Tag: community development

  Reed Anfinson, editor and owner of the Swift County Monitor-News in Benson and the Grant County Herald in Elbow Lake, continues his conversation this week about the issues our new governor from Greater Minnesota will be working with. Transportation is, of course, big, and so is workforce housing. But the real problem, says Reed, ...

  Heather Fisher, owner of Salvage Sisters in Mankato, joins Marnie and Jim to talk about Shop Small Saturday and the importance of small businesses to cities small and large in Greater Minnesota.

  Crow Wing County Administrator and CRPD board member Tim Houle joins us again this week to talk about the complicated relationship between the county, state and federal governments. This week we look at the need for counties to communicate the local perspective to state lawmakers in St. Paul. As an example, Tim talks about ...

  Crow Wing County Administrator and CRPD board member Tim Houle joins us this week to talk about the complicated relationship between the county, state and federal governments.

Ask business owners in Minnesota what their biggest challenge is today and most will tell you: “finding help.” Economic growth coupled with an aging workforce heading toward retirement and fewer young people to replace them is putting significant pressure on Greater Minnesota’s employers, making hiring significantly more challenging. Over the next several months, the Center for ...

  Diana Anderson, president of the Southwest Initiative Foundation in Hutchinson, joins us this week to talk about a new initiative on their part to build opportunities for youth in the region, particularly for the 11,000 children who live in poverty there. 

  This week CRPD’s research associate Kelly Asche joins us again to talk about the workforce shortage and how it can turn out to be a positive story. Employers are starting to look at what were previously considered hard-to-employ groups, like people with criminal backgrounds and people with disabilities. There is also the work going ...

  Ashley Hanson, founder of the Department of Public Transformation and the director of PlaySpace Theater, joins us again to talk about their latest endeavor, a countywide production in Otter Tail County. Ashley and her group have done performances in small communities all around the state, so Jim asks the pertinent question: “How do you ...

  Rural Minnesota artist Ashley Hanson joins us this week to talk about how she uses theater to help rural folks come together, get to know their communities better and to celebrate small town life. Ashley is the founder of the Department of Public Transformation and PlaySpace Productions and was one of only 20 people ...