Category: Blog

Hands holding a family cut out from paper

The power of community

Marnie Werner Vice President of Research & Operations   My dad once told me his boss had a sign on his door that read: “Are you part of the problem or part of the solution?” When I first started at the Center in 2000, I think rural Minnesota was at a crossroads of sorts. The ...

Closing the wage gap

Is it realistic for rural areas to close the wage gap? Probably not. By: Kelly Asche, Senior Researcher Most of rural Minnesota is discussing ways to grow the labor force. Increasing the affordable housing stock and childcare capacity are two primary strategies being discussed at the legislature. One of the underlying issues that makes these ...

North Star Promise: A few tweaks to consider

Kelly Asche January 2024 The last legislative session produced an interesting program to help make post-secondary education more affordable for low-income students – the North Star Promise. From the Minnesota Office of Higher Education: “Beginning in fall 2024, the North Star Promise (NSP) Scholarship program will create a tuition and fee-free pathway to higher education ...

A deeper dive in migration patterns across rural Minnesota

January 16, 2024 By Kelly Asche, Senior Researcher Every December the U.S. Census Bureau releases the new American Community Survey data, representing the previous year. And with that release the Center for Rural Policy can update all the numbers representing rural Minnesota and release the annual “State of Rural” report. The big takeaway again in ...

Shift in migration patterns continue in 2022

January 4, 2024 By Kelly Asche, Senior Researcher Every December the U.S. Census Bureau releases the new American Community Survey data, representing the previous year. And with that release the Center for Rural Policy can update all the numbers representing rural Minnesota and release the annual “State of Rural” report. The big takeaway again in ...

Our upcoming research

  September 2023 By Marnie Werner, VP of Research & Operations We are officially in a new fiscal year here at the Center for Rural Policy and Development and with it comes a new research agenda. The list of issues to research in rural Minnesota seems never-ending and unfortunately, we only have so many hours ...

Jesus Gonzalez – CRPD Capital Pathways Intern

May 2023 By Jesus Gonzalez, Capitol Pathways Intern My name is Jesus Gonzalez, a Concordia College sophomore, and for the last couple of months, I’ve been the Capitol Pathways Intern for the Center for Rural Policy and Development. From start to finish the program and the Center have been great! Now at the end, I’m ...

The education formula – complex because of its purpose

March 2023 By Kelly Asche, Senior Researcher To nearly everyone, the education formula is a mystery. And where there’s mystery, there tends to be misunderstandings, misinterpretations, and incorrect narratives. Making changes to policy that is well understood is hard enough. Imagine trying to change policy that isn’t well understood. This is the predicament rural schools ...
little girl blowing bubbles

Catching kids early, before they fall

By Marnie Werner, VP, Research As I work on our research projects, it often seems like all the topics I write about are gloomy and doom-filled. And they are usually. Here at the Center, we tend to write about problems—problems that need fixing—because the only way problems get fixed is if we know about them ...