A residential weekend retreat for elected and appointed leaders across Northeast Minnesota. Fifteen hours of practical programming on dialogue, data, funding systems, communications, Tribal relations, and joint problem-solving, with lodging and all meals included.
Where
Cloquet Forestry Center, 175 University Rd, Cloquet, MN
When
November 6 to 8, 2026
or May 21 to 23, 2027
Hours
Friday 10 AM to 7:30 PM
Saturday 8 AM to 7:30 PM
Sunday 8 AM to 12 PM
Cohort size
12 participants, 16 at the most
November applications close
October 21, 2026
Cost
$195 per person, for a weekend valued at more than $3,500. Grant funding from the Northland Foundation covers the difference.
Full scholarships available, just ask.
Local elected and appointed leaders from across Northeast Minnesota completed the first Elected Leadership Circle over six sessions in 2025 and 2026. Their feedback shaped what the retreat looks like now: fewer trips, more time together, and the same nine sessions delivered in one weekend.
The Elected Leadership Circle (ELC) strengthens civic leadership and regional collaboration for sustainable, thriving communities. Building on the 2025 to 2026 six-session cohort, this single-weekend intensive condenses the full curriculum into a residential retreat at the Cloquet Forestry Center. Everyone stays on site, so the learning continues over meals, at the bonfire, and in the conversations in between.
Of facilitated programming across the weekend
Opening with dialogue skills, closing with a two-part capstone
On-site lodging included, Friday and Saturday
Included, plus a group dinner and bonfire both nights
Two retreat weekends, same curriculum, same faculty, same location. Each cohort is 12 people and 16 at the most, so seats are genuinely limited. Applications for November close October 21, 2026. If a weekend is already full, apply anyway and we will put you on the waitlist. Nothing is charged unless you are approved.
Fall retreat at the Cloquet Forestry Center. Applications close October 21, 2026. That is the date we confirm the room block and the meal count, so earlier is better. Once the cohort reaches 16, the rest of the list becomes the waitlist.
Spring retreat at the Cloquet Forestry Center. The same nine sessions and the same faculty as November. A good choice if your fall calendar is already spoken for, or if November fills before your application lands.
Programming runs Friday morning through Sunday noon. Meals, evening bonfires, and a protected lunch hour are built into the schedule on purpose, because that is where a lot of the real regional work gets done.
10:00 AM Arrival, check-in, coffee and room assignments
10:15 AM Cultural welcome and cohort framing
10:30 AM Build Together icebreaker
11:00 AM ABCs of Dialogue, Part 1
12:00 PM Lunch, a full protected hour
1:00 PM ABCs of Dialogue, Part 2
2:00 PM Data and Tools
4:45 PM The Cost of Belonging game and discussion
5:30 PM Programming ends
6:00 PM Dinner
7:30 PM Bonfire and informal connection
8:00 AM Breakfast
9:00 AM World Cafe on Welcoming and Belonging
11:45 AM Local Government Aid and funding systems
12:30 PM Lunch keynote on communications and storytelling
1:30 PM AI and Ethics for Public Officials
2:45 PM Capstone Part 1, Seven Elements of Joint Problem-Solving
4:45 PM Peer consulting and regional connections
5:30 PM Programming ends
6:00 PM Dinner
7:30 PM Bonfire and informal connection
8:00 AM Breakfast and check-out
8:30 AM Working with Tribal Nations
10:45 AM Capstone Part 2, Applied Negotiation and Commitments
11:45 AM Closing, takeaway cards and alumni connection
12:00 PM Adjourn
Sunday sends you home with a written commitment and an action plan for one real challenge in your own community.
The curriculum opens with dialogue skills and closes with a two-part capstone, so every session in between has somewhere to land. Each one sends you home with a tool you can use.
Opens with Build Together, an icebreaker for people who hate icebreakers. Then the ABCs: Ask to understand, Break down your own perspective, Check for understanding, with extended practice across genuinely differing views.
Takeaway: ABC dialogue card
Led by: Michelle Wecksler, Urban Rural Action, with Amber Lewis, Northspan
Regional trends, Location Quotient, and the gap between data and perceptions. Value-per-acre analysis and community blueprint applications you can put to work in local decision-making.
Takeaway: DEED labor market tools and a data resource list
Rotating small-group dialogue that surfaces what actually makes a community inclusive and connected, captured live through graphic recording and visual sensemaking.
Takeaway: Welcoming community reflection prompts
Led by: Viola Tschendel
LGA, County Program Aid, fiscal disparities, and state and federal mandates. How resources actually get distributed, and how to advocate effectively inside that system.
Takeaway: Funding systems quick reference
Led by: Darielle Dannen, Flaherty and Hood, Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities
How public officials build productive relationships with reporters, share their community’s story, and communicate clearly when things get hard. Practical strategies and real examples, over lunch.
Takeaway: Five ways to improve media outcomes card
Led by: Kevin Jacobsen, Story North Productions
How to recognize bias and misinformation, protect privacy and fairness, and question where an AI answer actually came from. Covers the legal dimensions of using these tools in public office, and their social, environmental and mental health costs.
Led by: Natasha Schumacher, University of Wisconsin-Superior Center for Continuing Education
The framework that integrates the whole weekend: relationships, communication, interests, options, legitimacy, alternatives (BATNA), and commitments. Includes extended negotiation practice on real community challenges.
Takeaway: Seven Elements handout
Led by: Michelle Wecksler, Senior Director of Workshop Design and Facilitation, Urban Rural Action, with Amber Lewis, Northspan
Tribal sovereignty and governance, building relationships before you need them, and scenarios that point to concrete first steps toward collaboration. Builds directly on the pre-retreat reading.
Takeaway: Tribal Nations contact and relationship-building worksheet
Led by: Joseph Bauerkemper, Director of the Tribal Sovereignty Institute, University of Minnesota Duluth
Apply the framework to a real challenge you brought with you, using an Accelerated Action Planning process, and leave with your commitments in writing.
Takeaway: Action planning and commitments worksheet
Led by: Elissa Hansen, President and CEO, Northspan
Scenes from the first cohort: roundtable dialogue, negotiation practice, and the side conversations that turn a room of officials into a working network.
The registration fee is $195. The weekend itself is valued at more than $3,500 per participant: the lodging, the meals, the presenters’ time, the book in the mail. Grant funding from the Northland Foundation covers the difference. The fee is a commitment, not a price.
Full scholarships are available. If $195 would keep you from coming, please just ask. Email Elissa Hansen at ehansen@northspan.org. The fee should never decide who comes.
On-site lodging Friday and Saturday. Participants are housed together so the informal conversations have somewhere to happen.
All meals are provided, including a group dinner and bonfire both nights and a fully protected Friday lunch hour to eat and catch up on life.
Every registrant receives a copy of Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask by Anton Treuer in advance. The reading grounds the Sunday Tribal Nations session.
Every session hands you something usable: dialogue cards, a funding quick reference, data resources, an ethics checklist, a relationship-building worksheet, and more.
A Saturday peer-consulting block, an alumni chat group, and a one-year follow-up gathering. The people you meet here are the ones you will call later.
The Cloquet Forestry Center hosts every session, meal, and overnight in one place, so the weekend stays focused from Friday morning to Sunday noon.
Practitioners, analysts, attorneys, and facilitators who work in this region and know the systems local leaders have to navigate. The same faculty teaches both weekends.
Michelle Wecksler
Senior Director of Workshop Design and Facilitation, Urban Rural Action
Amber Lewis
Consultant, Northspan
Carson Gorecki
Regional Analyst, Labor Market Information, Minnesota DEED
Viola Tschendel
Graphic recording and facilitation, strategic outcome harvesting and visual sensemaking
Darielle Dannen
Senior Attorney and Lobbyist, Flaherty and Hood, Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities
Kevin Jacobsen
Principal Storyteller and Co-Founder, Story North Productions
Natasha Schumacher
University of Wisconsin-Superior Center for Continuing Education
Joseph Bauerkemper
Professor of American Indian Studies and Director of the Tribal Sovereignty Institute, University of Minnesota Duluth
Elissa Hansen
President and CEO, Northspan
Urban Rural Action
Curriculum partner for the dialogue and joint problem-solving sessions
Applying does not cost anything and does not commit you to pay. Tell us which weekend you want and a little about the role you serve in. Once your application is approved, we send an invoice for the $195 registration fee, and your seat, your room, and your book are set.
Each cohort is 12 people, 16 at the most, because the dialogue work does not survive a big room. Applications for the November weekend close October 21, 2026. That is when we confirm the room block and the meal count with the Forestry Center, so applying earlier genuinely helps.
If a weekend fills, apply anyway. We keep a waitlist, seats open up, and there is no charge unless you are approved.
Full scholarships are available. If the fee would keep you from coming, say so when you apply or email Elissa directly. It will not affect whether you are accepted.
Fill out the short form. Tell us your weekend and the role you serve in. No payment at this stage.
We review applications as they arrive and confirm your spot by email, along with what to expect.
We invoice you for the $195 fee. Once it is paid your seat, your room, and your book are locked in.
Cloquet Forestry Center, 175 University Rd, Cloquet, MN 55720
Made possible with grant funding from the Northland Foundation.
202 W Superior St , Suite 600
Duluth, MN 55802
There are times when technology cannot replace the value of human interaction. That’s why we’re proud to say that we have boots on the ground, and not just bots.
We’re proud to say that we have boots on the ground, and not just bots.
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