Tag: rural

By Julie Tesch, President & CEO Do you know what the bedrock of any town is, rural or urban?  Community.  In this age of technology, it is very easy to isolate yourself.  You can be listening to a podcast on your phone while you are emailing for work and playing a game at the same ...

And in related news, this from The New York Times… EXCERPT: “When I talk to undergraduate students about their postgraduate plans … the answer inevitably reveals a common assumption: Big cities are where highly educated people must go to succeed economically and socially….But these preconceptions are not only incorrect, they are also unduly limiting the ...

By Julie Tesch, 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 at the ...

By Marnie Werner, Vice President, Research & Operations The beating heart of what we do here at the Center for Rural Policy and Development is our research—research pure and simple on policy issues that matter to rural Minnesota. It’s the beginning of the fiscal year for us, which means a new start to not just ...

By Julie Tesch I recently read an article about Willmar in, of all places, the New York Times, and I was surprised and amazed (I’m a bit sad to say) at its positive view of rural Minnesota. I’m a bit sad at my level of surprise not because it was an article on Willmar, but ...

Results of a statewide survey of child care providers April 2019  By Marnie Werner, Vice President, Research & Operations For a printable version of the report, click here. For a two-page summary, click here. The Center first started looking into the matter of the child care shortage in 2015. In the process of this initial ...

By: Kelly Asche, Research Associate There isn’t a week that goes by here at the Center where we don’t use U.S. Census information in some form. Its importance in creating our research and helping to develop good policy cannot be understated. If you were to quickly breeze through our research for this year, you would ...

By Marnie Werner, Vice President, Research & Operations About 18 months ago I was sitting in front of a state senate committee on child care, talking to them about what I had found while researching the child care shortage for the previous two years. When I was done and others were invited to come up ...

By Julie Tesch, President & CEO Have you read a newspaper lately? Was it your local newspaper? Was it in print or online? I’m fortunate to have a daily, regional newspaper delivered to my door every day. I also have two neighboring community newspapers delivered weekly. Why do I spend this money? It is my ...