Year: 2025

By Marnie Werner, Vice President, Research & Operations There’s nothing quite like a conference—being surrounded by people who share your interests—to get your brain firing on all cylinders. Last week, I had the privilege of attending the National Association for Rural Mental Health’s annual conference in Anchorage, Alaska. The event primarily targets practitioners and professionals—those ...

EXCERPT: “A study released in December of 2024 has found that drones not only can provide rural residents with access to healthcare resources, but that rural people are eager to embrace the new technology. Researcher Ellen Hahn, associate director of AppalTRuST in the University of Kentucky College of Nursing, was on the research team for the ...

  This timely Interconnected webinar co-hosted by the Center for Rural Policy and Development and the Citizens League exploring the findings of Strengthening Public Service in Minnesota, a new report from the Citizens League that examines the challenges and opportunities facing our state’s public workforce. Learn how Minnesota can better recruit, retain, and support the next ...

EXCERPT: “Enterprise Minnesota might have to stop its rural manufacturing programs because of federal cuts. Two weeks ago, the U.S. Department of Commerce told the agency not to start its traditional funds renewal process. ‘We have been told not to apply until further notice,’ said Enterprise Minnesota Vice President Lynn Shelton. ‘We are concerned.’ The ...

EXCERPT: “A group of first-year medical students at the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine in Rochester has been learning directly from Minnesota Farm Bureau members about how to connect with and meet the needs of people living in rural communities. The education around rural healthcare, called the Rural Medicine Initiative, is offered through the medical ...

EXCERPT: “Rural hospital leaders are questioning whether they can continue to afford to do business with Medicare Advantage companies, and some say the only way to maintain services and protect patients is to end their contracts with the private insurers. Medicare is the main federal health insurance program for people 65 or older. Participants can enroll ...

By Marnie Werner, Vice President, Research & Operations Greater Minnesota can be hard to define for people who don’t live there. Kind of amorphous. And it is hard to come up with a good single name that encompasses what is basically the whole state outside of the seven-county Twin Cities metro. But for us at ...

EXCERPT: “Gear up for construction season drivers – the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) has announced which projects they’ll be working on this year, including some multi-year construction work which will finally be completed. Early Wednesday morning, the agency said there are roughly 180 road and bridge construction projects planned for the season, as well as ...

On February 6th, 2025, Sourcewell hosted the Center for Rural Policy and Development for a 1.5 hour webinar highlight recent research in rural Minnesota. In this section, Marnie Werner, Vice President of Operations and Research, discusses her recent research about what parents can do in accessing mental health services for youth in rural Minnesota.