Santa’s sleigh came early this year. Sam Drong and the PCs for People crew have been traveling across rural Minnesota this fall with computers for low-income people. More than 500 monitors, computers and keyboards have been donated and refurbished, ready for low-cost purchase and use though a Blandin Foundation Broadband Communities grant. Kanabec (County) Broadband Initiative, Mille …
Today we welcome Bernadine Joselyn, Blandin Foundation’s Director of Public Policy. Bernadine recently traveled to Washington, D.C., to testify at a Senate subcommittee hearing on broadband adoption. Here, she reflects on her experience. “How are we doing?” Everyone in the change business asks themselves that question. We’re always on the lookout for evidence that …
Are foresters the shy, retiring types? Definitely not! At least not at the Oct. 23 “Vital Forests/Vital Communities Redux” event, hosted by Dovetail Partners with support through a Blandin Foundation grant. Foresters, economic developers, business people, forestland owners, loggers—the gamut of Minnesota’s forest stakeholders joined the conversation to review developments in Minnesota’s forests and forestry …
Calling all rural techies! Itasca County needs you. As one of the nine Blandin Broadband Communities, the Itasca Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) is bringing together Itasca technology professionals to conduct assessments of local businesses and lead a series of social media breakfasts. “Our overall goal is to expand our knowledge and culture of use of …
“It’s like trying to teach a kid to play the clarinet without a reed,” said Aaron Wenger, engineering instructor at Itasca Community College (ICC). “We’ve got to give them the tools they need to succeed.” ICC engineering attracts students from around the state with their nationally acclaimed program, but how many of those students actually …
Today we welcome guest blogger Matt Rezac, director of rural community partnerships at the Sherwood Foundation in Omaha, Neb., and former Blandin Foundation staff member. He shares comments on a recent Nebraska-Minnesota rural philanthropy learning tour. A couple years ago, my wife and I made a difficult decision to leave tremendous personal and professional circumstances …
Fall – harvest time, canning and freezing time. A time of year when families aren’t hurting for food, right? Not necessarily. Last week, the USDA released this year’s report on household food security. It breaks down like this: Households that faced food insecurity in 2012: 14.5 percent in the US 10.6 percent in Minnesota 11 …
It’s an age-old question, if a tree falls in the forest and there’s no one to hear it, did it make a sound? We might ask the same thing of broadband. If fiber cable is laid in the ground, but no one has the tools or knowledge to access it, is it really there? Very …
Michelle waits with her two children at the front door of the Second Harvest North Central Food Bank as the clock ticks towards 11 a.m. She explains to me that summer is usually a time for fun and sun, but for parents who rely on subsidized school lunches for their children, summer can bring unexpected …
By Jane E. Tigan, Minnesota Compass Rural Minnesotans believe that access to high-quality jobs is the most important issue facing their communities, and that not enough is being done to make that happen, according to the Rural Pulse survey. This perception presents major challenges for community and business leaders, especially since Greater Minnesota has more …