The formation of the Northwest Minnesota Council of Collaboratives, in 2000, resulted from the understanding that no one entity, agency or community standing alone can realistically face the challenges of meeting the variety of needs of people who call our region home. There came a shared vision of people-serving organizations and school districts working together, across programs, services and providers, to coordinate care, increase access and improve outcomes for children and their families.
Being comprised of two frontier and five rural counties, we recognize that life is very different from the more populated suburban and urban communities. We realize that we have an opportunity to explore opportunities and implement strategies that are more suited to life in sparsely populated places while increasing access to services and decreasing the travel time families have to make between providers.
We also realize the great potential we have to learn from each other and to be part of an active learning community and share our lessons learned with others. We love to share, we love to collaborate and we love partnering with other adventurers across the nation.
Based on the collaborative movement in Minnesota of the 1990s, individual county collaboratives began working across boundaries, eventually establishing the 7-county region in which we work. Our service area covers 7,000 square miles.
What makes us unique? The Northwest Minnesota Council of Collaboratives is based on a unique partnership. We are not an organization; we are a group of decision-makers who identify needs, seek opportunities to address those needs and take risks and adventures together in creating an environment that helps individuals and families flourish.
We value the opportunities that enduring partnerships, a common vision and proactive approaches to addressing the needs of children and families brings to us as providers and to those with whom we are honored to serve.