Category: Our Research Reports

By Marnie Werner, Vice President, Research & Operations Click here to read the main article, “Rural Child Care Solutions: From the Ground Up.” While communities have been learning how to get together and figure out solutions for their local child care needs, at the state level, the MN Department of Human Services has also been ...

By Marnie Werner, Vice President, Research & Operations Click here to read the main article, “Rural Child Care Solutions: From the Ground Up.” One factor that has been helpful in the rural childcare arena is the involvement of organizations with a regional perspective, operating in a wider area than a county but more focused—with greater ...

By Marnie Werner, Vice President, Research & Operations Click here for a printable version of this report. For a quick summary of this report, click here. Click here for more on what the MN Department of Human Services is doing to help with the child care shortage. Click here for more on the value of ...

Ulises Linares, Zoe Martens, Kerim Örsel In collaboration with: Dr. Greg Lindsey, the University of Minnesota Humphrey School of Public Affairs, and the Center for Rural Policy and Development    In 2021, the Center for Rural Policy and Development worked with students at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs to publish, “Building Community Embracing Difference,” ...

Marnie Werner, VP Research Whitney Oachs, Research Associate Kelly Asche, Research Associate Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, there has still been little research on the impact of the coronavirus on rural communities or the accompanying public health and economic measures taken to control its spread. In Minnesota, like the rest of the nation, the ...

April 2022 By Kelly Asche, Research Associate For a printable version of this report, click here. Ambulance services save lives every day, but a report released by the Office of the Legislative Auditor in February of 2022 raises serious concerns about the way ambulance services in Minnesota are regulated, their future viability, and the operations ...

By Phil Jensen Job vacancies in Greater Minnesota continue to rise, and at a faster rate than in the seven-county metropolitan area. Attracting workers to more rural parts of the state is a complex problem, but housing plays a major role. Encouraging workers to relocate to Greater Minnesota depends on the availability of housing. That ...

Marnie Werner, VP Research Click here for a printable version of this report. Between 2000 and 2015, the price of farmland in the United States climbed to record levels, driven first by high farm income derived from high demand for corn for use in biofuels,[1] then by high demand for any kind of reliable investment ...

January 2022 Whitney Oachs, Research Associate For a printable version of this report, click here. In 2007, Minnesota set a goal of reducing the state’s carbon emissions by 80% by 2050. Since then, electric utilities have been making significant progress, but not enough to meet the state’s interim carbon-reduction goals. The MN Department of Commerce’s ...