Bemidji Strives for a Healthier Community

In the United States today, two-thirds of adults are overweight.  About one-third of adults are obese, and nearly five percent are more than 100 pounds overweight.  Unfortunately, our nation’s children aren’t faring much better.  More than one-third of all children and adolescents are overweight or obese.  Combined, over one-half of the U.S. population – nearly 13 million kids and teenagers and about 14.4 million adults – are overweight or obese. 

One only has to walk through the community to recognize that this increasing rate of obesity is also prevalent in Bemidji (and our Region as a whole).  In a planning initiative led by the Headwaters RDC last spring, a task force developed a series of strategies to begin tackling the increasing prevalence of obesity in the Bemidji area  This task force, representing nearly thirty Bemidji-area organizations, focused their strategies both upon increasing physical activity and improving nutrition in a variety of settings throughout the community.

The task force also secured funding from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation to develop and implement an “Excellence in Wellness” demonstration program.  This demonstration program will be undertaken in three licensed child care and early childhood education settings, and targets the community’s youngest residents through the implementation of strict standards for nutrition, physical activity and media viewing.  If this multi-year demonstration program achieves successful results of stabilizing weight gain in young children, efforts will be made to expand the program throughout all licensed child care and early childhood education settings in the Bemidji-area.

The Headwaters RDC selected the Beltrami Wellness Education for a Long Life (B-WELL) to coordinate implementation of both the demonstration program, as well as the other general strategies that were created by the Task Force to address obesity.

The community has been selected for an additional grant through Prevention Minnesota, which is aimed at reducing barriers to physical activity, and increasing access to physical activity.  For information on this effort can be found in the article entitled “Bemidji Community Pursues Active Living” located in the Community Development section of our website.

Exciting changes are happening in Downtown Bemidji because of the success of the Bemidji Downtown Revitalization Project.  The City was successful in its efforts to obtain more than $600,000 in grant funds from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development to help finance the renovation of commercial buildings and affordable rental housing units in the downtown.  Headwaters RDC staff is providing general oversight for the project and Bi-CAP is administering the rehabilitation activities.

The program has generated a high level of interest from downtown property owners.  Eighteen rental units (apartments) are being renovated.  These upgrades will substantially improve the stock of affordable housing in the downtown.

Repairs and storefront renovations on fourteen commercial projects are underway with the potential to fund one more project.  Storefront renovations provide exciting, visible changes, but many buildings are also receiving needed repairs to improve safety and ensure soundness.  Examples include roof repairs, heating and air conditioning system upgrades, new windows, lighting, and accessible rest rooms.

Because of the program’s success, we have more interest than funding!  Additional property owners would like to participate in a second phase of funding, which may be pursued upon the complete expenditure of the first round of grant funds.

The City of Park Rapids has been very busy in the area of transportation over the past year.  Anyone who went through Park Rapids this past summer had a front row view of one of the projects, as Highway 34 underwent construction. 

Park Rapids is also very interested in non-motorized travel.  The Headwaters RDC recently helped the City get closer to its goal of hosting the best parks and trails system in the State of Minnesota by completing a parks and trails plan.  The City is blessed to be the home of one of the trailheads for the Heartland State Trail.  A key component of the plan is to connect local trails to the State Trail.  The plan also connects bicyclists to parks, downtown, residential areas and other attractions.  Finally, the trail system emphasizes safe opportunities for bicyclists and pedestrians to explore the City. 

The Park Plan focuses on master designs for four existing showcase parks in the City: Deane Point, Red Bridge, Rice, and Depot.  Three of the parks have direct access to the Fish Hook River, which bisects the City.  A key component of the parks plan is a focus on quality, taking advantage of the great parks that the City currently has and creating additional parks as new development occurs.  The plan will also meet the recreational desires of all segments of the Park Rapids Community, including children, teenagers, and senior citizens.

For more information about the Park Rapids Park and Trail Plan, please contact Matthew Dyrdahl.

The Bagley community has a passionate interest in the future of Lake Lomond Park.  As its name suggests, the park lies along the southeast shore of Lake Lomond.  Comprised of 32 acres of land, the City’s only park is centrally located in Bagley and is the geographic transition between Bagley’s main residential areas and its activity hub, which includes the central business district, schools, health care facilities and county offices.

For over 100 years, the park has been the primary green space within the City, enjoyed by people from both inside and outside of the City.  In its earlier days, the park contained the City’s main baseball field, a beach with lifeguards, a campground, and the skating rink (a focal point for hockey and figure skating).  Over the years, however, the uses of the park have changed and areas within the park have become deteriorated and in significant need of improvement.

Recognizing that many of the park’s amenities are currently underutilized, the community believes that the park is ripe for redevelopment.

Over the past year and a half, the Headwaters RDC worked with the Lake Lomond Task Force, made up of volunteers from the community, to develop and begin implementation of a 20-year plan to redevelop Lake Lomond Park.  Throughout every step of their planning process, the task force sought recommendations and feedback by community members.  This input was then used to create the new Lake Lomond Park Improvement Plan.

Though the development of this plan is complete, most members of the Lake Lomond Task Force have chosen to remain involved in order to help implement the improvements outlined in the Plan.  In their first phase of improvements, the task force hopes to accomplish the following activities:

• Improve the swimming beach
• Reinstate the lifeguards at the beach
• Move and replace the existing boat access
• Construct a fishing pier
• Begin development of a walking/bicycle trail system
• Determine the feasibility of constructing a multi-use building within the park