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INNOVATIVE CONNECTIONS FOR RURAL WEALTH CREATION

Final Report & Case StudyAugust 2011

Cooperative Agreement No. RBS-09-18Between

Minnesota Rural Partners, Inc. (MRPI)and the

United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development

Table of Contents

Project Foreword.........................................................................................................................................3

Project Overview.........................................................................................................................................4

Preparation for Project Launch....................................................................................................................5

Communications..........................................................................................................................................6

Project Reflections.......................................................................................................................................6

Project Components....................................................................................................................................7

Regional Meetings and Videoconferences..................................................................................................8

Rural Urban Gathering and Small Town Symposium...................................................................................8

Rural Urban Partnering Task Force/Steering Committee...........................................................................12

Mapping System........................................................................................................................................15

Investigation and reports on Local Food Systems, Job Readiness (Education & Workforce), and Job Creation through targeted cluster and input-output analysis...................................................................17

Appendix A - Communication Plan............................................................................................................23

Appendix B - Videoconference Summaries...............................................................................................27

Appendix C - Input about Rural Urban Partnering Council........................................................................36

Appendix D – Project Reports....................................................................................................................44

Local Food Systems, Job Readiness (Education & Workforce), and Job Creation through targeted cluster and input-output analysis

Minnesota Rural Partners, Inc.

Project Foreword

A Rural-Urban Partnering FrameworkMinnesota Rural-Urban Connections -- We are All in This Together!

In Minnesota in the early 21st century, as it is in many states across the nation, rural and urban lines continue to blur -- spatially, culturally, and economically. Instead of continuing to treat these interdependent places, people, and economies as separate entities, we believe more can be gained – socially and economically – by intentionally building a rural-urban partnering framework that supports existing partnerships and spurs many more new connections, coordination, and collaboration for the benefit of all. Since October 2009, Minnesota Rural Partners, Inc. (MRP, Inc.) has been hosting a national pilot project with USDA Rural Development Rural Business - Cooperative Service to document and leverage the power of rural-urban connections and resource sharing to foster increased innovation and job and wealth creation for the state as a whole. The pilot project concluded in April, 2011.

The work builds on years of efforts that MRP, Inc. has organized in resource coordination and sharing, rural entrepreneurship development, and community informatics across Minnesota.

The ultimate goal of the pilot is to engage people, organizations, and ideas through the Minnesota Rural Urban Partnering framework (that framework being the people, places and organizations that care about and support rural - urban interdependence). While not necessarily a formal institution, the framework would be an intentional way of thinking, planning and acting for the betterment of Minnesota.

The initiative to intentionally support rural urban partnering as a rural wealth creation strategy is an evolution from the original state rural development council function hosted by MRP starting in the mid 1990s. Our aim with more focused rural–urban coordination and resource sharing is to spur innovation and wealth creation in a host of development arenas. It would also build a solid foundation of urban allies for rural policy development and advocacy so that rural Minnesota is not an afterthought in state policymaking but front and center as a key economic and social engine for Minnesota’s current and future economic growth.

We are grateful for the financial support of the United State Department of Agriculture to carry out this project. I am personally thankful for the assistance we received from the MRP, Inc. board members, and my colleagues on this project: Joyce Johannson, Deb Miller Slipek, Emily Kissane, Kate Searls, Kathy Draeger and her staff at the Minnesota Regional Sustainable Development Partnership, and Linden Weiswerda, Christy James, and Pam Matchie.

--Jane Leonard, former president of Minnesota Rural Partners, Inc.


Project Overview

Minnesota Rural Partners, Inc. (MRPI), in a cooperative effort with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development, completed a pilot project between October 2009 and April 2011 aimed at strengthening rural and urban connections, designed to foster increased innovation and job creation for the state as a whole.

MRPI’s short term goals were to:

Get Minnesotans talking and thinking about the interdependence between rural and urban areas, as well as future opportunities arising from stronger rural-urban connections. This was accomplished through a series of videoconferences connecting every region of the state fromJanuary to June 2010, followed by a face-to-face Rural Urban Gathering in June, 2010, alongside the Symposium on Small Towns hosted in Morris, Minnesota. Our outreach was supported by our project blog, rurb.mn: Minnesota Rural Urban Connections Project, organized with assistance from MinnPost.com.

Map existing rural-urban connections with the help of individual Minnesotans, businesses, agencies, nonprofits, economic development groups, academic institutions, foundations, associations, and related groups. An interactive map of existing rural urban connections was developed with the help of individual Minnesotans, businesses, agencies, nonprofits, economic development groups, academic institutions, foundations, associations and related groups. The map provides a detailed online inventory and mapping of the partnering already occurring to show its strength, breadth and depth, and the economic, demographic and cultural factors at work, and spotlight opportunities for other helpful connections and partnering. Being able to see the existing connections increases understanding of the depth and dynamics of the linkagesbetween rural and urban Minnesota and our inherent interdependence. The mapping of rural urban connections is in its very early stages but given more access to existing GIS technologies and more dynamic databases, mapping should be a key element in any policy and planning development for rural and urban development.

Renew and/or build a framework of rural-urban partnerships that can lead to new connections, coordination and collaboration to benefit the state. This includes the formation of a Rural Urban Partnering Steering Committee to further develop the evolution and governance of a Rural Urban Partnering Framework that could more intentionallyleverage rural urban connections to help Minnesota thrive.

Our aim is to develop more focused rural–urban coordination and resource sharing and to spur innovation and wealth creation in a host of development arenas. This project began the building blocks for a solid foundation of rural and urban allies for rural policy development


http://blog.rurb.mn/

and advocacy so that rural Minnesota is not an afterthought in state policymaking but front and center as a key economic and social engine for Minnesota’s current and future economicgrowth.

Preparation for Project Launch

This project was organized to begin the evolution of MRPI’s state rural development council function to a rural urban partnering function, to broaden the partnering possibilities that would spur innovation and wealth creation across all sectors to help Minnesota thrive.

The evolution of the rural urban partnering council itself has not happened due to state and national financial pressures that make it impossible to raise funds for such a coordinating council at this time in the Great Recession. However, we have used this opportunity to lay the groundwork for a much more articulated and empirically sound strategy for WHY rural urban interdependency can and should be the framework for sustainable economic development to get us all out of the Great Recession.

We looked specifically at workforce development, education, entrepreneurship, and local farms – local food systems sectors for rural urban partnering and connections, but gathered connection stories across a wide range of sectors. Innovation depends on sharing ideas and developing relationships across disciplines, to spur creativity and try new things and/or new connections. Without those connections, you can’t get to sustainable job growth and wealth creation.

We created a work plan with USDA RBS and began meeting with potential partners. We also kept the USDA Rural Development Minnesota Office informed and they assisted us in outreach.

We also made several public announcements (through our monthly e-newsletters and other media outlets) and engaged in public discussions (such as at the November 4, 2009 Regional Economic Development Group gathering How Businesses Weathered the Economic Storm). We presented our findings at a public forum in April, 2011 at the University of Minnesota, and also at the Community Development Society and Rural Sociological Society annual meetings in Boise, Idaho in July 2011. We will also present our research in Washington, D.C. in October, 2011 at the Ford Foundation and USDA Economic Research Service gathering on wealth creation. We continue to search for ways to expand this work despite economic conditions that make it difficult to raise funding for additional research and dissemination.

Key organizations we met with to start this project:

Staff of the Metropolitan Community Development Consortium, an umbrella group of all the community and economic organizations in the Minneapolis St. Paul metro region. They assisted in outreach to urban partners.


Center for Small Towns staff at the University of Minnesota Morris, securing a partnership with them to co-host the 2010 Small Town Symposium and debut the Rural Urban Gathering at the event for a statewide audience.

Minnesota Extension Service, Community Vitality office, to obtain their cooperation in allowing us to us the University of Minnesota webinar system for the rural urban webinars. After several weeks of mulling it over, they declined to participate, citing their need to do projects with a research outcome. (Several months into the project, local and regional extension educators and extension economists did assist us in the cluster and input-output analysis parts of our project once we had established a solid research question; we are grateful to them for their enthusiasm and assistance.)

Interactive Television Coordinators from the entire K-12 school district system to ask for their help in securing videoconference sites for regional meetings between January and May 2010. They were willing to help, although scheduling the conferences was difficult with so many separate systems to negotiate.

MinnPost.com, a year-old online newspaper and social media platform that covers all of Minnesota, to assist us with the social media platform for this project. Out of this partnership came rurb.mn, the blog for the overall project.

The director of the Governor’s Workforce Development Council, the Minnesota Workforce Council Association, and the Minnesota Learning Commons (all K-12 & higher education institutions). They are assisted with outreach and research.

The Minnesota State Fair, a partner in the 2010 Minnesota Community Pride competition. Over 100,000 people attend the State Fair daily from across Minnesota and the Upper Midwest.

Communications

Regular contact with participants, stakeholders, partners and interested parties was central to each aspect of the project. Please see Appendix A for the project’s social media communications plan.

Project Reflections

In many ways we were traveling in unchartered territory. Even in a rural – urban state like Minnesota, where 75% of the towns have fewer than 2500 people in population, the greater majority of people live in urban and suburban communities where they have a hard time wrapping their brains around the idea that rural prosperity supports urban prosperity and vice versa.

Rural community and economic policy development tends to be an afterthought in national and statewide efforts at community and economic strategic planning. This is not only a social ignorance but an economic one as well. It is reflected in the lack of data collected for rural areas


of the country, data that would help show even more clearly the direct impact of rural economic dynamics on urban prosperity.

Unfortunately we cannot rely on the fading sense of a more generous American spirit – a spirit of all for one, one for all. We have to build it back up again. We have to prove empirically the value of heeding the national motto on our national seal -- E pluribus unum --"Out of many, one." Americans are more divided than ever -- by politics, income, race, religion, age, and geography. However, those of us working on this project are more convinced than ever before that it is in embracing and leveraging our interdependencies that our communities, our state, and our country will find success, prosperity, and progress. We know in our hearts this is the right way to be – to help each other in good times and bad, in abundance and in loss.

We set out to prove that doing the right thing – the sharing thing -- is also the practical way to be and to succeed. Elements of this rural urban connections pilot project do show empirically how essential rural urban connections are to the prosperity of our state, and we think with replication, we can show the same for our country. Not only do we all depend on rural areas for food, water, energy…we depend on rural areas for good jobs in urban areas, and vice versa.

We first set out to collect anecdotal evidence of rural urban connections, through the series of videoconferences in the winter and spring of 2010, discussed further in the report, and through the rural urban gathering that followed the videoconferences at the June 2010 Symposium on Small Towns at the University of Minnesota-Morris.

We mapped what we heard throughout the first months of the project and followed those preliminary findings with detailed interviews of key stakeholders and cluster and input-output economic analysis of two key sectors: manufacturing and agribusiness. The limits of time and funding prevented us from testing other sectors. The conversations and investigation did lay the groundwork for the follow-up empirical studies on rural-urban interdependencies in job readiness (education and workforce development) and job creation that are attached in the appendix of this final report. We also commissioned a report that highlights strategies currently used throughout Minnesota to build and strengthen local and regional food systems through the production, distribution, processing, consumer education, and marketing of local foods.

We consider what we have accomplished over the 18 months of this pilot project as a promising feasibility study. Our work demonstrates the need for further investigation into rural urban dynamics that contribute to the well-being and livelihoods of urban and rural Minnesotans and Americans. Our initial work, articulated in the next parts of this report, shows the benefits of rural and urban people and places working together. They do so because it is in their enlightened self-interest: we all do well when we all do good, for and with one another.

Project Components


Regional meetings and videoconferences Rural Urban Gathering & Small Town Symposium Mapping System Investigation and reports on Local Food Systems, Education & Workforce, Job Creation

through targeted cluster and input-output analysis (See Appendix d for full reports).

Regional Meetings and Videoconferences

Outreach face-to-faceThe first outreach meeting was held on January 19, 2010 at the Initiative Foundation in Little Falls, MN. There were 22 people in attendance including several USDA RD staff from a regional office. This was a statewide meeting of people who regularly work in rural areas and regional centers in the fields of rural, community, and economic development. They included representatives of education, foundations, regional economic development and planning, and University Extension.

Jane Leonard discussed the overall project, requested help with upcoming videoconferences, asked participants to share their rural urban connections, encouraged participation in the June Symposium and Rural Urban Gathering, and answered questions. Conversation focused on innovation (and its base of sharing ideas and building on them), and more intentional recognition and use of interdependence between rural and urban enterprise and society as a basis for more comprehensive planning, community and economic development, and ultimately a thriving economy for all. Three participants at the statewide outreach meeting volunteered to champion a videoconference.

VideoconferencesEight 2-hour videoconferences were held, each in a different region of the state and each focusing on a different topic or issue. Each videoconference had several remote sites to allow for maximum reach in each region hosting the videoconference.

We started each videoconference with a brief overview of the Rurb.MN project. Then we had pre-selected presenters tell their rural urban connections examples to spur discussion by videoconference participants in sharing their own stories. We concluded by inviting everyone to send in their connection examples either electronically or by snail mail, and to also join us at the Symposium and Rural Urban Gathering in June 2010.

Please see Appendix B for summaries of the videoconferences and to see the breadth and variety of connections recognized.


Rural Urban Gathering and Small Town Symposium

The evening before the Symposium on Small Towns held at the University of Minnesota Morris on June 10, 2010, over 120 people met for the Rural Urban Gathering, an opportunity to share ideas, network and help shape the RurbMN project to demonstrate the interconnectedness of rural and urban areas. Participants in the Gathering came from every region in the state and represented at least 45 different organizations and groups.

The evening began with conversations among people living in the same geographic region. Members of each group were asked to share why they came to the Gathering and to name examples of positive rural-urban connections. Individual comments were posted on flipcharts to encourage the exchange of ideas during the event and later transcribed to benefit further development of the RurbMN Project.

What drew people to attend the Rural Urban Gathering? Most wanted to learn about people and organizations doing similar work, hoping to use that information for activities such as community building and economic development. “I am here to work on establishing connections to help grow our communities and improve the quality of life for our residents,” said one participant, while another hoped “to further local community sustainable momentum through connections and knowledge of interdependent resources.”

“I want to understand others' work and where they do the work. I hope to gain more allies and more ideas of how to achieve goals.” Comments such as these indicate that attendees believe that others are addressing similar challenges throughout the state, but without a forum to bring people together, everyone is attempting to find solutions and create opportunities in isolation. People want to learn from each other and collaborate, both for the benefit of their communities and for the state as a whole. “Challenges and issues are interconnected; solutions must be, too,” is how one person described it.

Perhaps as a consequence of this isolation, a number of people commented on misunderstandings between rural and urban: “Urban people don't understand the challenges facing farmers and how complex local food can be.” There’s a “misunderstanding of farmers by urbanites and vice versa.” “Weak ties between urban headquarters and rural plants; could drop rural partner for another state or country.” “Stereotypes of backwardness are supported by lack of cooperation between rural and urban.” “In urban areas, rural connections are not covered or acknowledged because it is considered a completely separate world.”

What are the existing connections between rural and urban that participants want to build upon? Participants cited efforts around renewable energy, local foods, government, transportation, education, farmers markets, law enforcement, research, water resources, library services, technology, art, public television, nonprofit organizations, economic development, tourism and co-ops. Some examples were organizations, while others were local, regional or statewide programs or events.


During the next part of the process, the entire room brainstormed topic areas or sectors related to rural-urban connections and then each person selected an issue for further conversation. The sectors people chose to talk about were transportation, broadband, energy, food, business/economic development, entrepreneurship, education, infrastructure/public works/water, aging and immigration. The larger group also identified other topics that should be considered in the future: homelessness/people at risk, faith community/volunteerism, second homes, industry clusters, recreation/tourism, heritage, brain drain, youth entrepreneurship and preservation. Each group that convened around a chosen sector discussed what rural and urban have in common and described challenges associated with collaboration and discussed positive examples of rural urban connections.

Participants obviously focused on the fact that that both urban and rural are experiencing job losses due to the recession and budget cuts. Other common challenges are

demand for more transportation options both for people and for the movement of goods (“Want and need options for mobility other than hop in the car—polling confirms this.”),

difficulty obtaining capital for entrepreneurial ventures (“Young people, immigrants and refugees have a particularly challenging time finding access to capital.”)and

increasing need for investment in infrastructure (“Dramatically decreased local government funding for services results in horrendous challenges to maintaining infrastructure and local quality of life.”).

Those particular challenges were mentioned as issues for a variety of sectors, including transportation, food, entrepreneurship and energy.

Participants also identified points of common interest that they thought should be developed for the benefit of the state as a whole. The entrepreneurship sector noted that rural and urban “both have a vested interest in developing entrepreneurial projects and sharing resources” because a significant number of people in both areas are starting their own businesses in response to economic difficulty.

They commented that improving the flow of information about business development strategies, networking opportunities and technical assistance would go a long way towards supporting new ventures. “Social media is driving connections between urban and rural” was an observation repeated in several sector groups. Technology was viewed as an effective way to link people interested in areas such as local food production and K-12 education, in addition to economic development. “Both realities have access to online communities. The use of the internet can foster and create new rural-urban links and connections,” according to someone in the education group.

The examples of successful collaboration again were organizations (such as the Minnesota Food Association, Minitex and the University of Minnesota Extension Service) and programs (for example the Minnesota Design Team, Dream of Wild Health and Buy Fresh Buy Local) that connect people with each other and with resources.


Minnesota Rural Partners, Inc. will use this information to shape the RurbMN project. Efforts to document, illustrate, strengthen and expand rural urban connections will be enriched by the experiences and opinions people shared during the Gathering.


Symposium on Small Towns – June 9 & 10, 2010 University of Minnesota-Morris campus.

Over 200 people from across Minnesota attended the Symposium on Small Towns, co-hosted by Minnesota Rural Partners, Inc. (on behalf on the Rural Urban Connections Project), and the Center for Small Towns at Morris. Several other partners supported the conference, including the Blandin Foundation, the Minnesota Association of Small Towns, the Minnesota Regional Sustainable Development Partnership, and USDA Rural Development

Below is the agenda:

Symposium on Small TownsUniversity of Minnesota, MorrisThursday, June 10

8:00 a.m.—9:00 a.m.Continental Breakfast, Registration and NetworkingOyate Hall, Student Center

9:00 a.m.—9:30 a.m.Joint Symposium Welcome

o Center for Small Towns, Director—Bart Finzelo Minnesota Rural Partners, Director—Jane Leonardo Poet, UMM English faculty—Athena Kildegaardo City of Morris, Mayor—Sheldon Giese

Science Auditorium 9:30 a.m.—10:30 a.m.

A panel of “real people doing real stuff” emphasizing small communities with big success stories

o Moderator: Dave Engstrom, Minnesota Association of Small Citieso Panelists: Muriel Krusemark – Hoffman Economic Development Association,

Stephanie Ibarra - Madelia Mobile Home Co-opScience Auditorium

10:30 a.m.—11:00 a.m.Break

11:00 a.m.—12:00 p.m.Breakout SessionsVarious Locations

12:00 p.m.—1:30 p.m.LUNCHFEATURED SPEAKER—Colleen Landkamer, MN State Director USDA Rural DevelopmentUMM Food Service

1:30 p.m.—2:30 p.m.Showcase FairCommunity Leadership Cities, Success Stories, Community Pride Communities, Rural-


Urban Connection examplesOyate Hall, Student Center (Mall)

2:30 p.m.—2:45 p.m.Short Break

2:45 p.m.—3:45 p.m.POLICY PANEL—“How Public Policies are Improving Rural Small Town Viability”—Gubernatorial candidatesModerator: Kate Smith, Minnesota Public RadioProscenium Theatre, Humanities Fine Arts

3:45 p.m.—4:15 p.m.Closing—review highlights and comment on upcoming activitiesProscenium Theatre, Humanities Fine Arts

4:30 p.m.—6:00 p.m.Rural-Urban Partnering Council—POST SYMPOSIUMStudent Center—Study Hall

Rural Urban Partnering Task Force/Steering Committee

Initial Brainstorming Meeting Following the Symposium on Small Towns, on June 10, 2010, over 20 people gathered to start the initial formation of the Rural Urban Partnering Council. It was decided to begin with a task force, rather than jump right into a Council structure.

Kick Off MeetingThe first meeting of the Rural Urban Partnering Steering Committee was on October 1, 2010. Members decided to call themselves a steering committee because they are planning the structure and mission of the future partnering council, which may involve different people. There was also the desire to not formalize a Council at this time but to remain flexible – more like a framework of relationships and organizations to support rural urban partnering. Many of the members of the committee had attended either the videoconferences and/or the Rural Urban Gathering earlier in the year.

The meeting began with introductions and an overview of the Rural Urban Connections project, focusing on the five components of the project as outlined in the Workplan document. Kate Searls updated the group on her research on rural-urban connections in the areas of education, workforce development and business development (Task 3). She described her use of cluster and input-output analyses to explore the interdependence of rural and urban Minnesota. Linden Weiswerda demonstrated the mapping system (Task 2), as well as the website that will make the tool user friendly.


Jane Leonard led the group through a process to help determine what a Rural Urban Partnering Council might look like—what role(s) it could have, how it might be structured and possible projects it could sponsor or undertake. Below are responses to the first discussion question:

Why did you come to the meeting today, and what do you hope we accomplish? Here because of the tremendous value of making connections and getting together. Rural-urban partnering is a good frame for discussions about important issues. Want to create a formal or informal group to support and build on connections and

collaborations. Want to see Minnesota Rural Partners, Inc. continue to advocate for the values and

activities of rural-urban and other connections. This approach has been missing from the state and nation.

MRPI needs partners to take on projects that it has started in order to complete the work and make it available to others.

Excited by the ideas that are the foundation of RurbMN. Jane and MRPI are always ahead of the curve. We need to get rid of silos and work together more effectively. We need to collaborate to be effective and efficient. We need to address the growing divide between rural and urban policymakers. Interest in these issues began with State Library project on rural library sustainability,

which depends on economic vitality. We need to address the different needs of rural and urban residents/communities. Want to learn more about the issues related to rural-urban partnering. We need to identify and build upon shared perceptions. It’s rare to have a forum like this to discuss and act on issues. Loves ambiguity and amoeba projects. Collaboration is the key to building futures. We need to be positive and work together to survive the “new normal”. Need to take an inventory or needs and decide who is best able to address them. Need to focus on economic and workforce development. Initially came to meeting to find interesting projects for law students to work in rural

areas. Need to address the lack of legal services for low income, rural residents. Generally, the

state has a metrocentric approach to law, but practicing law in rural areas is different than in the metro.

Urban young people are interested in rural issues, such as the local foods movement. We need to find innovative ways for rural and urban youth to connect with each other.

Want to see the conversation move from fuzzy to solid/anchored. Presenting information that is quantified and measurable helps bring people into

conversation and increasing the possibility of funding. A softer approach to addressing issues can get more support with a quantitative

framework supporting it.


Southwest Minnesota State University and other institutions have regional service missions. Survival of these institutions may depend on making connections with urban areas.

Here to learn and share. Rural-urban partnering framework makes a lot of sense for work of Institute for

Agriculture and Trade Policy, which includes many interconnections. Wants to develop a program to help sustain and strengthen rural communities and to

support informed policymaking. Rural-urban divide is one of the Midwest Rural Assembly’s six priority areas. RurbMN

could be a model for them to explore. Takes pride in being the only rural student in the Humphrey Institute’s planning

program. Wants to see how different regions in the state can work together. Would be helpful to have an inventory or matrix of projects throughout the state. Doesn’t want this to be just another networking group but to demonstrate connections

through projects. Wants to get a better understanding of the rural-urban connection. Focus is on growth of rural Minnesota, improving the standard of living and getting rural

and urban to grow together. Geographic boundaries are becoming less relevant. Land use and development need to be reformed through a different set of incentives

and recognition of changes (in demographics, climate, etc.). All types of communities feel under siege. They are putting more into the system than

they are getting in return.

The following comments and observations were made during the discussion of what people wanted to accomplish during the meeting:

MRPI’s initial strength as an organization was the involvement of decision makers. Change will be evolutionary, not revolutionary. We’re really more of a steering committee than a working group. Our role is to guide

the development of the future group, making sure that people who are needed are involved.

The next Midwest Rural Assembly could be a good venue for rolling out RurbMN projects and tools.

Next, participants discussed possible goals for group: Inventory of projects and partnerships to help connect initiatives and make them

stronger through collaboration. Develop rural-urban connections where they don’t currently exist. Facilitate discussions on important issues. Make best use of existing expertise; scale/adapt solutions to issues that aren’t being

addressed now. Make sure that tools developed by RurbMN are user friendly.


Promote the RurbMN research report and other projects and tools developed as part of the RurbMN effort.

Start with an initial focus that expands in the future. Create a template for addressing a targeted issue and then share that template so that others can apply it to issues in other sectors.

Make the case that urban depends on rural for people’s livelihoods and quality of life. Promote volunteerism and civic engagement. Garner more attention from the USDA and other potential partners/funders.

Finally, the group agreed upon several next steps to take in the process of creating a framework for rural-urban partnering:

Steering Committee members will poll their individual networks for reactions to the idea of a Rural Urban Partnering Council and the possible goals discussed during this meeting. Emily will draft text for everyone to use.

Linden Weiswerda will post an example of the mapping system on the website. The Steering Committee will meet again this year to discuss the information gathered

from members’ networks and to develop next steps in developing the council.

Comments and Ideas about a Rural Urban Partnering CouncilFollowing the Steering Committee’s kick-off meeting, members sent an informal survey to their networks to solicit reactions to creating a framework for rural-urban partnering. The survey gave a brief background of each component of the RurbMN project, then asked for responses to three questions: 1) What are your initial reactions to the idea of a Rural Urban Partnering Council? 2) Can you give us an example of an existing rural-urban connection—an organization, program or project that brings rural and urban Minnesota together? and 3) What do you think should be priorities for a Rural Urban Partnering Council to address? Please see Appendix C for the survey responses.

Two follow-up meetings of the steering committee were held in addition to the April 5 project forum. Additional funds will be needed to be raised to maintain the coordinating function of the steering committee. As of August, 2011, all MRPI functions, including the Rural Urban Partnering Steering Committee, are being done on a volunteer basis, with volunteer coordinating assistance. This is not a sustainable method of maintaining this group and their efforts. We will continue to pursue additional means of support.

Mapping System

To demonstrate interdependence between rural and urban areas across the state in an easily understood manner, MRPI hired a graduate assistant to create a mapping tool to turn rural urban connection examples into visual displays.


The map currently resides at https://sites.google.com/site/ruralurbanmn/. (You may need to download the Google Earth app.)

A database of different rural urban connections that individuals, groups and institutions shared with us forms the basis of the map and enables the user to sort types of connections into categories areas such as education, workforce development, energy, and food networks, among others. This inventory database allowed us to create a map of the spatial relationships between the different businesses, institutions and regions.

The data for the basis of the map was obtained from various federal and state agencies (see below for listing) and all were converted into the commonly used Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) zone system and GCS North American Datum 1983 (NAD83). This is one of the best formats to use for a geographic area the size of Minnesota and is easily applicable to the rest of the U.S. as well. These coordinates systems also correspond with the format of available U.S. Geological Survey data allowing quick integration of different map elements.

The main challenge of the work initially was in balancing level of detail necessary for both statewide views and for views of small towns. Integrating all the various data sources into a single map layer without distorting the scale and then exporting the resulting data into a new template was a trial-and-error process that took five drafts before finding a workable version that included all counties, cities, towns and Native American lands in the state.

Other technical challenges arose when we tried to map individual connections based off the physical location of the participating businesses/institutions/groups. We ended up turning the connections themselves into the physical marker and listing the participating groups as attributes of that feature. This change allowed more flexibility in the details from the database that could be associated directly with the map.

Preparing the existing map for display online and developing interactive features was the next step in the process. To properly display and interact with the database and map, the focus was next on software selection and converting the database and map into proper formats for web service.

Data Sources: U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line© Shapefiles Minnesota DNR Minnesota Geospatial Information Office U.S. Geological Survey

In preparation for the Symposium on Small Towns on June 9-10, a mock-up of selected rural urban connections gathered over the course of our work were laid out in ArcGIS and subsequently converted to Keyhole Markup Language (KML) in order to display the model in Google Earth©. KML is an XML-based language schema for expressing geographic annotation and visualization on Internet-based, 2-D maps and 3-D Earth browsers and is one of several


https://sites.google.com/site/ruralurbanmn/

possible formats we may end up utilizing. This format was used because it allowed for both a presentation to be shown quickly to a large audience and for a smaller breakout session during the course of the conference, as well as being interactive enough for individuals to look at it in closer detail afterwards. Sample screenshots are below demonstrating different categories of connections (in different colors) and the type of information users can access by clicking on individual connections (websites, contact info and a short description).

Sample Images of Rural Urban Connections and Legend Screen Displayed on Google Earth.

The Gathering and Symposium was the first time we demonstrated a model of how the mapping tool (potentially) could work in order to solicit feedback from some of the various organizations and individuals that would find the final product useful. Responses were generally positive and provided us with a number of different options for moving forward.

Investigation and reports on Local Food Systems, Job Readiness (Education & Workforce), and Job Creation through targeted cluster and input-output analysis

Kate Searls, a researcher with Minnesota Rural Partners, Inc., with assistance from faculty and extension economists at the University of Minnesota and many interviews of key stakeholders, completed a report that indicates that the vigor of rural economies is essential to our state’s overall economic well-being, including rural urban linkages that drive job creation (or loss).

The report, Pilot Study: Estimating Rural and Urban Minnesota’s Interdependencies, quantitatively illustrates the economic importance of rural Minnesota to all of Minnesota’s economic health and well being. The study shows how urban Minnesota benefits, or loses, alongside rural Minnesota when rural prospers or declines. The research begins to provide measures of how rural urban linkages drive wealth creation.


A second report followed: “Rural Urban Connections and Job Readiness: Education and Workforce Development.”

We partnered with the Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships to conduct a study and report on Local Food Systems. All of the full reports are located in Appendix D of this Final Report document.

MRPI hosted a forum on April 5, 2011, to disseminate study results and to promote discussion of the issues raised by the reports and the project. The agenda for the event was as follows:

April 5 Forum Agenda

Location: Continuing Education and Conference CenterUniversity of Minnesota, St. Paul Campus

1:00 p.m. Welcome

1:05 p.m. Overview of the Interdependencies study and Rural Urban project - Kate Searls, MRP, Inc. & Jane Leonard, Bush Foundation

1:35 p.m. Overview of Cluster work - Burke Murphy, MN Dept. of Employment & Economic Development & Lee Munnich, University of Minnesota Humphrey School of Public Affairs, State & Local Policy Program

2:10 p.m. Overview of IMPLAN/Economic Impact Analysis- Brigid Tuck & David Nelson, University of Minnesota Extension Community Economics; Julie Rath, Redwood Area Development Corporation & MN Valley Regional Rail Authority; and Bill Lazarus, University of Minnesota Department of Applied Economics

2:45 p.m. Refreshment Break

3:00 p.m. Combined panel & audience discussion to discuss rural urban intersections, applications & implications for economic development analysis, decision-making, economic development policy, and rural urban policy

3:40 p.m. Table Talk to discuss local, regional, state implications & applicationsReport back from tables and wrap-up


Executive Summary of Job Readiness Report (full report is located in Appendix D)

Most Minnesotans agree that our rural and urban areas compliment one another. Certainly many urban residents value the rural areas for their recreational opportunities and scenic beauty. Minnesota’s agricultural, mining and timber areas, and the small towns that grew up around them, are often identified as the wellspring of Minnesota’s work ethic and values: honesty, loyalty, cooperation and ingenuity.

But, in the current era of government austerity and hard choices, these positive attributes are not likely to attract the resources needed to keep rural Minnesota healthy and vibrant. Someobservers suggest we now live in a period where it’s “every community for itself!” This view predicts that rural communities, challenged to independently attract business investments orpopulation growth in their taxpayer base, will instead receive the sad, but unavoidable, consequences of funding depletion and neglect.

The worldview that supports indifference to rural Minnesota’s economic and cultural vitality is built on a fundamental ignorance, a lack of insight regarding the material ways in which ruraland urban areas are interdependent; how they are linked to each other in relational exchanges that provide for mutual benefits and losses.

This pilot study illustrates a few of the ways in which Minnesota’s continued prosperity and innovation are most aptly appreciated as grounded in a network of rural urban connections.This pilot study combines two established approaches to measure the economic interdependencies between rural and urban Minnesota and reaches two major conclusions:

First, the economic dependence of urban Minnesota on rural Minnesota is real, measurable and significant. Development dollars spent in rural Minnesota will benefit both urban and rural businesses and populations.

Second, all development investments will not have identical impacts on rural urban trade flows and job creation. While two stones of the same size dropped into the same pond might create identical ripple effects, economic development investments into rural Minnesota will have very different impacts (both within the rural region and on urban centers) on business and consumer spending and job creation based on the specific industrial cluster targeted.

Planners can anticipate varying “formulas” for impacts to business and consumer spending and new jobs creation subsequent to a change in output for specific industry clusters. Increasing the output of some clusters will generate relatively more new part-time local jobs, a desirable feature in someregions.

Likewise, by stimulating the output of another industry cluster, planners can expect to see relatively more full-time urban and rural positions. The approach outlined in this pilot research


allows planners to consider not only the overall economic impact, but also the specific employment requirements of their region.

As a pilot study, our approach was, by design, narrow in focus and simplified in structure. Despite this, the results provide clear and measurable projections of the degree to which urban businesses and people are dependent on their rural colleagues.

The results also point to several areas for future research.

• Rural Minnesota provides critical employment in a number of the most sought after industry sectors. Forty percent of Minnesota’s total employment in 17 targeted industry clusterstakes place in rural Minnesota.

• Well over half of the state’s jobs in the following clusters are located outside the urban region:

• Education and Knowledge Creation• Energy (Fossil and Renewable)• Arts, Entertainment, Recreation and Tourism• Agribusiness, Food Processing & Technology• Forest and Wood Products• Glass and Ceramics• Mining

• Forty-seven percent of Minnesota’s manufacturing cluster output originates in rural Minnesota.

• Minnesota’s urban region receives substantial economic benefits from improved prosperity among its rural neighbors.

• If rural Minnesota’s manufacturing cluster experiences a 6 percent growth in output ($1 billion), the urban area picks up 16 percent of all the jobs gained and 38 percent of all additional output.

•The reverse is also true: a $1 billion decrease in manufacturing output in rural Minnesota results in 1,043 jobs lost and a loss of $207, 822,848 in revenue among Twin Cities area businesses.

• Certain clusters have a footprint spread more evenly between rural and urban regions. For instance, agribusiness has very little output originating in the urban region (only 15 percentof the total statewide output), while manufacturing is almost evenly split (53 percent of the total statewide output originates in the urban region).

• Even though $1 billion is a smaller change in output for the agribusiness cluster (3 percent) than it is for the manufacturing cluster (6 percent), those billion dollars of additional


agribusiness output generate 12 percent more subsequent dollars of spending captured in Minnesota and 13 percent more new jobs than would the same dollar value increase in manufacturing output.

•The rural urban distribution of a cluster’s suppliers varies depending on the industry cluster.

• Over three-quarters of agribusiness’s subsequent increase in output (the statewide “ripple effect”) comes in the form of increased business-to-business sales. More than three-quarters of that stays in rural Minnesota.

• Almost two-thirds of manufacturing’s “ripple effect” comes in the form of increased business-to-business sales. Nearly half of manufacturing’s increased business-to-business sales occurs in the urban region.

• Increased consumer spending and investment activities, as a result of increases in agribusiness and manufacturing output, benefis Minnesota’s urban region in fairly similar ways.

• Urban Minnesota realizes close to 30 percent of the additional consumer spending and investing activity due to an increase in either rural manufacturing or rural agribusiness output.

• The urban jobs added due to rural output increases were very similar between agribusiness and manufacturing.

Seven of the Top Ten Sectors for job growth were identical. These seven sectors account for about 40 percent of the urban job growth for both manufacturing and agribusinessclusters.

Rural Urban Connections and Job Readiness: Education and Workforce Development

Full report is in Appendix D. Below is the summary white paper:

Rural-Urban Connections and Job Readiness: Education and Workforce Development is the second of two Minnesota Rural Partners Inc. reports describing opportunities for wealth creation by leveraging rural-urban linkages across Minnesota.

This report examines some of the ways in which rural-urban connections offer a natural and profitable framework for improving our statewide supply of skilled workers. This information is of vital interest to Minnesota employers, educators, and community and business development groups. Fully profiting from rural-urban relationships and synergy will require increased focus and dedicated investment.

GapsThis white paper makes two major points about the impact of rural-urban connections on Job Readiness in Minnesota.


First, rural- urban relationships offer significant untapped innovative solutions to important statewide problems, including educational success rates. Rural communities serve as “lead users,” in the framework created by Eric Von HIppel at MIT’s Innovation Lab, experiencing resource constraints and reacting to significant demographic shifts well ahead of the general markets, and some communities have developed successful and innovative solutions to these challenges.

Second, although rural-urban interdependencies naturally exist, particularly in terms of economic and trading relationships, their ability to nurture statewide wealth creation and quality of life will continue to be under-exploited until they are specifically targeted in the state’s strategic planning portfolio. Advancing rural-urban connections as one of the funding criteria goals for public investments is a natural extension of today’s regional development frameworks.

Opportunities

The white paper also identifies five opportunities to arrive at better job readiness outcomes while improving Minnesota’s rural-urban partnering practice.

Opportunity 1: Leverage rural success stories for urban innovation. Rural students are often positioned at the “bleeding edge” of educational practice because their school districts have a longer history of responding to the dramatic impacts of severe resource constraints.

Opportunity 2: Refine Minnesota Department of Education graduation rate reporting practices. By setting the reporting minimum at 40 students, the experiences of most of Minnesota’s counties in graduating students of color are not reported. By obtaining better data, rural and urban schools’ success in retaining students of color all the way through graduation can be better understood and improved.

Opportunity 3: Through a process of inquiry and relationship building, use rural-urban partnerships to create a statewide graduation success network. After identifying key elements of “goodness of fit” for successful high schools, this rural-urban collaboration initiative would broker conversations and collaborations among community members, administrators and teachers at the more successful schools (the “lead users”) and their counterparts at the districts with the most opportunity and motivation to improve.

Opportunity 4: Add rural-urban networks as a funding allocation criterion in workforce development partnerships. In contrast with the existing urban and rural development resource silos, we urge policy makers to implement an investment emphasis that values rural-urban partnerships explicitly.

Opportunity 5: Develop further study of rural urban linkages and graduation rates based on English language status, Free or Reduced Lunch status (an indicator of economic status) or specific school district. Future studies might also refine definitions of urban and rural Minnesota, treating Rochester, Duluth, St. Cloud, Mankato and Moorhead clearly as non-rural areas. Research might seek a better unit of analysis than Minnesota’s counties, which vary greatly in size, uniformity and population density.

We hope to see these opportunities pursued to benefit our state and its citizens and to create practical models to be used by other regions.


Appendix A - Communication Plan

The scope of this document is to establish all the necessary elements needed to launch a strong online presence for the Rural-Urban Partnering Council project and to create multiple participation areas for people to communicate with us and with others. We hope to “join” the conversation as well as “create” the conversation with this plan, recognizing that rich conversations are already happening and many new conversations can be created.

Design the rurb.mn brandRurb.mn will need a simple yet strong and consistent brand to tie together the many different online areas we plan to publish. We will provide this based on your collaboration and feedback.

Logo“Rurb.mn” will be prominent, along with the tagline “Rural Urban Partnering”. Using “organic” colors shades of green, brown, yellow, or orange.

Create a good looking square logo so identity works with many “avatar” profiles we will be setting up for rurb.mn.

Site DesignsWe will use “free” templates whenever possible and use strong Minnesota images to create a Minnesota look. Assumption is that we have some photos readily available, but we can also search Flickr.com for both rural and urban photos to use (proper permission must be secured before using.)

Create rurb.mn areas of engagement onlineWe will create many rurb.mn branded areas in public social networking spaces where we can publish topics and enable participants to contribute easily. Our goal will be to tether our brand and content to an established space where people already feel comfortable contributing to topics they are interested in.

We should cross-post content to multiple areas and even post discussions or responses from one area in another. For example, we may have a lively discussion going on via Twitter, so we can post a few tweets and screenshots to our forum or blog for those who do not use Twitter. This may start a similar discussion with participants who otherwise would have never engaged.

Blog - Wordpress


Content: Our blog will be the hub of all our content and engagement efforts. Simple design should provide a participant easy access to all of the spaces we will be publishing. This is where we publish our stuff – Readers can comment on posts, but overall this is going to be where we push our agenda.

Engagement: Post current status of the project, timely topics, and other updates. We can post status of a topic being discussed in other areas.

Cost: Free, $10 for domain name mapping, other features available for minimal cost

Data Capture: Will monitor comments and engage readers who provide feedback. We can direct these readers to other areas we have set up, or promote feedback ourselves to other areas for discussion.

TwitterContent: Post current status of the project, timely topics, open-ended questions about the project.

Engagement: Search Twitter for conversations already in progress about topics we want to cover. Begin “Retweeting” others on Twitter who are already posting good statements and questions. Follow others on Twitter based on location and expertise in an area. Also, follow-back anyone who follows our Twitter profile who meet the same criteria. Start Twitter Lists based on topics – populate with of people and businesses who are passionate about the topic(s). The hashtag #rurbmn can be use on tweets to identify source.

Cost: Free

Capture data: This is a difficult task to do with Twitter. We will capture data by copying and pasting text or creating screenshots of “conversations” and then publishing to our blog or feedback forum. Twitter Search only goes back two weeks! We need to be nimble when we see relevant data to collect.

Facebook PageContent: Post current status of the project, timely topics, open-ended questions about the project.

Engagement: We should encourage participants to become Fans of our Facebook Page. We can monitor comments and “Likes” of our status updates. We can post photo albums of events we attend and encourage fans to “tag” each other in the photos.

Cost: Free



Feedback and Topic creator – UserVoiceContent: This is the place to seed new ideas. UserVoice is a “feedback” service that we will be using as very quick and efficient way to capture new topic ideas from our participants. New topics or ideas can easily be posted to UserVoice. A unique feature exists where anyone can vote up a feature or topic for discussion. This will cause items to bubble up to the top so we can easily recognize what people are interested in. We can then move the topics to other areas for more in depth engagement.

Engagement: This area actually allows us to manage the barrage of ideas coming at us more efficiently. We will receive new ideas via email, comments, twitter, facebook, on the street, etc. We can direct a participant to post their new idea to our UserVoice feedback forum, or we can post the idea ourselves. The user interface of UserVoice does a good job of checking to see if an idea is already posted. If that is the case, a participant can “vote up” the idea and offer a comment.

Cost: $19 per month


Social Networking Platform - NingContent: We will use Ning.com as our very own social networking platform. Participants can create their own profiles and engage in dialogue with other members. People create their profiles that specify what their interests are relating to our project. They can identify themselves as Rural or Urban.

Engagement: Need to do more research, but I am looking to use Ning’s platform to solicit feedback from subgroups of our participants. For example, what do rural Minnesotans think of a particular development concerning farming? Or, let’s ask our urban participants if a solution in rural Minnesota can be applied in the city.

Cost: Free

Data Capture: Will monitor blog posts and engage participants. A post from Ning may garner cross-publishing to our blog.

Photos: FlickrContent: Create a place to post our photos. Also we will create a group where others can easily contribute photos.


Engagement: Not a strong area to engage participants, however flickr becomes a very easy way to group photos we can use for this project while adhering to creative commons license.

Cost: Free

Bookmarks – DeliciousContent: This will become a publicly organized list of relevant URLs that are tagged for easy lookup.

Engagement: We can point to this list of bookmarks as a resource.

Cost: Free

Data Capture: We can download these links at any time.

Email Newsletters – Constant Contact or Target MarketWe will evaluate the need for an e-mail newsletter after we have set up all of our areas.


Appendix B - Videoconference Summaries

The following summaries were originally posted on the project blog (Rurb.mn).

Innovative Education Initiatives in Southeast Minnesota

Our first rural urban connections video conference between SE Minnesota and the Twin Cities was held on Tuesday, January 19, 2010. The topic was Innovative Education Initiatives in SE Minnesota. We had 5 video conference sites with presenters in both Adams and Houston, Minnesota. They discussed successful online, interactive learning programs in their communities and the connections that have resulted from these projects.

Below is a brief summary about their respective initiatives:

Minnesota Virtual Academy, Houston, MNThe Houston Public School District serves over 450 local kids. In 2002 they started their 1st online school, the Minnesota Virtual Academy, with grades k-2. Now they have K-8 and High School online learning programs and they serve 1600 students across MN. While the majority of their students live in the Twin Cities Metro area, in 2009, they served students in all but three counties in Minnesota.

In 2009, the Minnesota Virtual Academy was approached by a community leader in NE Minneapolis, to assist them in learning how best to reach out to and serve the growing Somali population in Minneapolis.

For more information, contact Kim Ross, Superintendent, Houston Public Schools

Southland High School, Adams, MN & Riverland Community College, Austin, MNSince 2008, Southland High School has been part of a pilot study with Riverland Community College to show the effectiveness and cost savings of implementing Distance Learning Interactive Television into their regular school setting. They have found it to be a very successful partnership both academically and financially for both institutions. They have just completed their first semester with all of their students achieving grades no lower than a B+, while saving the school district about $25,000 in Post-Secondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) costs for their first semester. They believe that this model can be applied across Southeastern Minnesota, not only to PSEO courses, but also in their regular high school curricular areas.

For more information, contact Ryan Luft, Principal, Southland High School in Adams, MN.

Workforce Development, Manufacturing and Job Creation in Central Minnesota


Forty-nine people attended the video conference held on Wednesday, February 17, 2010. Here are a few of the examples that were mentioned:

Rural Renewable Energy Alliance (RREAL) and the work they are doing to close the renewable energy divide and to make solar energy accessible to people of all income levels (www.rreal.org).

We also heard about a successful partnership between Central Lakes College and Rural MN CEP that resulted in the development of a renewable energy and green jobs curriculum / customized training program at Central Lakes College.

The third example was from the Region Five Development Commission about a regional alternative energy conservation project called Central MN Alternative Energy Regional Collaborative (CMAERC).

Renewable Energy in Southwest Minnesota

The February 24, 2010, videoconference featured several great examples of rural urban renewable energy initiatives that are occurring in the southwest part of the state. We also heard examples of rural urban connections that involved community-based efforts, higher education and the arts.

Below are some of the rural urban renewable energy examples that were discussed during the video conference this past Wednesday.

Hill Grocery House in Montevideo, MNThis is the first ground source heat based home in Montevideo. This innovative low-income affordable, renewable energy home has many partners, including Habitat for Humanity West Central MN, Clean Up the River Environment (CURE), and has utilized expertise from a number of partners across the state, including Habitat for Humanity MN and the Center for Sustainable Building Research.

We also heard many examples of renewable energy projects that are being led by the Southwest Initiative Foundation. These include: Renewable Energy Development Initiative (REDI), a Renewable Energy Loan Program that funds community wind projects, the Youth Energy Summit (YES!) program in SW Minnesota.

We learned about a new online resource, REDI Resources, that connects communities with resources that help them plan, implement, and manage clean energy projects. Check it out at www.rediresources.org.


We heard from three of the YES! projects across southwest Minnesota:

Willmar Community Greenhouse YES! Project (Youth Energy Summit)Goals: Collaborate with community groups and businesses for the purpose of growing local produce year round. This project will demonstrate the energy saving and health benefits of growing produce at the local level.

Morris Student Energy Leadership Team (SELT) YES!Goals: SELT addresses Reducing, Recycling, Reusing and Cleaning of the Earth’s resources through projects with monthly Environmental Education, Action, and Political components around recycling, protecting the river, energy monitoring, and electronic waste collection.

Hutchinson FFA YES! Mission/Goals: Reduce the number of dumpsters used at the High School and reduce the waste being disposed of at the landfill, diverting it to recycling and composting facilities.

There are several renewable energy initiatives that are being researched and developed at the West Central Research and Outreach Center at the University of MN Morris. We heard examples of Biomass and Wind to Hydrogen to Ammonia projects that are being developed at this center.

We heard from Windustry, a nonprofit, based in Minneapolis, who talked about wind resource maps and estimates that show an increase in the potential for Wind energy in the United States.

Other examples of rural urban connections in southwest Minnesota not related to renewable energy include:

The Arts Meander is an art crawl in the Upper Minnesota River Valley that has helped to brand this area as a cultural mecca and draws people from urban areas and surrounding states the first weekend in October each year.

A community-based effort called Pioneering A Healthier Marshall that seeks to improve the health of citizens living in and around Marshall.

Solar Installations Curriculum that is being developed at Ridgewater College. Southwest Amateur Sports Commission in Marshall, is one of seven regional sports

centers in Minnesota. These regional centers concentrate state efforts and resources in a number of communities to maximize the economic and social benefits of amateur sports.

Local Food Networks and Entrepreneurship in Southern Minnesota

The fourth video conference on March 4, 2010, featured examples about rural urban connections that were local food networks and entrepreneurship in southern Minnesota.


Here are some of the great examples that were discussed during the video conference:

Kay Sauck, from Sauck Media Group, has created two successful magazines, Caregiving in America and Women Inc. that are based in Fairmont, MN. She has a staff of 12 people, (half are under the age of 30) and some of whom travel from Mankato and the Twin Cities to work with her on the magazines.

Pam Benike, from Prairie Hollow Farm talked about the Southeast Minnesota Food Network, which is a collaborative of over 90 farms in southeast Minnesota that supply restaurants, caterers, retail stores, food co-ops and institutions in the Twin Cities metro area with meats, cheeses, fruits and vegetables, honey and other specialty items. They are able to offer a one call – one delivery – one invoice system, making it easy for both the farmer and the buyer to source locally grown products. This also allows more time for farmers to do what they love, grow and produce food!

Annalisa Hultberg, from Minnesota Project, explained how the Heartland Food Network works with Minnesota chefs, caterers, colleges, and other food service professionals to help them purchase and use more locally grown ingredients in their establishments. In 2010, the Heartland Food Network received funding from the USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant Program and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture Minnesota Grown Program. They will be hosting several local food learning days to facilitate information exchange among chefs. The first workshop will be held on Monday, March 22. Check out their website for more details.

We also learned how Riverway Learning Community, a charter school in Minnesota City, recognizes the relationship between nutrition, food, and education. Students maintain a close relationship with their food at Riverway, participating in all aspects from caring for chickens and planting seeds to composting. Over the next five years, Riverway Learning Community hopes to farm, grow and prepare 50% of all cafeteria food on site.

We heard a workforce development example that involved several high tech companies in Martin County and along the I-90 Corridor that use the “Grandma network” when recruiting for new and young employees. The companies put advertisements in local newspapers during the holidays and when young people from the Twin Cites, Mankato, Sioux Falls, or other metropolitan areas are visiting relatives in southern Minnesota, they get a “pitch” from their relatives about the great paying high tech jobs in the area. So far, this has worked as a successful recruitment tool for these businesses!

Additional resources that were discussed during the video conference are:Finding Food in Farm Country: The Economics of Food & Farming in Southeast Minnesota, a study conducted by Ken Meter at the Crossroads Resource Center, that examines how food networks thrive and strengthen local economies.

The documentary, Food, Inc., which examines the way food is produced in our country.


Broadband, Entrepreneurship and Workforce Development in Northeast Minnesota

The fifth video conference, held on May 10, 2010, featured broadband, entrepreneurship and workforce development connections occurring in northeast Minnesota.

Here are some of the great examples that were discussed during the video conference:

Paula Frings, from Maven Perspectives and Bud Stone from the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce discussed an innovative workforce development program called CEO’s in the Classroom.

The Grand Rapids Chamber, working with Maven Perspectives, started CEO’s in the Classroom in 2005. Working with students in the 8th grade level and up, CEO’s of local companies work with the students to develop entrepreneurial skills. The CEO’s share their story of how they got to where they are in life, the mission and responsibilities of being a CEO and they challenge the students to think 5 – 8 years into the future about how they would start up and run their own businesses. The CEO’s also talk with students about the importance of hard work, applying themselves in school and how learning math skills creates a strong future. The CEO’s in the Classrooms Program, built on intentional strategic partnering principles, started out in 2 schools in the Grand Rapids area and has now expanded to 17 areas across northeastern MN. The plans are for the program to continue to expand in northeastern MN and into northwestern WI.

For more information, contact Bud Stone at the Grand Rapids Chamber at [email protected]

Suzanne Semborski and Mary Mathews from the Northeast Entrepreneur Fund, talked about Northland Flavor, a new program and cooperative marketing effort spearheaded by the Northeast Entrepreneur Fund that helps local artists find new markets. The Northland Flavor Marketplace, a two-day wholesaler event held in Duluth in March, allowed over 40 artists to make contact with buyers from nearly 100 gift shops in the Arrowhead region and to market their local products to these local businesses.

For more information go to http://www.entrepreneurfund.org/NorthlandFlavor.html

Bernadine Joselyn, from the Blandin Foundation, shared information about the Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities (MIRC) coalition and a federal Broadband Technology Opportunity Program grant that the Blandin Foundation and the MIRC coalition of 19 other partners received this past March. Through this grant, the Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities (MIRC) coalition will bring a network of resources and support to rural Minnesota individuals and communities – especially those unemployed and seeking employment, small businesses, coalitions of government entities, and local leaders.


Berndine also talked about the need to create a ‘culture of use’ by creating working and living environments where people see broadband as critical to daily life. When broadband access is not readily available to everyone, it creates an information underclass of those folks cut off from high speed internet access.

For more information go to: http://broadband.blandinfoundation.org/

Workforce Development and Higher Education in Northwest Minnesota

Wow — are things hoppin’ in Northwest Minnesota in terms of workforce development and higher education! We learned about several really wonderful, world class resources that are sort of a best kept secret, during our sixth video conference on May 18, 2010. So, we decided to share them with you and spread the word about these great resources.

Northland Community & Technical College’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Maintenance Training Center, was established with funds from a $5 million U.S. Department of Labor American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (A.R.R.A.) Grant. Scott Fletcher, Aviation Program Director, filled us in on all the great things happening at the Aviation Maintenance Technology Training Center in Thief River Falls. The vision of this center is to provide a nationally recognized curriculum in unmanned aircraft system mechanics training. Northland Community and Technical College was quick to recognize that no one else in the U.S. was providing mechanics training for Unmanned Aircraft Systems. So, they have created a world class, state-of-the-art facility that provides hands-on, real world experience to their students. Did you know that it takes 65 people to work on one Global Hawk Unmanned Aircraft System? One-third of these folks are maintenance mechanics. Students who go through this program curently have a 100% job placement rate and can earn anywhere from $45,000 – $125,000 / year, right out of school. The future is wide open for the workforce potential and connections between private industry, the military and Northland Community College.

We learned about MnKnows, a wonderful, statewide resource and portal to Minnesota’s online library services that is available right at your finger tips via your computer keyboard. For those who prefer a human connection, you can access this resource via your local library. MnKnows is an Information and Resource Sharing Program of the Minnesota Office of Higher Education and the University of Minnesota Libraries. The goal of this program is to move information from the Twin Cities area out to rural communities and be accessible to everyone — K-12 schools, higher education, businesses, local governments and people in the community. The best part is there is no fee to access the information via the MnKnows portal. It is paid for by tax dollars allocated by the Minnesota State legislature.

There are five electronic resources that make up MnKnows:1. MnLINK Gateway — search multiple Minnesota libraries and subject databases with a

single search.


2. ELM – Electronic Library of Minnesota — provides Minnesota residents access to online databases of magazines, journals, newspaper articles, eBooks (electronic books), and other reference sources.

3. Minnesota Reflections — find photos, documents, and maps related to Minnesota history.

4. AskMN– An online service for information and research help available to all Minnesota residents and students 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

5. Research Project Calculator — Plan and create a sensible timeline for research projects.

Many K-12 schools, small businesses, citizens and local governments rely on MnKnows and it’s online databases for information and research. It’s the best place to find information about Minnesota!

The EDA Center at the University of Minnesota, Crookston, conducts applied research, provides direct technical assistance and delivers educational programs to economic development agencies that support the economy of economically-distressed rural communities throughout Minnesota. The EDA Center’s mission is to engage university faculty, staff and students with local, county and regional economic development agencies in support of our rural economy. Their focus is to utilize the capacity of the University of Minnesota, Crookston in partnership with economic development agencies to support job creation, capital investment, business recruitment and job retention. Communities interested in receiving technical assistance from the EDA Center need to fill out a Request for Assistance (RFA) form. This RFA will be the mechanism by which the EDA Center will identify its annual technical assistance projects.

Minnesota Main Street is a program of the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota and is recognized by the National Trust Main Street Center® as the official statewide coordinating program in Minnesota. The Minnesota Main Street Program has been financed in part with funds provided by the State of Minnesota from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the Minnesota Historical Society. The Main Street program is a comprehensive commercial revitalization strategy that helps communities preserve some of their most significant assets-their historic buildings.

The Arts in East Central Minnesota

During our seventh video conference on May 26, 2010, we learned about several different arts-based initiatives that are contributing to the quality of life and economic improvement in towns across east central Minnesota.

Below is one of the connections we learned about during the video conference this past Wednesday.

Pine Center for the Arts, located in Pine City, MN, grew out of a need not from a lot of artists who wanted a space to showcase their art, but rather from local residents who wanted a place


in their town where they could partake in classes, lessons and special events where the community could gather for and learn from artistic endeavors. What started as an idea in July 2008, and is primarily an all volunteer-run organization, has blossomed into a budding economic engine for the community — and surrounding area of Pine City– that has served 7,000 people since it opened in an empty storefront on a main corridor in town. Participants in the Center’s classes not only come from the local community, but also as far as Hastings and White Bear Lake, MN. The ages of these participants also varies, from ages 15 – Adult. People of all ages have the opportunity to “exercise their courage muscle”, explained Kristin Seuntjens, a founding board member, giving people the chance to learn a new skill in the arts and to explore their own creativity.

The Pine Center for the Arts is now a hub of activity for artists to show case their work and to teach the next generation of artists their craft. PCftA, as it’s known to local residents, recently received a Legacy Arts and Cultural Heritage grant from the East Central Arts Council that will allow them to hire a part-time Executive Director and a part-time administrative coordinator. The Pine Center for the Arts is definately a model that can be looked at by other small, rural communities that are looking to the arts as a way to expand and improve their own economic outlook and future.

Community Services and Local Foods Connections in West Central Minnesota

Our video conference on June 3, 2010, featured examples and ideas about rural urban connections that relate to local foods.

Marcy Hanneman, Community Services Director for Breckenridge Public Schools, told the group about her department’s programs and activities, which include classes, home visits, childcare visits, support for teenage parents and a dental clinic. They collaborate with Early Childhood Family Education providers, public health practitioners, the school district and court system. They are part of the Wilkin County Early Childhood Initiative and receive funding from the United Way and the Initiative Foundation.

The current budget environment has led to greater collaboration among community service partners. They meet regularly to discuss case management, ensuring that clients receive necessary services without a duplication of effort. The economic downturn has placed more people at risk, and service providers are seeing more young people and an increased diversity of families. This tougher caseload requires more management and support services.

Marcy also described her department’s close relationship with Wahpeton, North Dakota. Breckenridge provides Early Childhood Family Education classes and other services that Wahpeton and surrounding communities do not have. As their services area has increased, telecommunication and other technologies have been invaluable to keeping people connected.


Hugh Dufner discussed his organic potato business, Hugh’s Gardens, which is located near Moorhead (the potato packing shed is in downtown Halstad). Hugh grew up in the Red River Valley, and after service with the Peace Corp and work in East Africa, he returned to Minnesota to begin his organic farm enterprise. His potatoes currently are sold locally, in the Twin Cities and as far away as Pennsylvania and California. Hugh is interested in pursuing business with colleges, universities and schools in the state as well as looking to cooperative distribution with other producers. Hugh speaks Spanish and shares his talents helping others with interpretation and in building relationships with Spanish-speaking workers.


Appendix C - Input about Rural Urban Partnering Council

Rural Urban Task Force members polled their contacts and networks to get ideas about a Partnering Council. Below is the compilation of responses to the common set of questions.

1. What are your initial reactions to the idea of a Rural Urban Partnering Council? I think is a great idea. It is important for them to see what it is like in rural

Minnesota. I know the last time it didn’t work out when we were going to team up Tri-County, but I would like to try it again. (Bruce Bjerke, Manager, Clearwater-Polk Electric Co-op, Bagley)

CoBank would support a Rural Urban Partnering Council. We all realize the political clout of rural Minnesota has been and continues to decline, making it crucial to educate and influence urban legislators on issues effecting agriculture and rural Minnesota. We would be willing to consider direct participation once we understand more of the goals and time expectations. (CoBank’s (Amy Gales, Jim Roberge and Bob Doane, CoBank, headquartered in Golden Valley but a national farm credit co-op)

I believe this effort is important and needed, but an enormous challenge. Just in the electric environment, I work with people who tend to put barriers up all the time ---- counties against townships, rural against town residents, etc. The Council sounds like a great idea, but it’s going to need some dynamic people and a lot of resources to have an impact. Current issues we face that fall into this category are:

o Electric service territoryo Freight rail transportation around Rochester rather than through the cityo A proposed ethanol plant east of Rochester and near a small town

(Elaine Garry, People’s Co-op Services, Rochester) I think the idea of the council is a good one, but one that may be a challenge to

get people involved with. Stakeholders in rural areas are typically stretched for human resources and they have many financial constraints. It may make sense to approach the regional economic development organizations to represent some of the rural areas since they have a lot of expertise in this area and tend to be well connected throughout the state. (Ted Kjos, Tri County Electric, Rushford)

I think it would be an excellent way to promote a stronger food network for both rural and urban dwellers. (Audrey Lesmeister, Freshmeister Foods)

I think it makes perfect sense. So much depends upon who is appointed to the Council. I hope there is a mix of policy and operations staff. I believe that will make it more viable and useful. Maybe some local elected officials would be helpful from both Greater Minnesota and the Urban areas. (Bill DeJohn, Minitex)

If this USDA funded mapping initiative found there to be ample rural-urban connections then it would seem that these connections have been made without


the development of a council and causes me to ask what would a council achieve? (Cheryal Lee Hills, Region Five Development Commission, Staples)

Initial reaction is what took so long? Get it moving (J.J. Levenske, NORTHWAY Construction Services, Baxter)

My initial reactions of a Rural Urban Partnering Council is that it has the potential to be a good idea and provide much insight into resolving the issues facing rural Minnesota with leadership from the residents that choose to reside in those rural settings. The reason I say potential to be a good idea, is I don’t have a full understanding of who would make up the council; what are the goals and outcomes of the council? I would like to see a council consisting of rural residents, rural business owners and entrepreneurs, successful urban business owners and entrepreneurs, pertinent agency personnel, and academia, to name a few. We need people who have been involved and have a sense of where their community or city is moving and where they would like to see it moving. Currently, jobs are at the forefront in this country; we need jobs, jobs, jobs. Unfortunately jobs have long been the issue in rural America and especially on the Iron Range, only now this seems to be at a head. (Jordan Vandal, Midwest Assistance Program, Deerwood)

Yes! This is a great idea and much needed! (Liz Johnson, The White House Project, Duluth)

It’s a great idea. (Pam Bishop, Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation) Naturally, I love this idea. Ever since we reopened the theater in 1995 we have

been working on building our “rural/urban” connections. In fact I have often thought that it would be great to have a Twin Cities Theater Partner – kind of like a Big Brother/Big Sister program – where we actually learn from each other. So I think there is SO MUCH to be learned from each other and, contrary to what some believe, urban areas can learn as much from rural areas as we can from them! So, a Rural Urban Partnering Council is really a cool idea and goes way beyond my dreams of theater partners. (Rebecca Petersen, Center for the Arts, Fergus Falls)

I think this is a great idea to bring people together to strengthen the urban rural partnerships. However, I think there are organizations who are trying to do something similar. Here I see some competition when it comes to healthcare, because almost every clinic and hospital already have some kind of a relationship with an urban health care system. (Zoi Hills, Great Plains Telehealth Resource and Assistance Center)

2. Can you give us an example of an existing rural-urban connection—an organization, program or project that brings rural and urban Minnesota together?

I believe there are informal urban and rural coming together, most would be those cities just over the MSA population figures yet not large enough to be like the twin cities. Such organizations would be the Rochester Chamber, the St.Cloud EDA which we are a part of, SMIF which serves all of the Southeastern


Minnesota to include Rochester with John Monson on the board, and Greater Mankato Growth. These organization serve a variety of clients some rural and some urban. We attend many of the organizations meeting and hold some committee and board positions. John (Monson at AgStar) is also on a work force development board in the SE. This board would oversee both urban and rural areas. Larry is on the Minnesota hospital board of trustees and the National Hospital Assn board, they both over see urban and rural issues. If I think of others I will let you know. (Dave Hoelmer, AgStar, Mankato)

One area in the State that does fall into the mission of the council is economic development. DEED has representatives that work in out-state MN to try and link rural areas with business opportunities and facilitates economic growth through their urban and national/international connections and marketing efforts. (Ted Kjos, Tri County Electric, Rushford)

The grants the Blue Cross Blue Sheild have given to different groups and the meetings they put on with all grantees in attendance offers great opportunities for rural-urban networking. (Audrey Lesmeister, Freshmeister Foods)

One group we are working with is organized by the Initiative Foundation out of Little Falls - Friends in the Field – a group focused on networking and learning about all of the innovative, collaborative ideas and actions going on in the rural part of MN. It is focused on Rural, but brings people from the metro area out as well, that have a statewide focus or interest. (Berny Berger, Southwest Initiative Foundation)

The best example I can come up with is Minitex, an Information and Resource Sharing Program of the Minnesota Office of Higher Education and the University of Minnesota Libraries. Minitex is located and is part of the University Libraries on the Twin Cities Campus in Minneapolis. We provide equity of access so people in Greater Minnesota have access to the same information available in the Twin Cities and in a very quick manner. We provide loans and photocopies from the University Libraries’ collections to residents all over Minnesota through their public, academic, K12 schools and state government libraries. Minitex operates a statewide courier delivery system, delivering library resources daily, Monday through Friday, from the Twin Cities into Greater Minnesota and return. From Albert Lea to Ely to Thief River Falls to Worthington. In addition, Minitex administers and operates:

o The Electronic Library for Minnesota, providing full text journal articles, ebooks, newspapers, and many more including the Online Enclyopdeia Britannica to residents throughout Minnesota and to libraries in Greater Minnesota and the Twin Cities;

o The MnLINK Gateway, which provides access to the library holdings of libraries throughout the state, delivering them through the Minitex Delivery System Monday through Friday;

o The Minnesota Digital Library with its more than 50,000 images and documents of over 100 Minnesota local organizations in its Minnesota


Reflections database, which provides many resources for History Day projects throughout Minnesota;

o AskMN, which provides 24/7 answers to reference questions from professional librarians;

o Research Project Calculator, which provides project assistance for middle and high school students and assists their parents in finding information and developing and completing projects;

All of the above can be found at www.mnknows.org, Dig Deeper @ Your Library. We assist several organizations in delivering materials around the state. For example, we delivery the newspaper La Prensa, and the Quarterly Journal of the Center for Rural Policy and Development (St. Peter) to libraries throughout Minnesota at no cost, saving those organizations delivery costs. (Bill DeJohn, Minitex)

My whole industry and at least the proactive ones are doing it daily. One of the biggest successes is the implementation of Best Value Procurement (something I’m and expert on and passionate about sharing with Rural MN). (J.J. Levenske, NORTHWAY Construction Services, Baxter)

An example of an existing rural-urban connection is broad-band. The ability to bring broad-band to rural settings helps establish a technological need for hospitals, schools, fire departments, police departments. I question the process in which this broad-band will be installed; will it be local businesses, if available, or will it be done by a company from the Twin Cities Area? Again, focusing on jobs, and job training.

Another example of a rural-urban connection is “Know your Food, Know your Farmer”. I had the opportunity to attend the Home Grown Conference in Marshall this past spring; what a great conference!!! If we as a country want to become healthier, and keep diabetes from becoming the next health epidemic, lets continue to support our local farmers and COOPs and furthermore implement food programs in schools which support this very idea; rural to urban; ND has a Farm to School Program, which has taken off like wildfire. If we are able to support local farmers, we may be able to provide produce and other items to urban settings in a much more efficient manner. I do understand that this already happening in some capacity, which is great!

A personal example I can provide is my wife and I participate in Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) as well as are members of the Crow Wing County COOP. We purchase local grass fed beef from a farm outside of Onamia, at a slight increase in price, (~$0.65/lb) but an increase in health benefits and taste for our family. Our purchasing of local beef supports the grower and meat processor; Again all done locally. This became successful from a ‘grass-roots’ effort, not by government mandates, lets continue the grass-roots effort by spreading the word and success. (Jordan Vandal, Midwest Assistance Program, Deerwood)

I can think of so many stories that illustrate these connections but the first ones that jump to mind are the ones that involve food production, food security, food desserts, restaurants, and organic food shoppers. I can also


reach out to our statewide alumnae network of women leaders to share their stories first hand. (Liz Johnson, The White House Project, Duluth)

BioBusiness Alliance of MN and SE Champions Group (Pam Bishop, Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation)

It’s only natural that I use the arts as an example and, since our organization seems to be already doing this I will give you some of OUR examples.

A.) James Sewell Ballet – we have had a partnership with this company for almost 10 years. They come to Fergus Falls to offer master classes, outreach in the schools and performances. Last year this partnership was expanded to include OUR dancers in THEIR performances both here in Fergus Falls and in St. Paul at O’Shaughnessy Auditorium. This year we are bring JSB to Fergus Falls for two weeks of collaboration. They will be rehearsing in our space and will be bringing in live music for their performance. This will involve musicians from our region (Moorhead & St. Cloud) who have helped us in developing a chamber music series in Fergus Falls. In return a couple of these regional musicians have connected with the company and will be a part of their spring program in St. Paul. Likewise, during the two week residency the company and their technical staff will do outreach from Fergus Falls to even smaller communities like Barrett, Battle Lake and Breckenridge.

B.) Illusion Theater Company – in our efforts to further develop community through community theater, we have deepened our relationship with this theater company. Community members have gone to their theater in Hennepin Center for the Arts in downtown Minneapolis for workshops, classes and performances. Teaching artists from Illusion have also come to Fergus Falls to give workshops and coaching sessions. In the year ahead Illusion theater will bring two productions to Fergus Falls (My Antonia & Autistic License) as well as working with Fergus Falls to develop a Readers Theater Component. In addition, three years ago A Center for the Arts brought our touring theater production of Songs from the Tall Grass to the Illusion Theater and packed the house. It was an example of how rural arts can travel to urban areas and have success as well as the other way around.

C.) Children’s Theater Company – used to do more touring into greater Minnesota…would be nice to do more exchanges with this group. They have also started the Neighborhood Bridges Program which involves a story telling program that builds and strengthens tools for peaceful solutions to global problems/issues. We have started to work with them on this program and see a value for introducing it to many schools in the region.

D.) Artspace Projects – While Artspace Projects can be found in many Urban communities across the country, they have also learned many things by developing artist live-work spaces in rural areas like Fergus Falls and Brainerd. We are in the process of trying to further establish a rural/urban connection through outreach and education programs offered by the Cowles Performing Arts Center being developed in the old Shubert Theater which will be directly connected to the Hennepin Center for the Arts.


E.) Minnesota Public Radio – does a fairly decent job of connecting urban to rural through their news and information outreach. They also have public radio audiences and offices around the state. I know they are trying to do more of this with their Arts & Culture Department. In fact Marianne Combs is out in our region right now getting to know us all better.

F.) Lanesboro’s Commonweal Theater – in the small town of Lanesboro Minnesota – they tour around the state every couple of years…even making their way to perform at The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. (Rebecca Petersen, Center for the Arts, Fergus Falls)

Most of the telehealth programs are based on urban-rural connections. (Zoi Hills, Great Plains Telehealth Resource and Assistance Center)

3. What do you think should be priorities for a Rural Urban Partnering Council to

address? The first priority is to educate urban legislators on the realities of modern

agriculture and the importance of efficiency for agricultural producers, input suppliers and processing and marketing entities to keep food prices low in the U.S. and compete in the world markets. The next priority is to influence their vote to balance legislative mandates with sound economics when dealing with agricultural and rural issues. (CoBank’s (Amy Gales, Jim Roberge and Bob Doane, CoBank, headquartered in Golden Valley but a national farm credit co-op)

Priorities at this time should be to help people recognize the value each provides for the other. Many, many people who live in an urban area came from a rural background. How can we get those people to share their values and provide continued support to the rural areas and vice versa? (Elaine Garry, People’s Co-op Services, Rochester)

As far as priorities go I would say creating jobs within the state’s boarders, equitable and adequate financing for education, and transportation infrastructure would be some common needs throughout rural Minnesota. (Ted Kjos, Tri County Electric, Rushford)

I think the aggregation/distribution leg needs attention/fostering to promote and make local foods available to everyone. (Audrey Lesmeister, Freshmeister Foods)

Helping each partner understand better the issues and problems and solutions needed by the other. Making sure that broad band access is available for EVERYONE in Minnesota so that no one person or organization has to worry about the speed of their Internet connections. (Bill DeJohn, Minitex)

I give the group credit for promoting the positive rural-urban connections that have been made, but I don’t think this council is prepared to make more happen than would naturally. If you decide to forge forward anyway……I think the Council should prioritize the development of a work plan for the next 2-3 years. Without a clear vision of what you hope to achieve (something beyond 1000 ft. level goals) that includes measurable benchmarks you’ll lose interest from your current partners. (Cheryal Lee Hills, Region Five Development Commission, Staples)


Don’t know. I just want to help from a construction perspective because I see too often how it isn’t working correctly and the Rural contingency is fleeced on a consistent basis. (J.J. Levenske, NORTHWAY Construction Services, Baxter)

Priorities for the Rural Urban Partnering Council to address…………………I would say issues, but I think the issues facing rural America are well defined, the question becomes how to resolve the issues; to me that means local participation and buy-in, and also the ability to show that prosperity is still available for rural communities. I work in the water and wastewater infrastructure field, which provides me the opportunity to meet and work with council’s and utility operators; For small communities and cities, the one key to success for their utilities is the understanding of the council, i.e. decision makers, of preventive maintenance and operation as well as the ability to plan ahead for infrastructure rehabilitation and the need to make slight increases in rates to generate the revenue to pay for the O&M and future infrastructure projects. The later part of this equation is a slippery slope, increasing rates on a very small population is a difficult task to sell, especially when everyone knows each other. Additionally, capacity development is at the for front with these communities, the council members have full-time jobs, and don’t have or take the time to fully understand the situation regarding these important necessities, safe drinking water and clean wastewater, until it is past time to perform simple operation and maintenance. We need local buy-in and motivation within. (Jordan Vandal, Midwest Assistance Program, Deerwood)

I think a “Buy Local” promotion should be an important step in the partnership. Not only food, but everything. For example, when we urban folks check that box on our electric bills to buy wind energy – I think we should only be buying local/MN produced wind energy. We’re not right now. The more incentives we can give for utilities to meet their renewable energy standard through local renewable energy production, the better off we will all be. Hate to watch so many of my rate payer utility dollars flow out-of-state when utilities could be incentivized to build those renewable projects in MN – and we’re gain jobs as well as the indirect effects of that spending.

There are all sorts of MN-made products competing in our marketplace – but few of us know which ones are produced locally. Not sure why the State doesn’t do more in this area – especially when the federal Stimulus funds started to flow. We could have identified local services, equipment, products, etc. for MN cities and counties that fit these funds. But we didn’t. (Linda Limback, State Energy Office, MN Office of Energy Security)

The biggest priority should be feeding, seeding, planting, propagating and generally putting a giant megaphone on stories that illustrate our urban/rural interdependence and connections. Communications, communications, communications. Visibility is viability. (Liz Johnson, The White House Project, Duluth)

Funding (Pam Bishop, Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation)


How do we get urban folks to venture outside of the 694 corridor – especially culturally? We have such a plethora of arts organizations and artists in greater Minnesota – in towns as small of 300 people great things are happening. I grow weary of the concept that you have to go to an urban area to find great cultural opportunities. We perpetuate this by taking busloads of people to galleries and theaters in the Twin Cities. Why couldn’t we be organizing more bus tours coming OUT of the Urban areas into rural areas?

Also I think there is a lot of work to be done with the media – Minnesota Public Radio, newspapers like Star Tribune and Pioneer Press and Fargo Forum. Probably television as well – public television and commercial television. Strengthening our state by sharing opportunities, interests, ideas and resources.

Also…the idea of strengthening the pipeline between rural and urban and making us all a bigger part of the whole – not separate entities. (Rebecca Petersen, Center for the Arts, Fergus Falls)

I would say to address health care access, but, I am talking based only on my expertise which is delivering access to health care. (Zoi Hills, Great Plains Telehealth Resource and Assistance Center)


Appendix D – See attachments to the email


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