Category: Blog

Highest paying occupations drive the difference between the Twin Cities seven-county metro and the rest of Minnesota. Kelly Asche, Senior Researcher March 2024 As the search for workers intensifies throughout Minnesota, the conversation around wages and the gap between rural areas and the seven-county metro continues to come up. To try and add some nuance ...

Marnie Werner Vice President of Research & Operations   My dad once told me his boss had a sign on his door that read: “Are you part of the problem or part of the solution?” When I first started at the Center in 2000, I think rural Minnesota was at a crossroads of sorts. The ...

Is it realistic for rural areas to close the wage gap? Probably not. By: Kelly Asche, Senior Researcher Most of rural Minnesota is discussing ways to grow the labor force. Increasing the affordable housing stock and childcare capacity are two primary strategies being discussed at the legislature. One of the underlying issues that makes these ...

Kelly Asche January 2024 The last legislative session produced an interesting program to help make post-secondary education more affordable for low-income students – the North Star Promise. From the Minnesota Office of Higher Education: “Beginning in fall 2024, the North Star Promise (NSP) Scholarship program will create a tuition and fee-free pathway to higher education ...

January 16, 2024 By Kelly Asche, Senior Researcher Every December the U.S. Census Bureau releases the new American Community Survey data, representing the previous year. And with that release the Center for Rural Policy can update all the numbers representing rural Minnesota and release the annual “State of Rural” report. The big takeaway again in ...

January 4, 2024 By Kelly Asche, Senior Researcher Every December the U.S. Census Bureau releases the new American Community Survey data, representing the previous year. And with that release the Center for Rural Policy can update all the numbers representing rural Minnesota and release the annual “State of Rural” report. The big takeaway again in ...

  September 2023 By Marnie Werner, VP of Research & Operations We are officially in a new fiscal year here at the Center for Rural Policy and Development and with it comes a new research agenda. The list of issues to research in rural Minnesota seems never-ending and unfortunately, we only have so many hours ...

May 2023 By Jesus Gonzalez, Capitol Pathways Intern My name is Jesus Gonzalez, a Concordia College sophomore, and for the last couple of months, I’ve been the Capitol Pathways Intern for the Center for Rural Policy and Development. From start to finish the program and the Center have been great! Now at the end, I’m ...

March 2023 By Kelly Asche, Senior Researcher To nearly everyone, the education formula is a mystery. And where there’s mystery, there tends to be misunderstandings, misinterpretations, and incorrect narratives. Making changes to policy that is well understood is hard enough. Imagine trying to change policy that isn’t well understood. This is the predicament rural schools ...