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Agenda

7:45 -8:15 AM Registration Check-In

Participants arrive at the space, get refreshments and light breakfast snacks, thought starter for the day.

8:15AM Welcome to the Summit & Messages from Sponsors

Participants are welcomed to the summit and hear from this year’s Elevate Sponsors.

Elissa Hansen, President and CEO, Northspan

Carl Crawford, Equity and Inclusion Specialist, St. Louis County

8:30AM Setting our Expectations, Coffee and Breakfast Snacks

Jared Dunlap (Ojibwe), Consultant and Tribal Liaison, Northspan

Cultural Welcome, Byron Ninham (Ojibwe/Oneida)

Bois Forte Singers (Ojibwe)

• David Morrison Jr
• Daniel Lightfeather
• Lance Kingbird

The “Why” of our day together

Amber Lewis, Consultant and Welcoming Community Program Manager, Northspan

Get seated and comfortable as we start the day. Learn about Northspan’s Welcoming Community programming in northeast Minnesota and how we are stiving to support belonging in our region.

WE hope that you will:

• Be inspired!
• Engage with new ideas for actionable change related to inclusion and belonging
• Connect with networks to facilitate that change

9:00AM Keynotes | Elements of Belonging

To increase experiences of belonging in our communities, we need to first understand what belonging is and the elements that can be most beneficial in supporting it. These lyceum keynotes will give you the opportunity to listen to a variety of stories and experiences of those living in the Northland. Participants will then use the Lyceum facilitated dialogue format to identify the elements of belonging present or missing in those stories. This will set the foundation for our discussion of how to intentionally support elements of belonging in our communities. The elements of belonging we will be utilizing are taken from the book Belonging Without Othering written by john a. powell & Stephen Menendian and published by Stanford University Press. The elements of belonging they have identified are inclusion, sense of connection, visibility or recognition, and agency.

• Nashel Bebeau, Smart North
• Taylor O’Shea, Deer River High School, Minnesota Youth Council
• Viktor Solberg, Access North
• Brock Stram, University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD)
• Tracy Onchwari, St. Louis County

9:30AM  Lyceum I Where the Community Comes to Think

Part of a tradition going back 150 years in America, the Lyceum is where neighbors can pursue the most important questions of human life through philosophy, art, history, and more. This session will launch off of the keynotes as a thought starter followed by facilitated small group conversation around the topic of Elements of Belonging. Community members across the Northland will have the opportunity to share their perspectives and experiences and deeply engage with one another, ending with a toast and commission. Where do you see these elements in your community? Where are they missing?

10:15AM Results of the Inclusion and Belonging Survey

A summary of the results from the Inclusion and Belonging Survey are shared with a teaser for the workshops later in the day.

10:30 AM Break/Visit Resource Tables/Refreshments

Participants will have time to take a break, grab refreshments, and visit the resource tables from sponsor organizations and presenters.

10:45AM The Wave of Welcoming Breakouts

Learn more about welcoming efforts across the region in your choice of breakouts. This is an opportunity for local groups working on supporting belonging in northeast Minnesota to host an interactive workshop to engage participants and help them learn practical tools to bring back to their communities and organizations

Breakout 1: New Opportunities for Restorative Practices in Local Communities

Stephanie (Sal) Lee, Restorative Justice Program Specialist-Carlton County

Chris Godsey, Restorative Justice Specialist, Minnesota Department of Corrections

Is restorative justice effective?  What does it look like in the Northland? Is it happening in your community?

Join us to learn some of the data behind restorative justice in our region and learn about upcoming grant opportunities from the new State of Minnesota, Office of Restorative Practices (8 million dollars in available funding).

Breakout 2: Mni Sóta Makoce Tribal State Relation Training: Government-to-Government Relationships

Rita Anangikwe Karpinnen (Ojibwe), Tribal State Relations Training Specialist, Office of Tribal Affairs

How do state, tribal, and local governments interact effectively with their neighboring Tribal Nations?  

There may be hesitancy for connection and collaboration due to gaps in understanding for how to respectfully engage. That is a divide we hope to see bridged in coming years, not only between decision makers, but all community members. Correcting misperceptions, misunderstandings, and misinformation and engaging with some of the complexity involved in these relationships is one of the goals of this interactive workshop. 

Breakout 3: Welcoming on the Mesabi Iron Range

Miriam Kero, Coordinator, Hello Range!

Mesabi Iron Rangers are stoic people. In a 2023 online survey, Iron Rangers were asked to note the one value we share across the region. The top answer was "hard work." "Community" came in second and "resilience" came in third.

With an aging population and a multitude of job openings, the Mesabi needs to apply these attributes, and not just in the mines. We need people—and chances are, they are going to be from somewhere else.

In an era where people are putting life first in the the life/work balance, the Iron Range has an opportunity to attract people looking to live in this region we call home. But attracting them is not easy, and helping them stay takes effort.

In this interactive session, learn about Hello, Range! and their work with Welcoming America's Rural Welcoming Initiative and Ben Winchester's Resident Recruitment and Welcoming committee. Connect with regional welcoming efforts, and discover ways you can elevate welcoming and inclusion in your community—helping our regional economic resilience and building new friendships along the way.

12:15PM Lunch and Networking

Lunch will be set up buffet style in the room across the hall from the ballroom with tables available in the main ballroom. This is a time to network, visit the various sponsor and resource booths, or join a hosted lunch table to hear more about local welcoming efforts in your communities.

1:30PM Inclusion and Belonging Strategic Directions: Workshops

Participants will have the opportunity to engage in experiential and informative workshops focused on creating localized plans for addressing challenges related to directions that emerged from the Inclusion and Belonging Survey.

• • • 90-minute workshops
    • Choose 1 Strategic Direction to work on
    • Be prepared to share for up to 5 minutes in the large room
    • Each group has a slide created
• 1:30 PM Local Government Inclusion
• 1:30PM School and Youth Inclusion
• 1:30PM Aging and Elder Community Inclusion

3:00PM Break/Visit Resource Tables/Refreshments

Participants will have time to take a break, grab refreshments, and visit the resource tables from sponsor organizations and presenters.

3:15PM Group Sharing/Presentations from Breakouts

3:30PM Closing Conversation

4:00PM We are Adjourned | Thank You for Joining Us