I spent the better part of Monday with the Minnesota Council for Non-Profits.  I attended largely because of the work I do with Wildwoods, but also because I serve on the Board of the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council and have volunteered with Clayton Jackson McGhie, Inc.

The scheduled presentation was strong;  I was especially excited to see Carl Crawford on the  stage.  I met Carl via CJMM;  he now works at LSC with my wife — there, he directs the Intercultural Center.  On any list of 100 leaders in the Duluth-Superior region, Carl will surely rank high.

But as it true with all events like this, the real excitement happens in the after — in this case, in the time over tasty snacks provided by Zeitgeist Cafe.  Zeitgeist makes nearly everything  classier.  And important conversations with Paul Masiarchin and with Jim Filby Williams reminded me of the immense resources available in the region.

But perhaps most important is the hour I spent with Melanie Goldish.  Melanie is a local consultant who brings not only her academic skills to the fore (like me, she teaches at UMD), but also brings her experience building her own non-profit (http://www.supersibs.org/) to the table. The time she spent with the Wildwoods posse was worth its weight in gold, and a sign both of remarkable generosity (in that she shared so much with us) and professionalism (in that she had so much expertise to share — truly valuable insight).

There are days when I think Duluth is the most amazing place to live.  Yesterday was one of them.  We are so incredibly rich with human resources that, properly deployed, make powerful change possible.