Year: 2023

EXCERPT: “Hibbing is something of a rarity when it comes to electricity. Since 2021, most of the city’s power has been generated by burning wood chips and mulch — up to 9,000 tons a month — largely from a local pallet manufacturer. The plant allows the small municipal utility to support northeastern Minnesota’s logging industry ...

EXCERPT: “Paul Bunyan Communications has been awarded a $10 million U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to expand its fiber optic broadband services to portions of Hubbard, Itasca and St. Louis Counties. The USDA grant will cover about 75% of the expansion costs with the cooperative investing the remainder to expand its all-fiber optic to approximately 3,500 ...

On Tuesday, February 14th, 2:30-4:00pm, the Center for Rural Policy and Development and the Minnesota State University, Mankato – Center for Rural Behavioral Health provided an overview of their new report on the rural mental health workforce and had an in-depth discussion with panelists directly involved in rural mental health. Panelists Included: Thad Shunkwiler, LMFT, LPCC, ...

The Center for Rural Policy and Development partnered with Sourcewell to produce short videos discussing our most recent research. In Part 3, Kelly Asche discusses the historically low unemployment rates as well as the drop in the number of people participating in the labor force during the pandemic, and how this has impacted job vacancies.

By Marnie Werner, VP, Research As I work on our research projects, it often seems like all the topics I write about are gloomy and doom-filled. And they are usually. Here at the Center, we tend to write about problems—problems that need fixing—because the only way problems get fixed is if we know about them ...

  A report in partnership with the Center for Rural Behavioral Health, Minnesota State University, Mankato. Marnie Werner, Vice President, Research, Center for Rural Policy & Development Thad Shunkweiler, LMFT, LPCC, Associate Professor and Director, Center for Rural Behavioral Health, Minnesota State University Mankato Tracie Rutherford Self, Ph.D, Assistant Professor, Center for Rural Behavioral Health, ...

EXCERPT: “Rural childcare is an emerging issue as farm bill discussions pick up. U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee member Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota tells Brownfield she’s hosted several listening sessions across her state recently. ‘And boy did we hear a lot about childcare when we were out there in terms of the Rural Development Title of the ...

The Center for Rural Policy and Development partnered with Sourcewell to produce short videos discussing our most recent research. In Part 2, Marnie Werner discusses the challenges facing child care in rural Minnesota and provides a brief overview of some of the solutions being developed by local organizations.  

The Center for Rural Policy and Development partnered with Sourcewell to produce short videos discussing our most recent research. In Part 1, Kelly Asche discusses one highlight from the “State of Rural 2023” report – the significant shifts in migration and population change throughout Minnesota during the Pandemic.