Program areas at NDAREC
Publications - Produced 12 monthly issues of North Dakota Living magazine, including 1,440 unique local pages for 17 electric cooperatives to communicate with their members. - Produced income-generating publications, including the NDAREC/BAND Member Directory, N.D. Travel Guide, Big Iron Guide and the Bismarck-Mandan Convention and Visitors Bureau Guide. - Disseminated monthly digital magazines to member-cooperatives and digitized content for use online at ndliving.com. - Generated $600,000 in advertising revenue to reduce the cost of delivering North Dakota Living to co-op members. - Provided education and information through print and online pieces, covering a variety of state and local issues and electric industry, safety and cooperative topics important to membership. Graphic Arts - Created 1,840 total pages for North Dakota Living. - Produced 24 network pages for member use, which featured electric safety, energy efficiency and usage topics. - Completed multiple design projects for member-cooperatives and statewide service areas including annual reports, newsletters, social media graphics, signs and banners, photography and more. - Assisted with the design and branding elements of the new headquarters facility, Cooperative Center corridor and Lineworker Training Center. Media + Public Relations - Engaged with media for both earned and paid opportunities, including coverage of the grand reopening event in October; reprint requests for stories in North Dakota Living; monthly radio ad production; and two live broadcasts on statewide radio for the grand reopening event and annual meeting. - Represented electric cooperatives through participation in multiple trade shows across the state, providing valuable contact with members, businesses, partners and advertisers. - Provided education and information through print and online pieces, covering a variety of state and local issues, electric industry, safety and cooperative topics important to membership.
Government Relations- Developed an Infrastructure Task Force to raise awareness of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act. - Lobbied in Washington D.C., for enactment of Rural Utilities Service repricing, direct pay for energy tax credits for cooperatives to promote affordable and reliable electricity including carbon capture facilities, renewables, storage, transmission and electric vehicle infrastructure. - Reported on potential initiated measures and their implications for NDAREC and its membership. Voiced NDAREC opposition to term-limits measure. - Coordinated REPAC meetings and made contributions totaling $94,000.- Communicated with elected officials and the public and developed talking points regarding the April weather event. - Monitored Public Service Commission hearings regarding a Territorial Integrity Act dispute between Nodak Electric Cooperative and Otter Tail Power Corporation. - Communicated consistently with the North Dakota Department of Commerce regarding federal funds coming to the state and concerns around recruitment of cryptocurrency loads and the messaging around price and ability to choose electric generation. - Met with 82 House Republicans including 25 newly elected members following the November election.- Hosted North Dakota's NRECA Legislative Conference.Communications- Provided communications assistance to all NDAREC service areas.- Developed murals for the Lineworker Training Center and a historical timeline, energy evolution wall, and cooperative values and principles displays for the Cooperative Center Corridor.- Consistently reached goals of the 2022 NDAREC Strategic Communications Plan and assisted each service area in implementation while monitoring progress. - Sponsored a Communications Workshop with 24 co-op communicators attending. The workshop featured crisis communications and photography training.- Communicated co-op messaging through social media pages, including the NDAREC and North Dakota Living Facebook pages, Twitter pages, websites and YouTube.- Monitored and communicated information for co-op communicators concerning Touchstone Energy Cooperatives and NRECA's Straight Talk.- Produced 25 videos in 2022 with cooperative messaging.
Training & Safety- Delivered services to 24 members in three core areas: apprenticeship, training, safety and loss control services. Members include cooperatives, municipals, select contractors and the Minot Air Force Base. - Provided nine safety meetings for participating members in North Dakota and Montana at 287 locations reaching 2,833 cooperative employees. - Delivered hands-on and practical experience through special schools, including hotline, chainsaw safety and tree trimming schools. - Aided cooperatives in measuring safety performance and managing loss control. - Implemented a regional mutual-aid plan which provides access to additional cooperative resources to shorten recovery efforts for large disasters. - Aided in coordination of mutual aid for the restoration of power following two significant storms that occurred in the western part of the state in April and the eastern part of the state in November. - Implemented a statewide outage mapping system across all cooperatives and counties. This promotes positive state, local and public relations by focusing on safety and communication using live outage maps. Outage maps are maintained by integrating with each cooperative's automated outage management system. - Conducted dielectric truck testing for participating members in North Dakota and Montana in 33 locations for a total of 115 trucks tested. - Drove leadership commitment and continuous improvement towards safety through the Rural Electric Safety Achievement Program (RESAP). Conducted on-site observations for seven cooperatives. - Monitored and communicated updates to regulatory and compliance standards relevant to the industry. - Participated in the development and assessment of the second phase of the Commit to Zero program. The program will be delivered by NDAREC in 2023. - Fostered strong safety culture through NDAREC's "I Will" P.A.C.E. program.Apprenticeship Program- Submitted a proposal to the U.S. Department of Labor to grow the apprenticeship program by adding a substation technician apprenticeship program. - Administered the apprenticeship and skills improvement programs for 63 enrollees studying lineworker, meter technician and substation curriculum. As a result, 13 lineworkers became journeymen in 2022. - Supported veterans in achieving their GI benefits while enrolled in an apprenticeship program.
Rural Development - Hosted the annual Rural Developers Assembly, which featured John Kane, co-founder of Warehouses4Good. From this meeting, a group emerged with interest in studying the feasibility of developing a nonprofit warehousing system to supply rural North Dakota. - Led the North Dakota Rural Electric Cooperative Association through a strategic planning session to identify priorities and began the early stages of developing a scholarship program designed to repopulate rural North Dakota towns with skilled trades workers. - Provided administrative services to the Rural Development Finance Corporation (RDFC). The total assets of RDFC's revolving loan fund have grown to more than $8.2 million. RDFC has provided 127 loans since its inception. - Received a grant award through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Cooperative Development Grant program. - Prepared USDA Rural Economic Development Loan applications for AgriCover, Leading Edge, Langdon Locker, MainSaver and Jamestown Rural Fire District. - Provided an educational series for home care workers on the home care cooperative model. - Worked with the BisMan Community Food Cooperative to secure a $200,000 grant through USDA Healthy Food Financing Initiative to bolster the cooperative's sustainability. - Worked with the University of Minnesota to complete a case study to demonstrate the benefits of a school district purchasing their school lunch items locally. - Compiled a feasibility study for South 40 Beef to include in their successful grant application to USDA's Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program. - Bolstered our webpage, providing links to information on cooperative models and projects. - Designed display materials and participated with a booth at the Main Street Initiative and the North Dakota Independent Bankers Association conferences. - Designed a new brochure highlighting North Dakota's electric cooperatives' rural development efforts. - Secured grant funding through an anonymous donor for the expansion of Bowdon Meat Processing Cooperative and for upgrades to the Kulm grocery store. - The Rural Access Distribution Cooperative (RAD) installed climate-controlled grocery lockers and are set to launch its online shopping and distribution program. RAD members have been purchasing cooperatively for one year.
Training & Professional Development - Developed and directed an education plan with coursework for board members, employees and employee associations. This included all aspects of planning, marketing and communications; contract and fee negotiations with hotels and trainers; registrations and on-site management. - Planned, coordinated and delivered five board-governance programs, 17 employee webinars, and four Supervisor and Manager Development Program courses. Written evaluations and anecdotal feedback were positive including expressed appreciation for NDAREC providing the venue for members to come together. - Directed planning and participation in the national Electric Cooperative Youth Tour program. Due to the pandemic, this program was halted for two years. Bringing back the program in 2022 involved significant changes. NDAREC also took on more planning and coordination responsibilities for the joint delegation of Montana and North Dakota students. After the Youth Tour experience, students and parents alike raved about the program. The cost per student came in well under budget. - Planned and delivered the Cooperative Connection orientation program for new employees and directors. Thirteen NDAREC distribution members participated in the three-day program. Feedback from participants was positive on the value of this program.
Meeting & Conference Planning - Facilitated the organization of the REC Information Technology and Cybersecurity employee user group and virtual monthly meetings for the group to exchange information and learn from each other. Topics included critical security controls and back-up infrastructure; cybersecurity response plans and templates; setting up computers and mobile devices for users; phishing threats and simulations; security trends; servers and storage; software products and vendors; policies; procedures and budgets. - Facilitated and planned two employee association meetings (member services and communications) and two employee association conferences (office managers and accountants, and engineering and operations). - Recruited sponsorships from NDAREC associate members, industry partners and vendors for employee association meetings, conferences and the annual meeting. This resulted in reduced bill-backs or no bill-backs to member-cooperatives.