Minuses and Pluses of the 2017 Session As you receive this week’s E-News, the Minnesota Legislature is grinding through an overtime special session, working through the details of an overall budget agreement that will at least avert a state government shutdown. We’ll be analyzing the outcomes with our partners in various coalitions for the next few days and weeks. We know enough to be concerned. Despite a large pro... Read More
Resilience in Southwestern MN Our latest MinnPost commentary helps allay concerns that rural Minnesota is in irreversible economic decline. The op-ed points to hopeful signs of innovation and initiative from the 13th Annual Bio Conference in Worthington, and cites examples of emerging technologies in agribusiness, interstate and international collaboration, improvements in rural workforce training, expanding broadband access, and continued supp... Read More
Blogpost on Hospitals and Renewable Energy in Rural MN Two new blogposts with lessons on rural economic development have been posted on our website by Growth & Justice Policy Fellow Chuck Brown, a writer and retired manager of a rural manufacturing company who served 12 years on the Olivia City Council. In his first blog, Brown describes how farsighted local government leaders in Renville County recently built a much improved, self-su... Read More
You Are Invited: Connecting "Urban Currents" to Our Rural Project You are invited to a free breakfast presentation on Tuesday March 28, and an overview of our Minnesota Rural Equity Project. We'll describe how the project fits into a "One Minnesota" metro-rural framework for business growth and a more inclusive economy. The headline for the event, "Bridging the Political Divide: Urban Condescension & Rural Resentment" is dra... Read More
Of Mice and MN We're getting plenty of feedback and praise for our commentary on the cover of the Star Tribune's Opinion Exchange section Sunday, which revisited Aesop's Fable about "The Country mouse and the City Mouse." Former Minnesota Rural Education Association leader Vernae Hasbargen and Growth & Justice President Dane Smith collaborated on an appeal to Minnesotans to improve their attitudes around the so-called rural-metr... Read More