Getting Involved is “Just What You Do”

Kathi Schaff, Cambridge, BCLP 2000     
City Planning Commissioner, Manager of Business Development,
MN Chamber of Commerce

A Spirit of Service
For the past decade, Kathi Schaff served as president of the Cambridge Area Chamber of Commerce, following a career path with some interesting turns. Thoroughly Wisconsin in her origins, she is anchored deeply in Badger and Packer loyalties. With a degree in art from the University of Wisconsin, Kathi moved to Minneapolis. After working briefly for a toy and game manufacturer, she switched to Owens Corning Corporation and spent close to 15 years in its customer service division. Ready for a new challenge, and responding to friends’ encouragement, she applied for and was hired for the Chamber job in 1997. In recommending her as a notable BCLP leader, colleagues commented that Kathi brought creativity, a sense of vision, energy and a spirit of service to the chamber.

“I come from a family of volunteers. My father served as village president for many years; my mother was active in church and civic organizations. We grew up with the notion that volunteering was something you just did. So the first question I asked when we moved to Cambridge was, ‘How can I get involved?’ Initially, youth hockey and the local arena fund raising project filled much of the time I had.” The time she gave to her leadership role in the Chamber was governed by the same question…How can we get involved?

The answer to that question was conditioned by the situation Cambridge found itself at the time. The community was going through a period of financial stress that fostered an atmosphere of negativity. Getting involved for community leaders like Kathi meant figuring out how to activate the positive majority. She began by exploring the web of resources available to help a community move forward. This led her to the Initiative Foundation Healthy Community Partnership; the Blandin Community Investment Partnership to explore options for affordable housing; and an application to the Blandin Foundation for a cohort of community members to participate in its Leadership Program. “What needed to be done in Cambridge was not going to be the work of one person. Collaboration was key. Building collaborative relationships introduced me to people I might not have otherwise met. Together we built a network of positive people and that went a long way to changing the negativity.”

Out-of-the-Box Thinking
The enthusiasm and energy the first BCLP cohort experienced inspired community leaders to apply for a second round of participants. That group returned from its leadership retreat, focused on Cambridge’s methamphetamine problem and early childhood education. Kathi thinks that one of the assets of BCLP is encouraging out-of-the-box thinking about community issues so that people are not held captive to the action-stopper, “But we’ve always done it that way.”

For Kathi, BCLP training succeeds best at drawing out and equipping what is in people regarding vital community life. It also affirms the power of forming networks. “When the second BCLP group came back, we all took on the meth problem in a town that didn’t think there was a problem in its backyard. We got healthcare professionals and sheriff’s department personnel involved in public panels. Now there is a whole lot of information available on the problem for the entire community.”

Invited to “Be Part” of Community
Kathi’s views of community life and leadership move between the specific tasks that need attention, like going from business to business to thank owners for their commitment to Cambridge, to the larger issues that shape a community’s agenda. One of the issues at the top of the list results from the very prosperity that Cambridge continues to experience. There is an excellent school district, a two-year college, a new performing arts center, and on-going expansion of businesses. The community continues to grow as people in the Twin Cities are attracted to the area as a place to live. “That’s one of our major challenges going forward. People can live here but not necessarily be part of the community. ‘Being part’ comes as people invest in the community in terms of shopping, use of services, and participation. How will this new generation of young families learn about the nature of being part of a community?”

This is an important concern for Cambridge as it seeks to prosper in its growth while keeping the small-town feel. For Kathi, this means being pro-active in inviting people into a relationship with the community that goes beyond building a house with a front porch. First of all, she believes that, as a community leader, she needs to model that being involved is not burdensome. She also recognizes that the invitation to get involved needs to be explicit — people need to be asked. Once invited, people need to know that involvement carries with it some sort of reward, not the least of which is the opportunity to make better connections.

When recruiting for the Blandin leadership program, Kathi and her colleagues paid particular attention to those in the 23-30 year old category. She feels it is essential to keep youth in focus, finding ways for them to be part of the action as they are growing up in the community. When the city planning commission recently established a Park and Recreation Commission, for instance, they sought out a teen to serve on it. Not surprisingly, her daughter Whitney offered her services and become the youngest city commissioner at age 15. In the Schaff household, the tradition of volunteerism continues.

Building a Community That Cares
Kathi finds that she is particularly aware of the need to be reflexively attentive to stakeholders when any community issue or idea arises. Mapping out stakeholders insures that community leaders throw the net wide as they consider who needs to be included and the attitudes and power that affect any proposed action. “This idea of stakeholders that BCLP promotes has been very helpful as we strategize for action, but it has also enabled us to create networks that extend beyond the community limits. We are very aware of our place within the county and the importance of our relationships with other area communities. The benefit is that we less frequently focus on deficits and more often than not seize on new opportunities.”

Every community leader thinks about the future. There is a sense of legacy about investing time, talent, and energy in getting things accomplished that benefit the health of a community. Part of Kathi’s legacy lies in her willingness to mentor others. She has led seminars for the U.S. Chamber Institute for Organization Management in Madison, Wisconsin, and has served as a class advisor and on the Board of Regents for the U.S. Chamber Institute, mentoring 30 chamber executives from around the country.

In 2006, Kathi began a new adventure at the state level at the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce as Manager of Business Development and Local Chamber Partners in the Grow Minnesota! statewide business retention and expansion program. She remains active in the community as City Planning Commissioner and will continue to be involved as Cambridge works to plan and construct a community center.

Locally, Kathi’s hope for the future is that Cambridge will keep its small town identity even as it becomes a thriving regional center — an identity in which everyone is invested in the common good. “I want people to move to Cambridge because they recognize that it is a community that cares…a place where every person feels like somebody.” When Kathi describes that vision, you can be sure she is on the edge of her seat ready to be part of the action to make it a reality. Raised to believe that getting involved is “just what you do,” she also believes that it doesn’t matter who gets the credit. “What’s important is that the work got done.”