The 2022-2023 Initiators Fellowship Cohort Begins

It was a cold Tuesday morning in late January—22 below zero to be exact—and the forces of nature seemed to be working against us for our 2022-2023 Initiators Fellows cohort kick-off event: The heat was out and our venue caterer had to cancel a day prior due to a COVID-19 exposure.

In true Greater Minnesota fashion, we found our resilience and turned the four-day event into a fantastic beginning for our eight new Fellows as they embarked on their social entrepreneurship and leadership development journey.

Surrounded and supported by Initiative Foundation staff and trainers, all of whom tested negative for COVID, the Fellows learned about the program, built community and camaraderie with one another, and started their business planning process. While we may have had a cold start, everyone agreed that we finished hot, and we could not be more excited about helping these Greater Minnesota leaders pursue their ambitions of starting impactful social enterprises in their communities.

We also could not be happier with the support provided to the Fellows by our program partners: the Northwest Minnesota Foundation, Southwest Initiative Foundation and West Central Initiative.

As this program expands across Greater Minnesota, we envision even greater impacts in partnership with our Minnesota Initiative Foundation sister organizations. We see a community of rural leaders whose passion is unmatched and whose connections create a network of support for purpose-driven entrepreneurs and leaders across Greater Minnesota. Seeing this group, and those who came before them, we are even more vested in our belief in the power and capacity of the people living in our rural communities.

As always, a special thanks to our funders: Granite Partners, an original founding funder and partner, along with the Bush Foundation and Sourcewell.