By Robert Williams

Editor

CornerStone Youth and Community Center and the Corner Collective received support from a wide variety of entities and people to get off the ground and the center now is a successful example of how the University of Minnesota’s Extension program can bring top students from the metro to outstate Minnesota and help have a positive impact.

In early 2023, University of Minnesota grad student Dalila Hussein visited CornerStone to see the project first-hand.

CornerStone was still in the construction stage and Corner Collective was something that was a year away from completion. Over the next few months, Hussein provided entrepreneurial, research and project management as part of the University of Minnesota Extension’s Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships (RSDP) program.

That program and members of its board and work groups from the partnerships Central Region of Minnesota came to Frazee Thursday, Oct. 31 in a full-cycle moment as the University of Minnesota Extension held its board meeting and retreat, including a tour of CornerStone and the Corner Collective.

“They were so impressed with the things we’re doing in Frazee that they wanted to host their regional meeting here and go for a tour and check everything out,” said CornerStone Board Member Karen Pifher.

The two entities came together after Pifher reached out to the Extension and Molly Zins, the executive director at University of Minnesota Central Sustainable Development Partnership. Zins put Hussein together with CornerStone as the project matched up with her background and interests.

“Everything kind of linked up with my interests,” Hussein said. “I’m interested in economic development and I’m also specializing in impact evaluation.”

Nearly two years later, CornerStone is well into having made a big impact on students from Frazee and around Becker County and also created a ripple effect as Frazee has undergone a surge in new business opportunities in the same timeframe. That was a big reason the groups were in Frazee last week to see how their assistance can impact small communities.

“We wanted to showcase the CornerStone project, which we supported with an intern in the beginning stages,” Jan Jackola, RSDP Outreach Specialist said. “Part of our goal is to connect rural Minnesota projects with some of those top notch students of the University. We’re able to give those students experience and also give the community’s projects that expertise. It’s really a big part of what we’re trying to do.”

Visiting Frazee, and CornerStone in particular, is a great way for the Extension’s advocates to see their efforts come to fruition, which goes along with the mission of bringing the U to all corners of the state.

“Part of the mission of the Extension is really to bring the research and expertise from the University out to the rest of Minnesota,” Jackola said.

The group toured both levels of the facility, led by Executive Director Mackenzie Hamm.

“I think our whole group was pretty wowed with the facility and Mackenzie shared with us what they’re doing with the youth and even how many they serve and how well the project is going,” Jackola said. “It inspired others to think about what can happen in their own communities and the region.”

Pifher also shared the impact of CornerStone and how in some way the youth center had a positive impact on the rest of the community leading to the 2024 surge in people willing to open new businesses in town. Youth Director Sandy Oelfke also shared her work with the group.

“That is super exciting to hear and I think the group really appreciated getting that perspective from both Mackenzie and Karen,” said Jackola. “You could feel that passion for the youth come through from both Mackenzie and Sandy.”

RSDP has four focus areas and CornerStone is an example of one: Resilient Communities. According to Jackola, the other three are Sustainable Food Systems, Natural Resources and Clean Energy.

The latter is one that is currently happening in Vergas, thanks to Mayor Julie Bruhn’s successful grant application. Bruhn initially applied for a Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERT) grant, but was directed to the Empowering Small Minnesota Communities program through the Regional Development and Sustainability Partnership.

“The Center for Sustainable Building Research (CSBR) came in and looked at their municipal buildings and did some heat imaging,” Jackola said. “Next, they (CSBR) will be doing some modeling and trying to figure out how to make the buildings more energy efficient and we’ll be looking for a climate action plan for the city of Vergas.”

Other audits, including Otter Tail Power energy audits, will be completed and all data is hoped to be collected by late Spring of 2025.

Bruhn hopes for a positive response to positive information and will be scheduling public hearings in the future to share the data.

“We want to make sure we are doing this very data and research-oriented when we present it to the residents,” she said.

Bruhn also emphasized the city council’s desire to be good, financial stewards of the village and one with a plan. In recent years, the council has submitted to the public a Streets Plan, a Parks Plan and a Comprehensive Plan. Energy efficiency was not a specific or standout point in the Comp Plan, but certainly falls well into a main category—infrastructure.

“To have a plan for our streets, as well as our parks, those are important components to a community, so it kind of fits in that you have to be looking ahead and looking for improvements,” said Bruhn.