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 ...

EXCERPT: “U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that USDA is now accepting applications for ReConnect Program loans and grants to expand access to high-speed internet for millions of people in rural America nationwide. The Department is making more than $1 billion available, thanks to President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The program ...

EXCERPT: “A new mentorship program for women interested in pursuing public service positions is being offered through the Minnesota-based 100 Rural Women nonprofit. The program, titled the Elected Mentorship Network, will involve women in public office sharing their experiences. Their goal is to ‘create connections between women who were previously or are currently in office ...

EXCERPT: “Rural America could be on the verge of seeing the largest, single investment in its electrical infrastructure since the Rural Electrification Act of 1935 first brought power lines to farms. Rural electrical cooperatives have the opportunity to make that investment thanks to the $9.7 billion in clean energy funding signed into law by President ...

EXCERPT: “Five months into her pregnancy, Christine Daniels felt her blood pressure surge. Her head ached, and the skin on her feet stretched and cracked open. Her legs felt so heavy, she could hardly walk to her mom’s apartment around the corner. Help was far away. In her rural north Florida town, there is no ...

EXCERPT: “Americans suffering from early-onset Alzheimer’s are less likely to receive specialized care if they live in rural parts of the country, a new study found. Ohio State University researchers found rural patients with the disease, which occurs between the ages of 30 and 65, were typically seen exclusively by a primary care physician and were less likely ...

EXCERPT: “Every summer, the CGMC honors the legislators, city officials, and community leaders who helped advance CGMC priorities during the legislative session. View the list of award winners and a brief description of how they earned their award.” FULL STORY: https://fluence-media.co/3zPmcoD

EXCERPT: “A self-service grocery store in rural Minnesota is doing way more with less, and it’s catching on with customers, while also catching the eye of other communities. In a small town with limited resources, Evansville’s Main Street Market has limited its staffed hours to just three days a week for the general public. But ...

EXCERPT: “The Area Partnership for Economic Expansion (APEX) is pleased to share the results of a recently completed economic impact study regarding the Enbridge Line 3 Replacement Project (L3RP). The study, commissioned by APEX and conducted by the Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER) at the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Labovitz School of Business ...

By Julie Tesch, CRPD President   The weather is hot and steamy in Minnesota, so that must mean it’s county fair time. Growing up, the county fair was my favorite place on earth. It was the place where I got to see my friends, who I hadn’t seen since school let out, ride some rides ...