-6203(cell)

Contact: Kenneth D. Hartwig

khartwig@blackduck.net

Healthy Community Healthy Kids – Kinship North

Healthy Community Healthy Kids is a primary prevention program that promotes the 40 asset youth development model developed by Search Institute. The more assets a youth has in his life, the more likely he will grow up to be successful. United Way supports the Youth Asset Building and Kinship North mentoring programs operated by Healthy Community Healthy Kids. The Youth Asset Building program helps kids access after-school activities by providing their activity fees. The Kinship North mentoring program matches caring adults with children through a long-term commitment. Thanks to United Way funding, these programs serve over 250 youth each year.

4 West Building, 403 4th Street

Bemidji, MN 56601

Healthy Community Healthy Kids: Maria Tatzmann, 218-333-8989, healthykidsbemidji@yahoo.com

Kinship North: Kari Glime, 218-333-8794, kinshipnorth@hotmail.com

Girl Scouts - Land of Lakes Council

Promotes and provides educational programming for girls and young women ages 5-17 to help them build character and life skills to be successful adults.

750 Paul Bunyan Dr NW

Bemidji, M N 56601

Local Contact: Becky Dean, 218-751-4886

Executive Director: Leigh Ann Davis, (320) 252-2952

www.girlscoutslolc.org

Lutheran Social Service

Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota (LSS) has a guiding principle of shaping a supportive plan for each individual we serve. We take great care in matching individuals who will be living together, securing housing that is appropriate for certain disabilities and allowing individual expression through activities, recreation and one’s personal space. LSS creates a sense of community belonging for those served by Home and Community Living Services.

Nice, safe homes, a variety of activities, and the sense of accomplishment gained through work and/or education are important factors for persons with disabilities to establish a sense of community, and to live as independently as possible with optimal personal choice. In the Bemidji area, United Way funding enables a person we serve to attend camp, visit family, spend time with others who have the same disability away from home when they would not otherwise have the funds to do so.

403 NW 4th St, Suite 120

Bemidji, MN 56601

218-751-1305

Director: Barbara Stensland

bstensla@lssmn.org

Peacemaker Resources

Provides primary prevention programs and activities that promote conflict management and other cooperative life skills to assist children and families to lead responsible, violence free lives and see themselves as valuable, contributing members of our community.

PO Box 862

Bemidji, MN 56619

218-444-8048

Contact:Barb Houg

peaceripple@hotmail.com

http://www.peacemakerresources.org/

RSVP - Getting Things Done

RSVP is a nation wide volunteer program that connects people age 55 or better to meaningful volunteer opportunities that make a difference in their community. Locally, RSVP is sponsored by Horizon Health Inc. a non-profit located in Pierz, MN dedicated to serving the needs of people in the communities in which they live. RSVP is getting things done by connecting volunteers to community organizations and programs that need the help of skilled, knowledgeable, and generous people to make our communities a better place to live. Join this national network of volunteers and share your talents with your local community. We need you because you can make a difference. United Way funding has also helped RSVP develop a successful RSVP America Reads Program at several elementary schools in the Bemidji area. This program touches the lives of hundreds of children and in turn improves their chance of success in the adult life.

c/o Horizon Health

PO Box 220

Pierz, MN 56364

800-224-6451

Director: Bridget Britz

bbritz@horizonhealthservices.com

America Reads

Ardis Lucken

216 3rd St.

Bemidji, MN 56601

751-8836

rsvpread@yahoo.com

Timber Bay

Strives to build supportive relationships with "at risk" youth ages 11-19 and their families. Also offers a camp for individuals to learn about the value of work while learning life skills to succeed.

PO Box 371

Bemidji, MN 56619

751-9783

Regional Director: Steve Hanson

hanson@timberbay.org

Voyageur Area Boy Scout Council

Promotes and coordinates character and leadership building for male youth through a variety of programs, camps and activities.

Boy Scouts of America

3877 Stebner Road

Hermantown, MN 55811-1733

Regional Office: 218-729-5811

Local Director: Allison Barta, 218-335-4066, allison1@paulbunyan.net

Drug Free Coalition of North Central Minnesota - Social Marketing Campaign for Underage Drinking
Committee Member

Venture Grant Program

The Board of Directors of the United Way of Bemidji Area recently awarded $8,491 to four organizations seeking funding through its United Way Venture Grant program. The programs/projects selected represent a broad spectrum of community needs in the areas of sexual assault, youth and families.

The Venture Grant program was created to help area nonprofit health and human service organizations develop new and/or expand programs that address unmet needs in our community. Grants are awarded as one-time projects or new programs within existing agencies or for start-up funds within a new agency. Venture Grant applications are accepted and reviewed annually.

The following programs and projects will receive United Way Venture Grant funding in 2008:

Arc Headwaters $1000 -
Recreation and Gift Fund
Arc Headwaters recognizes that many adults with developmental disabilities have extremely limited personal funds and may have no involvement with family members. The Recreational and Gift Fund project seeks to provide just a small part of what a family would typically provide these individuals. The project will provide funding for clients to participate in community activities, such as going to the movies, attending plays or concerts, paying for registration fees for special events and camps. Additionally, with little or no family involvement these individuals receive few gifts, if any, for birthdays and holidays.
The project will fill the gap. Volunteers will be utilized to shop for gifts and to deliver them to individuals.

Boys & Girls Club of the Bemidji Area $2491 -
Equipment for Teen Nights at the Club
In addressing the need to provide Bemidji area teens with a safe, cool, chemical-free place to hang out, the Boys & Girls Club of the Bemidji Area will purchase sound equipment and gaming systems which will be used to attract teens to the Club’s daily activities, teen nights which are held twice a month, as well as large-scale teen events. The large-scale teen events held throughout the year feature bands, gaming systems and physical fitness activities such as volleyball or dodge ball in the Club’s gymnasium.

Evergreen House - $2,500 – Bemidji Rock Sober Community Youth Events
Evergreen House is expanding Rock Sober to include community-wide alcohol and drug-free youth events. The goal is to have safe, sober community events for youth the on the Fourth of July, Halloween and New Year’s Eve, as well as an additional summer youth concert. These are occasions when youth are especially attempted to celebrate using alcohol and/or drugs. Rock Sober is a youth-focused sober support and activity group for teens who are dealing with chemical dependency with the goal of being drug free. The group, facilitated by an adult, will meet twice each week, once for sober support and once for sober activities.

Sexual Assault Program $2500 - Teens Engaged in Ending Violence Overall (TEEVO)
The Sexual Assault Program finds that, while most youth are receptive to their message, they are more receptive when
the messages are presented by their peers. The TEEVO project will help organize and coordinate a group of active teens to create an effective peer education program that the teen group will then present in the schools and local groups with the Bemidji School District. Some of the TEEVO youth will attend this year’s Teen Leadership Summit and Girls Rock! The Capitol, held in St. Paul. At this summit, the youth will learn how to organize other youth in their communities, hear about activities and events that youth in other areas of the state have organized, and will spend half of one day meeting their state senators and representatives.

Venture Grant applications are available throughout the year and are due December 31^st of each year, with funding available the following March. For more information about the Venture Grant process or for an application, please call the United Way office at 444-8929.