Delano Dream Team II
“The Dream Team II was a three-year initiative,” said Chris Brazelton, Dream Team II president. “We’re on the homestretch.”
The last team meeting will be in March 2012, but Brazelton hopes revitalization efforts will continue through other entities long into the future.
“The goal is to complete what we can with the time we have, and leave the rest to our partners,” Brazelton said. The Dream Team II has been working with the city of Delano, the chamber of commerce, the school district, and many other organizations to revitalize downtown and promote job growth in the area.
“We’ve had some successes, and we’ve completed some of the goals,” Brazelton said.
One of the Dream Team II task forces is focusing on the downtown area.
“We’ve done several events that have been helpful to the businesses, like the Old-Fashioned Christmas and the Heritage Festival,” Brazelton said.
An “accidental success” was the business spurred through the media coverage of last year’s flooding.
“We’re turning lemons into lemonade with that,” Brazelton said.
The downtown task force is encouraging public activities through a community calendar created with the help of Delano Herald Journal, at www.delanocalendar.net.
The online calendar is a convenient way for area people to see what’s going on in Delano each day. Residents, groups, teams, and schools that have an event coming up can submit the information for the calendar.
Other efforts include raising money for old city hall and riverfront development.
“We’re looking for creative sources of funding,” Brazelton said. “We can’t always get overnight successes, but we can keep the momentum going.”
The other Dream Team II task force is concentrating on creating 300 new jobs in Delano. Work has been done to market the area to potential employers and to help keep existing businesses thriving and growing.
In 2010, the team (along with the Delano City Council and Delano Area Chamber of Commerce) helped conduct a market analysis for the city.
The analysis helped to determine future demand for retail, food service, and service uses in Delano, and identify market potential for retail stores and services.
Now, the Dream Team II is concentrating on assessing how much retail space the city currently has, and plans to include its additional findings in a marketing tool kit.
“We’re hoping to have that done by the end of the year,” Brazelton said. “It will be a living document, and will be modified as businesses grow and change.
Even though the Dream Team II will be done meeting in 2012, Brazelton said there is the possibility of applying for another grant to start a third Dream Team in the future.
The Dream Team’s grants were given by the Initiative Foundation, which is based in Little Falls and serves central Minnesota’s 14 counties. The Initiative Foundation offers loans to businesses, grants to non-profits, and a variety of leadership programs that enable citizens to build stronger communities.
Through its leadership programs, the foundation has provided training to 4,262 community leaders, representing over 420 community groups and organizations, since 1986.
The Bush Foundation, which is providing the funds for the Initiative Foundation’s Healthy Communities Partnership, (HCP) was established in 1953, by 3M executive, Archibald Bush and his wife, Edyth.
The foundation strives to be a catalyst to shape vibrant communities in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota by investing in courageous and effective leadership that significantly strengthens and improves the well being of people in these three states.
For more information about the Delano Dream Team II, contact president Chris Brazelton at (612) 209-4553 or vice president Harlan Lewis at (952) 237-7368. Other officers include treasurer Betsy Stolfa, secretary Ryan Gueningsman, and board member Diane Johnson.
