Tag: rural

Rural communities across Minnesota are tapping a new program to help bring a fresh set of ideas to their community development toolbox. Offered in partnership by Rethos and Springboard for the Arts, staff from these organizations will come and assist communities in planning and implementing artist-led projects. Assistance comes in the form of training, one-on-one ...

Kathy Draeger, the statewide Director of the University of Minnesota Extension –  Regional Sustainable Development Partnership, wants rural communities to see their local grocery stores as the assets they are. Small town grocery stores have been facing an uphill battle against increasing competition from the big national chains. In this interview, Kathy and Julie will ...

  It’s the beginning of December, in one month 2020 will finally be over, and the 2021 legislature will begin looking at a Minnesota beyond COVID. Yes, there are still many current COVID issues that will need to be addressed: supporting people out of work and the small businesses that employed them, shoring up our ...

So just what is the Association of Minnesota Counties? Our President and CEO, Julie Tesch, talks with AMC’s Executive Director, Julie Ring, about the association that supports and advocates for Minnesota’s 87 counties. This year of Covid has been especially challenging for county governments. Julie discusses the difficult issues counties have faced and are still ...

On this episode Julie Tesch and Marnie Werner talk about two topics that only come around every ten years, the Census and legislative redistricting. They discuss  why redistricting is so important but has been so troublesome in Minnesota history, the role of accurate census data and how a salamander became a symbol of democracy in ...

  By Marnie Werner, Vice President, Research, & Jordon Barthel, Research Intern To listen to a conversation with Marnie Werner about this research, check out our podcast – Episode 11: CRPD Research – Census and redistricting in Rural Minnesota. After months of back-and-forth wrangling among different groups and interests the 2020 Census count finally came ...

By Whitney Oachs, Research Intern As discussed in our recent 2020 State of Rural Report, most farmers were barely getting by before the onslaught of COVID-19. While agricultural land values have remained at historic highs, low commodity prices and increased costs of production have resulted in negative net income, contributing to declining mental health for ...

This is the time of year that I am usually enjoying some county fair food while looking at 4-H exhibits at local county fairs.  Obviously, this year that is not happening because of the pandemic.  I have been able to track down some fair food, but I’m really missing the sense of community that a ...

Our thanks go out to Tim Penny, president of the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation and former First District Congressman, for his opinion piece in last Sunday’s Minneapolis Star Tribune featuring our work on cost of living and how your dollar can go further in Greater Minnesota. The study itself is getting a lot of traction ...