The Northwest Minnesota Women's Fund, Bemidji, inducted two members into its eighth annual Hall of Fame, which recognizes women who have made significant contributions to art, athletics, business, government, philanthropy, humanities, science or education. 

• Dr. Kathleen Annette is area director of the Bemidji Area Indian Health Service, working with 34 Tribal and five Urban Indian programs that provide health care to over 95,000 beneficiaries in a five-state region. She serves as vice-chair on the National Directors Executive Council charged to provide national policy development and has received numerous national awards for her endeavors.

• Susan Mills, executive director of Tri-County Corrections in Crookston, became a pioneer for women in a male-dominated profession. She served as president of Project Safe, which offers support and assistance to victims of sexual assault and family violence, and helped develop Special Workers Assisting Treatment, which provides supervision and programming to adolescents assigned to probation, and the Alternative Learning Center.

The Little Falls-based Initiative Foundation announced the six winners of its annual Awards for Outstanding Community Initiative, which recognizes volunteerism and community service in central Minnesota. Nominated by their peers and chosen by volunteer selection committees, winners receive $1,000 for the charity of their choice, a commemorative video tribute and a commissioned sculpture. "Our foundation is built upon the belief that local people possess the passion, skills and ability to overcome their challenges," said Kathy Gaalswyk, foundation president. The 2006 winners:

• Outstanding Nonprofit Organization: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Minnesota, which matched 200 children with positive, caring adult mentors, and participated in the foundation's Healthy Organizations Partnership

• Outstanding Enterprise: Two Rivers Enterprises of Holdingford, which grew from three employees at its founding in 2001 to 45 and became a cornerstone employer paying living wages and benefits

• Outstanding Environmental Initiative: Leech Lake Association, which developed a management plan to address the lake's environmental needs and future and the economic interests of the community

• Outstanding Community: Sebeka, which reinvented itself with help from the Healthy Communities Partnership; accomplishments include remarkable growth in economic development, a new school and a trail along the Red Eye River

• Outstanding Volunteers: Myrt Bollenbacher and Bonnie Christenson of Deerwood, who helped establish a social service program that receives donations of used items, refurbishes them and distributes them to those in need

• Outstanding Youth Volunteer: Reiko Koyama of St. Cloud, a 17-year-old who organized and secured grants for a youth forum on racism; she also volunteers with United Way, the Center for Service-Learning and Social Change, and Youth as Resources

Target and the Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation are providing financial support for the exhibition and educational programs, respectively, of "The Nazi Olympics Berlin 1936" and "Life in the Shadows: Hidden Children and the Holocaust" at the Minnesota History Center. School groups are invited to use curriculum on remembrance, tolerance, the role of the individual in shaping history and the refugee experience in Minnesota in their classrooms and participate in museum lessons at the History Center. The first exhibition runs April 15-July 4; the second runs July 20-Oct. 15.