Category: Our Research Reports

Pandemic paints a different employment picture in rural Minnesota

Pandemic paints a different employment picture in rural Minnesota January 2021 By Kelly Asche, Research Associate, & Marnie Werner, Director of Research For a printable version of this report, click here. Our podcast episode diving deeper into this research can be found here. On January 21st, 2021 we hosted a webinar presenting this research as ...

Why the count counts: Redistricting and representation in rural Minnesota

  By Marnie Werner, Vice President, Research, & Jordon Barthel, Research Intern To listen to a conversation with Marnie Werner about this research, check out our podcast – Episode 11: CRPD Research – Census and redistricting in Rural Minnesota. After months of back-and-forth wrangling among different groups and interests the 2020 Census count finally came ...

Transit for healthcare: Volunteer drivers in aging rural Minnesota

  September 2020 By Whitney Oachs, Research Intern For a printable version of this report, click here. To watch a short video summarizing this research, click here. To listen to a discussion with Whitney Oachs and Marnie Werner about this research, check out our podcast – Episode 10: CRPD Research – Volunteer Drivers. Across the ...

Wages can go further in Greater Minnesota

An overview of Center for Rural Policy and Development’s cost of living and wage comparison tool. June 2020 By Kelly Asche, Research Associate For a printable version of this report, click here. To see a 5 minute video summarising this research, click here. On July 15th, 2020, we hosted a webinar, “The Case for Living ...
downtown Litchfield

2020 State of Rural Minnesota report

An economic and demographic update of rural Minnesota By Kelly Asche, Research Associate & Marnie Werner, Vice President, Research For a printable version of the report, click here. 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 ...
hospital finance

Integrating rural into the new reality of healthcare

Why the shift in how we pay for healthcare will drive further consolidations of rural healthcare services and what we can do about it May 2020 By Kelly Asche, Research Associate & Marnie Werner, Vice President, Research For a printable version of the report, click here. For a short video providing an overview of this ...
cornfield

Impact of Minnesota’s farm economy on Greater Minnesota

April 2020 By Kelly Asche, Research Associate & Marnie Werner, VP Research Note to readers: We were just getting ready to release this report when the COVID-19 pandemic showed up on Minnesota’s doorstep and everything changed. We believe the findings of our report still hold true since they review the past trends, but we have ...
Changing the narrative on careers

Finding work or finding workers? Part 4

Changing the story on careers in rural Minnesota For decades, the narrative speaking to rural high school students has been that to succeed, they must leave. But what if we could do something about that? August 2019 By Kelly Asche, Research Associate For a printable version, click here. All Articles in this Series: Finding work ...

Finding work or finding workers? Part 3

As employers hit the end of what’s known as the “slack in the labor force”—that percentage of the population ages 18–64 not participating in the workforce—they are running up against something new: engaging with and recruiting workers from groups of people living in particular circumstances that make it difficult for them to hold jobs. It ...