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 …
In many conversations about rural broadband, speed and distance take center stage: uploads, downloads, middle-mile, last-mile, how technology “deletes the distance barrier” for folks who choose rural. Today, the conversation is face-to-face on the national stage. Blandin Foundation has the privilege to bring insights about rural broadband to Congress — specifically to a hearing of …
Today’s youth are eager to contribute to the vibrancy of their rural community. They are positive about the future and ready to act. But are they being asked to? This summer’s Center for Rural Affairs poll found that youth are more positive than their elder counterparts when it comes to the future of their community. …
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 …
How would you describe where you live? Daily Yonder takes a look at this question through the lens of the recent Center for Rural Affairs poll. The poll found that forty-two percent of Americans classify themselves as “rural,” while 45 percent say they’re from a “small town.” Armed with this knowledge, does there need to …
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 …
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 …
Minnesota leads the nation in the demand for highly-skilled workers. According to the Governor’s Workforce Development Council, by 2018, seventy percent of Minnesota jobs will require postsecondary education. Technology, however, is changing job demands at a rapid pace and the result is a talent mismatch, says a recent Positively Minnesota report. Jobseekers are not accessing …
Today, the Daily Yonder took a deep look into a recent poll released by the Center for Rural Affairs. In their article, they summarize the poll’s findings while answering the central question: Will rural be better off in four years? The response seems split. Younger rural residents are generally optimistic about the future, while there’s an overall …
Good jobs continue to be the main concern and top priority for rural Minnesota communities, according to our 2013 Rural Pulse survey. Minnesotans say that recovery from the recession is not reaching all of us equally. Low-income Minnesotans, in particular, strongly believe that tough economic times are not over. “Everyone knows someone who’s been affected. …