Eddy County native is at helm of statewide community development organization

An Eddy County native founded a nonprofit in 2015 with high aspirations, and now she's back in her hometown helping to energize the locals.

Megan Laudenschlager, née Langley, grew up on a farm in rural Warwick. She attended school in Sheyenne until her sophomore year, then graduated from Minnewaukan High School.

After high school, Laudenschlager moved out of state, but her new places didn't really feel like home.

She returned to N.D. in 2007 and put down roots in the Minot area, first at Minot State University, and then at the Minot Area Community Foundation.

She applied for and was awarded a Bush Foundation Fellowship, and received $100,000 to invest in personal and professional development. She founded a nonprofit, StrengthenND, through that fellowship.

Laudenschlager says StrengthenND came from a desire to mitigate the disparities between the more well-resourced communities and the very small, rural communities in the state.

Her goal was to "balance the scales" between the two, by providing resources to the very small, rural communities that didn't have the brochure or the professional grant writer, but were running on "amazing and wonderful people-power."

That was in 2015. Now, StrengthenND has eight staff members across the state. A few are located in the principal office in Minot, while others are in Cass County, Bismarck and Des Lacs/Burlington.

What brought Laudenschlager back home to Eddy County was a partnership with North Central Planning Council (NCPC), a regional planning organization based in Devils Lake which assists communities and businesses. NCPC received federal dollars in COVID relief funds, and put those funds to work by studying the area's labor, housing and tourism infrastructure.

Members of the New Rockford Area Betterment Corporation (NRABC) met with Laudenschlager and NCPC's Sandy Shively in December, and representatives from the county's largest employers were invited to participate in discussions as well.

NRABC Executive Director Amanda Hegland said the NRABC plans to review the studies about housing, labor and tourism, and incorporate the data into the county's strategic plan. It was last updated in 2019.

Then, a group of 15 residents convened in Sheyenne earlier this month, hosted by the Community Development Corporation. The conversations focused on how organizations and people in New Rockford, Sheyenne and throughout Eddy County can work together to grow and improve the communities and county.

"It was really heartening because you get to go back and see old faces that you kind of recognize...and being able to build community as an adult is an entirely different feeling," Laudenschalger said of her visit.

She added that it felt good to see familiar people still active in the community. "If we sat down at a table with a casserole, most people would find we have a lot of things in common."

She understands that many people in the community want to make a difference, but lack the skills, experience or funds to make that difference, and this is where StrengthenND can help.

"North Dakota used to have booths at the World's Fair to recruit people," she noted.

According to the State Historical Society (history.nd.gov), North Dakota established a World's Fair Commission in 1903, which had the authority to appoint a manager to supervise the creation of North Dakota exhibits for the fairs. Lawmakers appropriated $50,000 to fund the fabrication and transportation of the exhibits.

More than 100 years later, rural North Dakota again needs people to thrive. Many very small communities have lost population, and businesses are struggling to find workers.

What stands in our way now, of repopulating the countryside to ensure that our communities have a viable future? Well, perhaps it's fear that by bringing new people to our communities we will lose some of our identity, our values.

"We still have a smidge to go," Laudenschlager noted.

Rural N.D. Matters

StrengthenND just published a book, Rural N.D. Matters. They sent out 3,000 postcards to rural North Dakota residents in 2021, asking them to write down in 15 words or less what they valued most about living and working here.

"We really wanted to do this project to boost some of our rural pride and better understand what our shared values are," Laudenschlager said. "The comments we received (over 300) were very heartening!"

One of the first quotes that came back really spoke to her. The writer penned, "Visitor stated, 'You live at the end of the earth?' I replied, 'the beginning of heaven.'"

She said rural North Dakota roots, tradition, legacy and strong work ethic were among the shared values of those who responded.

"Sometimes in rural North Dakota, we have a self-esteem problem," Laudenschlager noted. "We should be shouting it from the rooftops...Let's get back to who we are, and what those shared values are."

Free copies of Rural ND Matters are available at the Transcript office in New Rockford and the Independent office in Carrington.

StrengthenND has a variety of resources for rural communities, including an Employee Handbook template for small businesses, a grant writing manual, and a mapping toolkit for community organizations to track their progress. Professional membership in StrengthenND is $25 per year. For more information, go to http://www.strengthenND.com.