This week more than 600 ninth graders from seven Itasca County schools traded their sneakers in for a comfy set of loafers, putting themselves in the shoes of local business men and women for a day. As part of the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce Future Workers program, students were paired with over 57 organizations …
What if you had to drive an hour to turn in a homework assignment. Would you make the trip? Maybe, maybe not. It’s a lose-lose situation really. You either miss out on time to do other things, like other homework or extra-curricular activities, or you risk getting a zero on an assignment. Imagine having make …
Today we welcome Dane Smith, president of Growth & Justice, a research an advocacy organization that develops innovative public policy proposals based on independent research and civic engagement. For Minnesotans with roots in country life or smaller towns, there are certain treasured historic images that reflect the values and advantages of rural communities: the communal …
In a recent Star Tribune editorial, Growth & Justice president Dane Smith challenges us to think about how we perceive competitiveness. He argues that the focus has been narrow for far too long, emphasizing “cheap labor and lower taxes.” Smith says that, instead, competitiveness should be defined by what is done to increase human potential. …
During their spring meeting March 20 and 21, Blandin Foundation trustees voted to extend the organization’s decade of work in rural broadband another two years (through 2016) and allocate $1.5 million more for community broadband grants. “We see every day what local leaders can do to address very significant and complex challenges,” said Dr. Kathleen …
Invest Early is in its ninth year of providing wrap-around early childhood services for Itasca County children and their families. They recently released their Year 7 results in a report compiled by Wilder Research. Highlights include: Home learning environments, which are associated with higher school readiness scores, improved significantly for Invest Early families during their …
In one week, the World Wide Web will turn 25, and boy does it have a lot to celebrate! From 1995 – 2014, the number of Americans who use the internet has shot up from 14 to 87 percent. That’s huge!
In recognition of the Web’s 25th birthday, Pew Research Internet Project released a new report looking at the rapid growth of the internet and how it has impacted the “way people get, share, and create news; the way they take care of their health; the way they learn; the nature of their political activity; their interactions with government; the style and scope of their communications with friends and family; and the way they organize in communities.”
Here are a few noteworthy findings:
More than 10,000 rural Minnesota middle and high schoolers are celebrating National FFA Week this week, with activities that range from meeting with government officials to hosting community meals and the Jackson County area’s annual barnyard for kids. FFA may be more familiar by its former name – Future Farmers of America – but FFA’s …
When Pipestone community leaders rallied together to apply for the Blandin Community Leadership Program (BCLP), one thing stood in their way – 318 miles of pavement. “When we talked about the expense of it because of the distance (BCLP retreats are held in Grand Rapids, Minn.), we weren’t sure if we could pull it off,” …
The Editors & Publishers Program was founded in 2005 and modeled after the Blandin Community Leadership Program. It is a program of the Minnesota Newspaper Foundation, supported in part through Blandin Foundation grants. More than 65 editor-publisher teams have gone through the program and have emerged with a deeper understanding of how to build social …