Year: 2020

By Kelly Asche Only a month ago, the primary focus for workforce development organizations in rural Minnesota was to implement strategies that recruited and retained workers in their regions. Their doors were being blown open by businesses in desperate need for employees. We conducted research on this topic and designated this as the number one ...

By Kelly Asche Last week we highlighted programs communities have developed to help their small businesses during the pandemic crisis. One of those programs, a campaign put on by the Big Stone Lake Area Chamber of Commerce, turned out to be highly successful. We thought it deserved its own post. The Big Stone Lake Area ...

By Kelly Asche A number of programs have been released over the last few weeks to support our small businesses. As can be imagined, the need has been enormous and right now the turn-around times to answering clarifying questions and processing applications can take a bit longer than some small businesses have time for. This ...

EXCERPT: “Martin County on the state’s southern border has more than its share of coronavirus cases. At just 20,000 residents, the agricultural region has 24 confirmed cases of the virus and two deaths, according to Martin County Sheriff Jeffrey Markquart. (The Minnesota Department of Health website posts 23 cases.) That’s more than the 22 cases ...

By Sue Grafstrom, CRPD board member How does a small rural community respond to a global pandemic? My name is Sue Grafstrom, and that’s the question I have to answer. For the past two years I have been concurrently the Roseau County Emergency Manager and the Minnesota Department of Health’s Public Health Preparedness Consultant for ...

By Marnie Werner We’ve been hearing the stories in the last two weeks about rural hospitals, the lack of intensive care unit beds, and questions as to whether they’re prepared or not for the COVID-19 outbreak at our doorstep. So we decided to go to an expert, CRPD board member Santo Cruz, who is also ...

EXCERPT: “The six Minnesota Initiative Foundations have created an EmergencyChild Care Grant Program to provide immediate financial support to licensed child care providers in Greater Minnesota in response to the coronavirus pandemic or COVID-19. All six foundations have committed $50,000 – for a total of $300,000 dedicated for Greater Minnesota child care providers right away – ...

By Kelly Asche As more tests are being given, indications are that the spread of the coronavirus causing the COVID-19 disease is occurring throughout all of Minnesota, including in rural places. A recent analysis has even indicated that rural recreational counties in some states have become a hotbed of the virus in the United States. The ...

EXCERPT: “Rural communities are bracing for a looming recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic, expecting that it could devastate already shaky economies. As the virus shuts down schools, factories, restaurants and other businesses, rural towns contend with a smaller tax base, less access to high-speed internet and growing strain among lenders. Both farming and manufacturing ...