Year: 2021

EXCERPT: “The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) announced Tuesday that eight construction projects in different areas of the state will receive a total of $18 million to improve transportation infrastructure that supports economic growth. According to MnDOT, the funding comes from the state’s competitive Transportation Economic Development (TED) program. The TED program targets transportation infrastructure projects that ...

Each year, the Center for Rural Policy and Development provides a brief update on various economic and demographic data pertaining to rural Minnesota. As policy discussions concerning rural Minnesota unfold, it is important to understand the past, present, and potential futures of rural regions. This report provides historical data points that illustrate how rural conditions ...

Minnesota has had some of the highest vaccination rates in the United States, but has still struggled among the nation’s highest COVID case rates in recent weeks. This webinar, hosted by CRPD and the COVID Collaborative, is a  conversation about how the pandemic has unfolded in rural Minnesota, what can be done to keep more ...

EXCERPT: “The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) awarded grants totaling $2,425,000 to 14 organizations representing communities throughout Minnesota to increase the supply of quality child care providers in order to support regional economic development. These grants authorize $5 million over the next two fiscal years for grants to local communities to increase ...

Every year the Center publishes the “State of Rural” report—a brief overview of demographic and economic trends from a rural perspective. This year’s report will be published in December 2021. Over the next few months, we will be writing here on our blog about some of the trends we’re looking at, taking a deeper dive into the data ...

EXCERPT: “The last two years have been pivotal ones for the future of high-speed internet access in Minnesota. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted and exacerbated the lack of broadband in many parts of the state as people shifted to remote work and school. Congress poured unprecedented amounts of money into subsidizing construction of new infrastructure like fiber-optic ...

On Thursday, December 9, 2021 we hosted a webinar presenting the results from our report on the “Amazon Effect” and rural sales tax revenues.  Along with our researchers, we heard from panelists with firsthand experience on the effects of online shopping: small business owners and county officials. Panelists included: Kelly Asche – Research Associate, CRPD ...

EXCERPT: “The 2022 Minnesota legislative session is coming up fast and organizations representing communities across the state are zeroing in on a bonding bill. Bradley Peterson, executive director of the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities, said bonding legislation is a big-ticket item for the organization heading into the session. Peterson said the bonding bill is ...

By Kelly Asche, Research Associate Look around your community or even your nearby economic center where you do your shopping, and you may conclude that the retail sector is tanking. And yes, brick-and-mortar retail firms have been declining. But that doesn’t necessarily mean shoppers are spending less money at our physical retailers. In fact, we are spending more. And that has meant that the surviving retailers are performing rather well.  In our recent research report, “The ...