On a cold January night, bidding was hot at the Second Harvest Chef’s Gala. More than 300 Itasca area people – groups of families, friends and co-workers – pooled their money and gathered together for a fun-filled evening of bidding to have their meal cooked and served by local celebrity chefs and servers. At the …
AspireNORTH — a new program of Minnesota North College’s five campuses — shows the exciting changes possible when key institutions intentionally set their sights on coordinated regional impact. Shifting to build systems that work for students – not the other way around – sets our local colleges on a path to offer learning that fits …
For rural communities, Veterans Day is an up close and personal day of remembrance. Many of us count family, friends and neighbors among those who have served our country in times of war and peace, and are serving today. Minnesota author and veteran Diana Oestreich asks that this Veteran’s Day we go deeper than simply …
Gettin’ around just got a little easier for people in Grand Rapids. Earlier this month, the first-ever, cold-weather, accessible autonomous vehicle took to the streets. It marks a milestone in how technology and innovation can help rural Minnesota communities meet today’s toughest challenges. The 17 square-mile route offers more than 70 stops around the City …
Like many types of community infrastructure, rural emergency services are stretched to — and often beyond — a breaking point. This Star-Tribune editorial lays out the many challenges facing rural ambulance service, and spotlights some approaches to start addressing them. Reprinted with permission from the Star-Tribune editorial board. For more information about rural EMS and a …
As hard-to-reach rural communities start seeing the thick spirals of fiber broadband roll up and dive deep into the Earth to deliver super fast Internet speeds, it’s a good time to start taking stock of your community’s digital equity efforts. After all, high-speed broadband is only as transformative as the people who are putting it …
Rural Minnesota communities are experiencing change at breakneck speed. The pandemic accelerated the way rural learners, workers and employers are using technology. Aging communities are managing workforce transitions, wealth transfers and housing and healthcare strains. The urgency of the climate crisis is destabilizing economies built on unsustainable industries. Political tensions are driving deeper wedges between …
You know that feeling you get when you walk through your front door after a long while gone? That instantaneous action, and reaction, of filling your lungs with air that is uniquely yours that smells, tastes and wraps around you in a way that cheers, “You’re home!” That was the feeling bursting from the hearts …
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 …
What “counts” as rural depends on who you ask. And while the my-town-is-smaller-than-your-town squabble can be just a bit of fun between rival sports teams or neighboring towns, the size and classification of a community has very real dollars-and-cents impacts. A recent Center on Rural Innovation article highlighted that there are more than a dozen …