Category: Blog

Whitney Oachs, Research Associate                     Last year, CRPD collaborated with students at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs to publish “Building community, embracing difference: Immigrants, refugees, and local government outreach in rural Minnesota.” While this study established the need for equity and inclusion initiatives among rapidly diversifying meatpacking towns, it only brushed ...

By Marnie Werner, VP Research, & Kelly Asche, Research Associate Access to emergency medical services in Rural Minnesota is the topic of our latest report. In it, we analyzed data collected by the Minnesota Department of Health in their 2016 survey of EMS agencies around the state. We wanted to see how delivering EMS services ...

By Phil Jensen Owning a home outright, or without a mortgage, can relieve strain on a household budget. Households without a monthly housing payment can achieve a higher standard of living with the same earnings, or can get by more easily with lower incomes. For these reasons, outright homeownership can especially impact households with smaller ...

  Marnie Werner, VP, Research Two years ago last week, I sat glued to my TV watching the governor and his cabinet as they announced our first covid lockdown. I sat there wondering how this was going to play out, who would get sick, who wouldn’t make it through to the other end. Sitting in ...

With the pandemic on the wane and people ramping up their transitions back to full-time work, childcare will be right back where it was before the pandemic—under-resourced and hard to find, especially in rural areas. And it has a real impact on our economy.     By Marnie Werner, Vice President, Research & Operations Here ...

  By Kelly Asche, Research Associate If the pandemic has made us realize anything, it’s the importance of hospitals and access to health care across Minnesota. They played a crucial role in deploying vaccines, taking care of our sick, and being a hub of information while the pandemic played out. And now that we are ...

by Marnie Werner, VP Research & Operations Between 2000 and 2015, the price of farmland went on a tear. Prices climbed to levels unseen before, making people nervous. Now, after a respite between 2015 and 2020 where prices stayed fairly level, the farmland market is heating up again. These record prices have implications not just ...

Whitney Oachs, Research Associate Tomorrow, I publish a new report, “Shifting Energy Infrastructure and Rural Minnesota,” which outlines the progress and barriers associated with a shift toward renewable energy. In conducting the research for this report, I heard many different perspectives on renewables, ranging from support for 100% green energy to a desire to continue ...

Each year, the Center for Rural Policy and Development provides a brief update on various economic and demographic data pertaining to rural Minnesota. As policy discussions concerning rural Minnesota unfold, it is important to understand the past, present, and potential futures of rural regions. This report provides historical data points that illustrate how rural conditions ...