Program areas at Strengthen ND
Nonprofit and rural community capacity building: Strengthen ND's capacity building approach is implemented through three layers of technical assistance and support, including a formal certificate program, small group workshops, and one-on-one organizational engagements. Strengthen ND's nonprofit certificate program is a six-session endeavor that provides instruction on the foundational elements of nonprofit administration, which is now in its sixth year of implementation. Informal workshops and webinars are provided on topics that supplement or elevate community problem-solving efforts. One-on-one technical assistance is provided to organizations and groups based on their needs, including community planning, fundraising, project development and management, budgeting, succession planning, and grant writing. Finally, Strengthen ND administers three demographic specific programs, including a youth development and leadership program, native entrepreneur business development and technical assistance, and a community-centered americorps program.
Facilitating community solutions: facilitating community solutions is Strengthen ND's most diverse portfolio of work, showing up in a myriad of ways, including serving as an intermediary support for foundations, corporations, and family trusts; working with economic development agencies, municipalities, counties, and state departments to execute equitable and responsive planning processes to improve the quality of life in communities; and developing agricultural support services, like technical assistance and a rural incubator farm.
Advancing regional issues: Strengthen ND's work to advance regional issues has shown up in several ways, most notably through the work of organizing communities and stakeholders around a need and serving as an advocate for very rural and disadvantaged communities. Specific examples of this work include efforts around narrative change and storytelling and administering North Dakota change network, which is a year-long cohort program in systems change and leadership.