First meeting held on Sept. 20 in NYM

By Tucker Henderson

Reporter

The Welcoming Communities Initiative Program kicked off its first meeting in New York Mills on Wednesday, Sept. 20 as the program begins its 8-9 month journey to assist NY Mills in becoming a more welcoming community.

The program is sponsored by the University of Minnesota and has been held throughout the state in many communities as a tool to aid in keeping or improving a community’s image as welcoming to outsiders.

The program is being sponsored by West Central Initiative and the first meeting garnered around 20 attendees interested in maintaining NY Mills’ welcoming image, as well as improve it for the future.

Blaine Novak, NY Mills School Superintendent, was the representative for the school sector, which is one of seven separate sectors in the community that are being analyzed. Both principals Judith Brockway, as well as Michelle Young also attended the meeting.

Moderators Dr. Jennifer Aranda and Jan Jackola of the University of Minnesota gave an overview of the program, its expectations and goals, before splitting the attendees into groups to discuss their own goals for the program and ideas of how to achieve them. Aranda assured the group that some discomfort and disagreement is common and making mistakes in the process is part of the process.

“If we’re not making mistakes, we’re not growing,” she said.

Questions arose on the basis of ‘who belongs in NY Mills?’ and ‘what is belonging?’ which the groups discussed and added to their goals.

Anyone in the NY Mills area is invited to attend and contribute to these meetings, as well as share their viewpoint and their ideas of how to achieve a more united and welcoming community. The wider perspectives available, the better for discussion and contributing to the project. 

The next meeting will be held at the city hall ballroom on Oct. 25 from 4-6 p.m.