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Our Initiative

Our CFAA Team:
~Rita Baresh, Autumn Voices Senior Choir, KIDS PLUS After-School Enrichment Program Assistant, Sons of Norway member, community member.
 
~Ernie Muller, Local Kiwanis Chapter Member, KIDS PLUS volunteer, Hope Lutheran Church Council member, has worked on Moose Lake Public School's referendum initiatives, community member, Meals on Wheels Volunteer.
 
~Vicki Radzak, Moose Lake Public Schools Community Education Coordinator, CFAA grant Community Organizer, parent, community member.
 
~Rick Ramey, Northeastern Council on Aging member, retired from the MN Department of Human Services, community member with a granddaughter attending MLHS, community member.
 
~Lindsay Lohlein, Moose Lake Middle School student, volunteer, community member.
 
~Louis Butkiewicz, KIDS PLUS Coalition member since its inception, former Moose Lake School Board member, active member in Holy Angels Catholic Church, community member.
 
~Maggie Ackerson, UMD college student, KIDS PLUS Youth Theatre director 2009 and 2010, community member.
 
~Matt Ashmore, Moose Lake High School student, active interest in landscaping.
 
~Megan Bothwell, Moose Lake High School student, Mountain Climbers 4-H Club member, Student Council member.
 
~Tim Caroline, Moose Lake School Superintendent, Genealogy instructor in the KIDS PLUS After-School Program, community member.
 
~Ted Shaw, Mayor of Moose Lake, avid Hockey fan, children and grandchildren attended MLHS.
 
~Megan Nielsen, Moose Lake Early Childhood Family Education & School Readiness, Moose Lake Elementary Staff member, Hope Lutheran Church, Moose Run organizer, community member.
 
~Liz Stokke, Farmer’s Market Organizer, community member.
 
~Jennifer Szcyrbak, Farmer’s Market Organizer ,Lake Place Art Gallery owner.
 
~Lonnie Hagen, Moose Lake Community Theatre play director, Moose Lake Elementary Librarian, community member.
 
~Tom Langen, Hockey Association Volunteer, Grant Writer, community member.
 
~Lois Johnson, Arrowhead Leader Paper Editor, Historical Society member, community member.
 
~Mary Knutson, Mercy Hospital employee, KIDS PLUS volunteer, community member.
 
~Maddie Ross, Moose Lake Middle School student, interest in a permanent nature scavenger hunt activity along the riverbank.
 
~Lauren Ross, Moose Lake Middle School student, interest in a user friendly biking course through the town.
 
~Maddie Geil, Moose Lake Middle School student, interest in family walking paths that connect the arena and park area to the city park and beach.
 
~Dan Benzie, Hockey Association Grant & Building Expansion Coordinator, owner of Assisted Living, community member.
 
~Barney Hollis, Boy Scouts Troup Leader, Moose Lake Area Parks and Recreation Board Member, community member.
 
~Leslie Evenson-Bakhtiari, Hockey Association grant writer, volunteer, parent, community member.
 
~Pat Oman, Carlton County Economic Development Director, community member.
 
~Todd Kneeland, Moose Lake Parks and Recreation Board member, Moose Lake Horizons Project (poverty reduction and awareness initiative) member, community member.
 
Local organizational partners include: Moose Lake Public Schools (Community Education, Early Childhood and Youth Development Programs) Moose Lake School Board, City of Moose Lake, Moose Lake Parks and Recreation, Moose Lake Historical Society, Carlton County, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Moose Lake Hockey Association, S.H.I.P (Statewide Health Improvement Program) Initiative in Moose Lake, Horizons Initiative to reduce poverty, the local Farmer's Market Organization and DSGW Architects.
 
Funders:
§   The Northland Foundation initiative:  AGE to age: bringing generations together/Communities for All Ages, with funding support from the Community Experience Partnership, an initiative for US community foundations from The Atlantic Philanthropies, the Bush Foundation, the Blandin Foundation, the Otto Bremer Foundation, along with the Northland Foundation and the Communities for All Ages, a national initiative of The Intergenerational Center at Temple University, with 
funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
§   The Moose Lake Community Education Department by providing meeting spaces, phone, computer, staff hours and contact person for the CFAA initiative.
§   The City of Moose Lake which has agreed to provide $14,000.00 match for a potential Hockey Arena grant.
 
Multigenerational Initiatives Underway
A key component of our Communities for All Ages/AGE to age initiative is to develop a concrete plan for our park, farmer's market and hockey arena. We will be seeking additional grants which pertain to the specific areas. The Hockey Association has already applied for a grant to fund the heating and air quality of the arena and is seeking other sources to update the infrastructure. Our ambitious goals would not have been set into place had it not been for the initial planning process and community building exercises brought forth by funding from the Northland Foundation’s AGE to age/Communities for All ages initiative.
 
The success of one of the Hockey Area project component is dependent on the approval of the City of Moose Lake, owner of the building and immediate grounds, and Carlton County and the State of Minnesota, which hold a variety of easements in close proximity of the building. We have members attending our local City Council meetings and a running dialogue with the Carlton County Economic Developer. The scope of our project will ultimately be under the direction of the City Council, and the laws and regulations provided by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Narrowing the scale of our project is the largest challenge we face at this time due to the enormous amount of potential both in and out of doors which our location provides.
 
In the very earliest stages of our AGE to Age community gatherings, speak out and then through the more serious vision/goal discussions, a “touch up” project was born. With paint, a little landscaping, a simple yet tasteful porch to house the farmer's market, the removal of lots of concrete block piles, scrap, old machinery, etc., that littered the river's edge, we found our project! Little did we know the Hockey Association was thinking along those same lines, only much bigger! With our funding source we were able to hire an architect, the only way to address a city-owned property, however, also the only way to provide an organized scope and scale for a project which entails a number of players at the table-all with a slightly different agenda.
 
Our local AGE to age initiative, H.U.G.'s (Helping Unite Generations), was launched in the spring of 2009. Since becoming a Communities for All ages site not only have we been uniting the generations, we have been uniting a wide variety of organizations of which don't always have the opportunity to work together on issues, especially having the chance to make decisions with young people in a semi-formal environment.
  • John Gerzina, our architect, has been leading the community through an extensive planning phase over the past three months from large public input meetings to a few representatives from each of the organizations mentioned above. The design principles for our Master Plan are based on the CFAA assessment process, meetings, and surveys we provided, all the while encouraging the principles in using the CFAA lens of a lifespan approach to community building. The resonating themes our community wants and needs from our Project are: Definition of Streets and Parks
  • Links to the Community
  • Safety and Security
  • Transportation
  • Walking and Gathering Spaces
  • Landscaping
  • Reinforce Community Identity and History
  • Sustainable Design
  • Large Variety of Uses for the Arena