Classes at many college campuses, including our area’s Minnesota North schools, are getting started. The cost of college makes headlines a lot these days – as it should. Students have shouldered an incredible amount of debt in recent years as they pursued their dreams of school after high school, and Minnesota students and families have …
Across Minnesota, the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCA) tests are one measure of how students and schools are performing. But what’s happening beyond school walls? How are communities doing to help students succeed? It depends on where you live. Rural Pulse 2019 results show a contrast between how rural and urban residents believe their communities are …
A good job and a balanced life. It’s something we all strive for. But are we more likely to achieve one or the other depending on where we live? Yes – according to more than 1,600 Minnesota residents whose perceptions were captured in the Rural Pulse survey released last week. Quality of Life and In-migration …
Minnesota is often simplistically framed as “the metro” and “Greater Minnesota” — two distinct, sometimes divided, districts. Dig deeper, though, and that picture becomes a mosaic. People and places, environments and economies are intertwined. We are a rich tapestry, each component critical to completing the whole. For a snapshot of that complexity – and a …
Colorful murals, performances in the park, public art sculptures – vibrant, healthy communities are made up of many interrelated dimensions, but perhaps none are as visible as a community’s commitment to integrating art into daily life. Thriving communities explore and reflect the cultural backgrounds, talents and experience of all community members through art. By infusing …
Rural Pulse 2016 uncovered a number of issues rural Minnesotans considered critical to the vibrancy of their community. But economy, educational opportunities and healthcare aren’t the biggest issues facing rural Minnesota, said Kelly Asche, program coordinator of the Center for Small Towns. “These problems are symptoms of an underlying ailment: ‘the negative, mistaken narrative that …
Rural Minnesotans want jobs. Not just any jobs, but good jobs. Jobs that can support households. Rural Pulse 2016 tells us that attracting and retaining jobs is the number 1 priority for rural Minnesotans, but 30 percent of respondents believe their community doesn’t successfully maintain or grow job opportunities. Last week, Small Biz Survival author …
“Minnesota has arrived at that proverbial fork in the path,” said Growth & Justice President Dane Smith in Sunday’s Star Tribune. In his article on Minnesota’s “equity agenda,” he talks of a low road, pocked with envy, enmity and suspicion between rural and urban Minnesotans, and a high road, “marked by a rural optimism and …
Brain gain is getting its moment in the legislative spotlight. Introduced by Rep. Deb Kiel, the “Greater Minnesota Brain Gain bill,” if passed, would create a “pilot grant program to provide grants to eligible organizations to identify and support local economic development initiatives in greater Minnesota designed to attract workers and new residents by marketing …
Money follows vision. Without a strong voice to carry your vision, though, the money might not find you. This thought hit home for me and many others attending the panel on closing the philanthropic gap at this year’s Rural Assembly. With only 5.5% of large foundation grants going to rural communities, I, alongside three other rural …