Blandin Funds Diverse Initiatives
Feb. 4, 2008
Blandin Foundation will help expand Itasca Community College's nationally recognized engineering program, develop a White Earth Reservation wind turbine initiative and expand rural programming of the Women's Leadership Fund White House Project. The three recipients are part of a $7.6 million grant round.
"Itasca Community College Engineering has an excellent track record of recruiting and retaining low-income, first-generation and female students, and nearly 80 percent end up with four-year engineering degrees versus 50 percent nationally," said Wade Fauth, the
foundation’s grants director. "We are impressed by their plans to further expand the program, making it available to even more students and continuing to help grow the region's economy." A five-year grant of $2.5 million will be used by the college for faculty development, curriculum enhancements including artistic creativity and complex problem-solving, enhancing size and diversity of the program, and establishing work projects for students with regional companies.
Another innovative economic initiative funded is $200,000 in capital to assist in construction of a $2-million, 900-kilowatt wind turbine near White Earth. A project of the tribal government of the White Earth Nation, this project is working to develop a new industry on the reservation, generating sustained revenue for educational programming and further economic development projects supported by the Tribe.
The White House Project, a national program sponsored by the Women's Leadership Fund, received an award of $120,000 over three years to develop a model for rural women's leadership training, a prototype that can be replicated in rural communities across Minnesota and the nation. Through this grant, the White House Project will hire a Fellow to be based on the Iron Range coordinating program efforts, staffing an advisory committee and bringing the Vote, Run, Lead readiness training to Minnesota's more isolated areas.
In addition to new projects, the foundation established its 51st annual Education Awards fund and ICC scholarships fund for 2008 for local high school students pursuing additional education and renewed commitments to 25 sustaining grantees, from Special Olympics to Community Café.
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