Fishing has never been a Minnesota pastime that interests me, but last week when the DHS Waiver Review brought us to Park Rapids I had the opportunity to discover what all the fuss is about. An old friend of mine, who has devoted every free moment of his life for the past several years to the sport, offered to introduce me to the art of pursuing the elusive Muskie. For a time during the day it looked as though our outing would be thwarted between the rain and the fatigue Kyle was experiencing after unsuccessfully spending the past two days furiously casting and reeling on Lake Vermillion. But the draw of the new moon prevailed and we set off shortly after work for Mantrap Lake. After spending four hours in the rainy darkness we emerged successful! Just when it was starting to seem as though we were doomed and my casting skills were proving more likely to scare them off than lure them in…

Danielle and her cacth

We got two bites while trolling around, and Kyle, being a true gentleman, allowed me to get a true taste of the sport, and reel them both in. Reeling in the first one I was mostly afraid that the pole would snap, being a novice and all but of course it did not, even for a 43.5 inch long slimy Muskie. The second one, Kyle later informed me, was shorter than the first, but twice as feisty and put up quite a fight! These events conspired to make Hubbard County my favorite review after a year of site visits with the Waiver Review Team!

Kyle and his catch

Kyle Johnson works as a Muskie fishing guide in the Park Rapids area and can be reached at kjohnson50@msn.com for more information and rates.

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Last week, the Waiver Review Team visited Stevens and Traverse Counties in western Minnesota. We stayed in Morris, Minnesota for our entire trip and experienced a team first – we ate at the same restaurant all four nights. We loved the homemade food at Bello Cucina so much we couldn’t stay away. Here you see Eric, Liz and Danielle enjoying white chocolate cheesecake with a raspberry sauce and dessert nachos. Yum!

Our trip wasn’t just fun and games. Eric, our database expert, just let us know we reviewed our 3,000th case last week in Stevens County. We were more than happy to celebrate that exciting milestone.

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The Performing Arts Workshop has recently been featured in an Arts Education spotlight for IssueLab, an online publishing forum for nonprofit research. Our work together for the Project ARISE (Arts Residency Interventions in Special Education) evaluation and the Artists-in-Schools evaluation can be found on IssueLab’s website.

IssueLab describes their Arts Education CloseUp as a “special collection of Arts Education case studies and evaluations [that] reveals the lessons, benefits, and pitfalls of existing and past projects, providing vital information for program staff at organizations running their own Arts Education projects.”

We’re so pleased that Performing Arts Workshop’s research can be shared with a broader audience through this venue. Congratulations!

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You may have noticed a familiar face on the 10:00 news this Monday! Our very own business manager, Samantha Hagel, was interviewed about the growth of crafty businesses in the troubled economy. It’s a little known fact that when she’s not at the Improve Group, Samantha can be found running her business Truly… in White Bear Lake. Click here to learn more about the growth of the craft industry and see Samantha at her shop!

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Chicago Opera Theater's Opera for All program brings professional performers into K-12 Chicago classrooms for a rigorous opera experience tied to the Theater's premier performance of the season. This year, Chicago Opera Theater is debuting a new opera called A Flowering Tree. Each class learned about the opera itself, as well as musical concepts, culture and the arts and the history and context of opera as an art form. Each class has a culminating performance -- with student responsibilities including writing, performing, directing, and set and costume design.

One high school class recently performed Pirates of Penzance, one of Leah's favorite operas as a kid. We've had the pleasure of working with the Opera for All program to design an evaluation that helped to better define the program's goals and outcomes.

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I often listen to the radio while writing and was startled to hear two clients in the news today.

We will be starting work with Suburban Ramsey Family Collaborative next week to conduct an evaluation of their Safe Schools/Healthy Students initiative. One of the schools is featured today as a favorite teacher has been called up for active duty in Iraq.

Another one of our clients, the Department of Corrections, was also featured -- guards at Stillwater just discovered an underground tunnel intended to be used for an escape.

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I have a son in the Cub Scouts and last Monday night Pack 90 delivered food for the Neighborhood House food shelf. Christi Anderson, Volunteer Services and In-kind Donations Manager for Neighborhood House met us and told us all about how the food shelf works to benefit our community. The Scouts’ food contributions weighed over 400 pounds which is about one afternoon of grocery distributions for the food shelf. Christi is an old friend of mine and I was happy to know she was there working so hard for those who really need it.

I want to thank fellow staff members for donating food items to for Nick to bring in. The Improve Group staff is always so great at watching out for others. If you are thinking of helping out those who have less than you please look at my Grant Gazing 11.28.08 blog for ideas of where to give.

Alex and Nick with Christi Anderson

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Hi friends and colleagues! We are wishing you a happy and wonderful Thanksgiving. I learned a new song at my daughter's "Special Person's Day" (I love Kindergarten) that sums up the joy of the holiday (sung to the tune of frere jacques):

Corn bread muffins
Chestnut stuffin'
Pumpkin pie
Two feet high
We were much thinner
Before we came to dinner
Me oh my, Me oh my

Enjoy the season -- and for those of you in Minnesota, enjoy the snow!

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As a former Girl Scout, I fondly remember participating in camp activities. From sing-a-longs to arts and crafts, from hiking to making s’mores at the camp fire, I thought I knew it all. I recently learned that I was mistaken. While reading through a year-end report provided by a uniquely ME! council, I came across an activity that I had somehow missed in my camping days… Armpit Fudge. You read that right. Naturally, I was intrigued when I read about this activity that somehow evaded my camping experiences as a girl. Through a quick web search, I learned that this no-bake fudge is made by combining ingredients in a sealable plastic bag and then placing the bag under the arm until the ingredients blend together to make fudge. We can’t stop smiling about this dessert at the Improve Group. If this strikes your fancy, I found some recipes here and here. Please let us know if you try it out!

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Earlier this month, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announced recipients of the 2007 Community Health Leaders award, honoring individuals who overcome daunting obstacles to improve health and health care in their communities.

Among the ten winners was Monte Fox, diabetes project manager, White Earth Tribal Health (White Earth, Minnesota). In describing the work for which he was honored, Community Health Leaders reports:

Fox has developed culturally-sensitive programs to promote healthier lifestyles, including a diabetes camp for adults and a summer survivor program for kids, as well as ... games focused on education and prevention of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Fox successfully negotiated for a podiatry clinic that in the last four years has saved more than 20 limbs from amputation.

We have just begun working with the White Earth Tribal Courts on a truancy prevention initiative and have enjoyed starting to get to know several community members. Congratulations, Mr. Fox!

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One of our former staff, Brooke Ahlquist, has been involved with the UMore Park development as the student representative on the Health Task Force. The University of Minnesota is in the process of a 25-30 year master plan for its 5,000 acre site near Rosemount (in the Twin Cities southeast suburbs). The U has a very interesting strategic vision for the area, summarized quite concisely in a PowerPoint presentation. The University is considering sustainability, health, economic value and livability in its planning. Brooke previously wrote about health issues in planning on our blog (health amenities)

The public is invited to the listening sessions held between Sept. 17 and Sept. 27 (more detail below and here).

- Mon., Sept. 17 – Education – including early childhood development, daycare, K-12, post-secondary and adult education, lifelong learning;

- Wed., Sept. 19 – Environment – including “green” buildings and infrastructure, the landscape and natural resources, air and water quality;

- Thurs., Sept. 20 – Energy – including renewable energy (biomass, geothermal, solar, wind), energy production and efficiency, reduction of greenhouse gases, conservation practices;

- Tues., Sept. 25 – Health – for individuals and families, including nutrition, prevention, recreation, safety, health care, health services;

- Wed., Sept. 26 – Interdisciplinary Opportunities – including housing, diversity, arts and culture, technology, international linkages;

- Thurs., Sept. 27 – Transportation – including increased access and mobility through multiple transit options, innovative transit services, transportation infrastructure, safety.

Each listening session will be held from 5:00 to 7:15 p.m. A light meal will be served and registration is free but required (612-626-3976).

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On the lighter side...

Today was the third day of school in my school district (mandated by law to start after Labor Day in Minnesota). I knew several people with kindergarteners this year, both socially and professionally, so we exchanged a lot of phone calls and emails about how things went. Tuesday morning was accompanied by photos, nervousness (both parent and child), excitement (ditto) and what felt after a while like an interrogation "How did it go?" "Who did you meet?" "Was your teacher nice?" "Did you read anything? Do art? Go to the library?"

This morning, as we were getting everybody out of the door (shoes on, backpack packed, etc.) a haiku popped into my head:

3rd day of kindergarten

Amazingly, quickly
this momentous occasion
becomes a routine

I can't claim to be much of a poet!

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On Friday many of us got to attend one of the most lovely wedding ceremonies we've been to -- thanks to Becky Stewart and Meleck Davis. The couple planned a fabulous surprise - a musical parade by the entire wedding party! We felt really lucky to be included.

Congratulations to the happy couple!

Pictured here from left to right are: Brooke Ahlquist (Improve Group alumna), Liz Radel, Susan Murphy, the groom Meleck Davis, the bride Rebecca Stewart, Marian Kimball Eichinger, Leah Goldstein Moses and Deborah Mattila.

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A while ago I blogged about qualitative and quantitative data, and promised a Dilbert comic when I received permission to use it. Well, here it is:

DILBERT: © Scott Adams/Dist. by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.

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by Susan

Okay Leah, this blog is for you. As you may have deduced from our previous blogs and newsletters, the Improve Group consists of a rabid bunch of readers. We share books and post our favorites on our internal website. You don’t need to be a whiz in evaluation to deduce that there would be a few Harry Potter fans in our midst. Like much of the literate world we have anticipated the arrival of the seventh book in the series. I consider myself to be a real “Potter Geek.” My sons and had I dressed up and attended the book party for the 6th book and so we couldn’t miss the opportunity to be present at the Wizard’s Ball at Barnes and Noble in Roseville, Minnesota for the final chapter. The photos below show my family as Professor Lupin, Mrs. Weasley and Harry Potter himself. My friend, Beth and her son, Jake, also attended as Professor Sprout and the dreaded Lord Voldermort. It is hard to believe that the first book was published in the United States in September of 1998. My sincere thanks to JK Rowling for the wonderful entertainment she’s given us to these many years.

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We had a fun time celebrating Susan and Liz’s birthdays at lunch today. At the request of the birthday girls, we enjoyed Panera sandwiches, soup, salad and chips and finished off our celebration with some cookies and birthday apple pie. Yum! We brainstormed on costume ideas for the next Harry Potter book release and laughed about some recent sketches on the Daily Show. We always have a fun time at these celebrations and it was a great break from a busy week in the office.

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by Leah

I want to sincerely congratulate John Bryson on his recent receipt of the McKnight Presidential endowed professorship. Prof. Bryson taught me a great deal when I was a student at the Humphrey Institute, including to have fun when working complex issues involving a lot of players with divergent interests. Dean Atwood asked if I would write a letter about Prof. Bryson for his nomination for a faculty award. In my letter, I said (among other things):

"I particularly enjoyed learning from Professor Bryson’s broad view of stakeholders and their importance in strategic planning initiatives. He had an intuitive understanding of how stakeholder engagement can strengthen a strategic planning process by ensuring goals are broadly based in the current context, building support for resulting strategies and ensuring a level of accountability for the benchmarks or outcomes set in the process. This lesson in particular has stayed with me in my professional years; stakeholder engagement is one of the areas I emphasize in my own professional work and continue to search for creative ways of building those relationships between organizations and their stakeholders... "

“Because I learned so much from Professor Bryson, I am truly grateful to have the opportunity to support him for the Regents Professorship. I owe much of the philosophy that underlies my work to his teaching.”

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