Apr. 6—BEMIDJI — Welcoming America recently named the

Northwest Minnesota Foundation

as a Rural Welcoming Initiative participant for 2024.

Participants in the Rural Welcoming Initiative access technical assistance and coaching, a free Welcoming America membership and ongoing learning opportunities to strengthen welcoming efforts in rural communities, a release said.

According to the release, participating communities will be tasked with cultivating relationships, examining their current policies and programs and aligning their local immigrant inclusion efforts to the

“Welcoming Standard,”

which sets benchmarks that local governments, community organizations, residents and others can use to hold welcoming places accountable and spur innovation.

“We’re thrilled to be a part of this year’s cohort,” Kristin Anderson, Northwest Minnesota Foundation program officer and Thriving Together program leader, said in the release. “We want all the communities in northwest Minnesota to be places where all people are welcome and have equal opportunities to live, work, raise families and retire. We look forward to learning and connecting with other communities in this initiative.”

Welcoming America is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that leads a movement of inclusive communities becoming more prosperous by ensuring everyone belongs.

Since 2021, the Rural Welcoming Initiative has offered a competitive application process where selected nonprofits and local government entities with less than 50,000 people have an opportunity to join the Welcoming Network, the release said.

This year, Rural Welcoming Initiative participants will be paired with another organization, many of which are former participants, to gain additional insights into welcoming work within a rural context. The Northwest Minnesota Foundation has been paired with the West Central Initiative; both foundations are Minnesota Initiative Foundations.

For more information about Welcoming America and to view a complete list of 2024 participants, visit

welcomingamerica.org/initiatives/rural-welcoming-initiative/.

To learn more about the Northwest Minnesota Foundation, visit

nwmf.org.