The document discusses the importance of community stewardship and collective action. It describes how the Bemidji, Minnesota community came together around a shared destiny and driver goals. Through strategic visioning processes, leadership development, and civic engagement initiatives like Bemidji Leads!, the community was able to align resources and work collectively to improve outcomes in education, the economy, and quality of life. The efforts in Bemidji have received national recognition and provide a model for other communities.

1. Who gave them permission to stand aside? The Call for Community Stewardship Midwest Rural Assembly August 10, 2009

3. What does this mean? ? It means our best excuses no longer hold water.

9. “ 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..

10. Center for Community Stewardship… Blackduck 2020 Seventh Generation Initiative

17. Has it worked?

18. People are focusing on our destiny

19. Bemidji Green Up! planting trees

20. Bemidji Education Council Formed

21. Bemidji City and Townships Work Together!

22. Bemidji Bio Looks Toward Our Economic Niche

23. The Airport is Becoming an Economic Engine for the Region DreamCatcher Aviation to locate customization services to Bemidji airport Sunday, January 08, 2006 By Brad Swenson Staff 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.

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

25. The community came together behind a common legislative agenda….

27. Governor calls Bemidji Leads! Spot-On Gov. Pawlenty offers praise for ‘Bemidji Leads!’ Saturday, January 07, 2006 By Brad Swenson Staff 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.