Tag: rural

Season 2 Ep 5: Shifting Energy Infrastructure

In this episode, CRDP researcher Whitney Oachs discusses her new research examining the issues, barriers and opportunities facing rural energy providers in shifting their infrastructure to renewable sources. She is joined by Tim Velde, who sits on the Board of Directors for the Minnesota Valley Cooperative Light & Power Association as well as on the ...

State of Rural – 2021 Update

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 ...

Rural Minnesota and the Battle Against COVID

Minnesota has had some of the highest vaccination rates in the United States, but has still struggled among the nation’s highest COVID case rates in recent weeks. This webinar, hosted by CRPD and the COVID Collaborative, is a  conversation about how the pandemic has unfolded in rural Minnesota, what can be done to keep more ...

State of Rural Highlight 3 – job vacancy rates higher than ever

Every year the Center publishes the “State of Rural” report—a brief overview of demographic and economic trends from a rural perspective. This year’s report will be published in December 2021. Over the next few months, we will be writing here on our blog about some of the trends we’re looking at, taking a deeper dive into the data ...

Webinar: Amazon effect on rural tax revenues

On Thursday, December 9, 2021 we hosted a webinar presenting the results from our report on the “Amazon Effect” and rural sales tax revenues.  Along with our researchers, we heard from panelists with firsthand experience on the effects of online shopping: small business owners and county officials. Panelists included: Kelly Asche – Research Associate, CRPD ...

A bit more on retail trends

By Kelly Asche, Research Associate Look around your community or even your nearby economic center where you do your shopping, and you may conclude that the retail sector is tanking. And yes, brick-and-mortar retail firms have been declining. But that doesn’t necessarily mean shoppers are spending less money at our physical retailers. In fact, we are spending more. And that has meant that the surviving retailers are performing rather well.  In our recent research report, “The ...

Amazon effect and rural tax revenues

November 2021 Kelly Asche, Research Associate (CRPD) Neil Linscheid, Educator – Community Economics (U of MN Extension) Ryan Pesch, Educator – Community Economics (U of MN Extension) For a printable version of this report, click here. Online sales have permeated everyday life and their impacts stretch beyond convenience of shopping. Local leaders see the evidence ...

Season 2 Ep. 1: Why our upcoming research is focused around taxes

After taking a break over the summer we are happy to be back and discuss some of the future research we have coming out this Fall. On this episode we discuss why our upcoming research will be focused around a general topic – taxes. What we thought, at first, was just coincidence that our topics ...

Webinar: Immigrants, Refugees and Local Government Outreach

How are rural communities building relationships with diverse neighbors and embracing differences? The Center for Rural Policy and Development partnered with students from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs to publish a report to help answer these questions. The video above is from our webinar that took place on Wednesday, July 21st where two students ...