United Way Of Bemidji Area & Community Resource Connections Collaborate In New Building

United Way of Bemidji Area and Community Resource Connections needed a new home after their last building was sold. The two groups decided it was a great chance reach out to the community together.

“My board of directors really thought this was an opportunity to find a visible place. We often were in the back of a building not seen, and this was a great opportunity to be seen by the community,” says Denae Alamano, executive director of United Way Bemidji.

Their causes are different but similar enough to help each other out. United Way funds agencies that impact areas of basic needs for health, income and education. CRC’s mission is to improve access to community services through collaboration, coordination and integration.

“I think both of us would agree that we need to have everyone together in order to really make an impact and this brings two similar but different populations of people together in a way that I think will be productive,” says Ruth Sherman, the executive director of CRC.

The new building will give CRC and United Way a whole way to collaborate, since now sharing ideas is as easy as walking down the hall.

“Just even in the short time that we’ve been here, just a couple of months, I think we’ve found some really exciting things that we could do together that will be really impactful both for the non-profit sector or the community for the public as a whole,” says Sherman.

Both organizations believe that moving to this location will be a way to help them grow.

“Our hope is that we’ll continue to grow with the needs of our partner agencies because as Bemidji grows, so do our needs,” says Alamano.

United Way and CRC will host an open house for their new location tomorrow. It starts at 4 in the evening.