Year: 2021

How are rural communities building relationships with diverse neighbors and embracing differences? The Center for Rural Policy and Development partnered with students from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs to publish a report to help answer these questions. The video above is from our webinar that took place on Wednesday, July 21st where two students ...

EXCERPT: “Minnesota legislators this year tried to address many of the issues facing Greater Minnesota, from farming pollution to broadband access, meat processing capacity and lack of child care. Here’s a look at some of the policy and spending proposals with outsized impact outside of the seven-county Twin Cities metro area that did — or ...

(photo courtesy of University of Minnesota) EXCERPT: “The importance of connecting and empowering women leaders across Greater Minnesota has perhaps never been so evident as it is today. ‘Women’s leadership is not just a ‘nice-to-have,’ we are finding it’s a matter of survival for our small towns,’ says Kate Stower, a recent graduate from the ...

EXCERPT: “The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has issued an air quality alert for northern Minnesota, effective Tuesday, July 13, beginning at noon through Friday, July 16, at 9 a.m. The affected area includes Ely, Hibbing, International Falls, Two Harbors, Grand Marais, Grand Portage, Bemidji, Roseau, Moorhead, East Grand Forks, Brainerd, Alexandria and the tribal ...

EXCERPT: “Vern Greyn was standing in the raised bucket of a tractor, trimming dead branches off a tree, when he lost his balance. He fell 12 feet and struck his head on the concrete patio outside his house in this small farming town on the central Montana plains. Greyn, then 58, couldn’t move. His wife called ...

EXCERPT: “Air source heat pumps are on the rise in rural Minnesota and utility officials expect momentum to grow as a result of the state’s new energy conservation law. A year-and-a-half-old collaboration between the nonprofit Center for Energy and Environment and five outstate Minnesota utilities is aiming to make heat pumps mainstream by the end of ...

EXCERPT: “In autumn of 2020, the International Falls Police Department tested officer-worn cameras for about six weeks but ultimately chose not to keep them. It’s not that the department didn’t like what it saw. Captain Mike Kostiuk said the cameras were ‘obviously a great tool that we’d love to have’ for a department that wants to ...

EXCERPT: “A lifeguard shortage is hitting the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota, forcing some pools to close and beaches go unsupervised. St. Cloud is closing all seven of its wading pools for the entire summer. The city says COVID-19 restrictions were rolled back too late for it to budget for pool operations and salaries for ...

  The year 2020 was a stress test on all our systems, especially childcare. The childcare crisis in rural Minnesota was already serious before the pandemic. During the pandemic, it was no longer possible to ignore how important access to childcare is for the average family and how stressed our childcare system is—especially in rural ...