Finding power in the local: How Grand Marais is tapping green technologies to reach for sustainability
The number of Cook County’s residents with solar electric systems is roughly 10 times the statewide average, says Department of Commerce.
Rural Dispatches
Rural Dispatches is a yearlong series about the challenges and opportunities in Minnesota’s small towns, made possible by a grant from the Blandin Foundation.
Rural Dispatches is a yearlong series about the challenges and opportunities in Minnesota’s small towns, made possible by a grant from the Blandin Foundation.
Build it, and they will play: In Milroy, amateur baseball holds a special place
In many small towns across Minnesota, town teams remain a source of pride, as well as recreation and entertainment.
Not just ‘a bunch of old guys’: How Minnesota’s American Legion posts are trying to connect with younger vets
Leaders are recognizing that Legion posts around the state must change with the times if they want to thrive.
Little bus on the prairie: Rural transit, faced with demographic change, adapts and evolves
To an extent, transit systems in rural Minnesota respond to riders’ needs. While many buses travel fixed routes, others routinely deviate from set routes to pick up people who have called dispatch centers for rides.
Help wanted: How one rural district is reaching out to young teachers
The centerpiece of the Crosby-Ironton School District’s recruitment initiative is an online video that emphasizes the area’s outdoor lifestyle, the district’s innovations and its support for teachers.
East Grand Forks college is designing a program to equip refugees with work skills
As many as 1,000 refugees have come to or been resettled in Grand Forks over the past decade, from Bosnia, Iraq, Burundi and other nations. Most recent arrivals, about 100 a year, are Somali and Bhutanese.
An ‘arts ecosystem’ in Winona: Marine art museum, Shakespeare festival among attractions fueling a creative boom
“Winona is a city that truly gets the arts,” said Lee Gundersheimer, managing director of the Great River Shakespeare Festival. “And they know what it can do for a community.”
Carving out space in a big-box world: Small-town retailers find their niche
Cold Spring has key ingredients for rural retailing: proximity to lakes country, shops that sell specialized products not easily found in mainstream stores, and a network of civic support.
Iron Range schools, eyes on mine money, consider their future
Small districts on the Iron Range are exploring how they might work together — taking advantage of their unique position as beneficiaries of the mines — to build modern schools.
Nonprofits, mirroring a national trend, grow in Minnesota’s smallest places
While some of these organizations eventually shutter or fail to achieve their goals, U of M demographer Ben Winchester sees their expansion as a sign of civic health.
The need for speed: Broadband, no longer a luxury, is still a patchwork as localities press for improvements
A $16 million project will bring broadband to 20 cities in Renville, Sibley, Nicollet and McLeod Counties. Mille Lacs County hopes a feasibility study now under way results in similar improvements.
Toward a new narrative: How the Center for Small Towns crafts a different rural story
For many leaders in rural Minnesota, the conventional wisdom – that its small towns are stagnant; that it offers little cultural richness; that all the kids grow up and move away – has long felt frustratingly overdone.
