EXCERPT: “Affordable housing is tougher to find in much of rural America—home to about a fifth of the nation’s population—than in the country’s big cities and prominent suburbs. ‘Rural areas across the country have not recovered from the Great Recession as well as bigger cities [have],’ says Bob Rapoza, executive secretary of the National Rural Housing Coalition, ...

This week Dr. Richard Davenport, president of Minnesota State University Mankato and a Center board member, talks with us about the impact the unknowns at the federal level are having on some aspects of higher education, including fundraising and educational opportunities for immigrants.

EXCERPT: “To hear some politicians tell it, there are two Minnesotas: There’s the Twin Cities, land of lattes and light rail and the beneficiary of untold state-sponsored largesse, and then there’s Greater Minnesota, long-suffering home to real Minnesotans, stolidly laboring along in spite of consistent neglect from the powers-that-be in St. Paul… There’s a lot that’s ...

EXCERPT: “Rural students often qualify for financial aid and supports earmarked for low-income and/or first-generation students. But the push at many private colleges and universities in Minnesota to attract and retain students based on their rural status, specifically, is a lesser-known facet of ensuring equitable access. ‘There has been a push, more recently, on rural ...

We talk this week about the gubernatorial candidates’ forum the Center is hosting along with the Minnesota Newspaper Association and Compeer Financial (formerly AgStar) on Jan. 26. While the event isn’t open to the public, it will be a great opportunity for candidates to sit in front of a room full of newspaper reporters and ...

EXCERPT: “President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday aimed at making it easier for companies to deploy high-speed broadband networks in rural areas. Speaking at the annual convention of the American Farm Bureau Federation in Nashville Monday, Trump unveiled and then signed a presidential order that expedites federal permitting to allow broadband expansion in rural areas and makes it ...

EXCERPT: “Creative Minnesota, Minnesota Citizens for the Arts and the Park Rapids Lakes Area Arts Council released a new study Wednesday indicating that the arts have a large impact on Hubbard County. The total annual economic impact of 15 arts and culture organizations, their audiences and 170 artists and creative workers in Hubbard County is ...

EXCERPT: “Seventy five percent of farmers and farm workers surveyed in conjunction with an online study say they are or have been directly impacted by opioid abuse — compared to less than half of all rural residents. Only 31 percent of all survey respondents indicated they know that rural communities are affected most by the opioid ...

This week on RuralMN Radio, the Center’s Research Associate Kelly Asche talks about updating the State of Rural Minnesota report by first answering the question: Just what is “rural”?

EXCERPT: “Select fire departments across southwest Minnesota will get a financial boost toward remaining active in saving lives and protecting property in rural Minnesota. Eight rural fire departments in communities of populations less than 10,000 in The Globe’s coverage area received Volunteer Fire Assistance Grants, administered by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. The 50-percent matching grants ...