Tag: health

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 ...

Access to healthcare services has been an issue in rural areas for years. Our upcoming report takes a big dive into the reasons why, from the policies to the business models that cause services to be offered in one location but disappear from others.  CRPD research associate and project lead Kelly Asche joins Marnie and ...

MN Department of Ag is offering a cost-share program to help eligible farmers markets keep things safe and sanitized School sports are canceled and it doesn’t look good for professional sports, concerts or other summer fun. Even the Great Minnesota Get-Together is at risk of being cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. What’s left? Well, ...

By Julie Tesch I grew up in a small farming community that took community pride for the greater good seriously.  Like many towns, then and now, we would hold a blood drive three or four times a year at a church or the community center.  When I was a child, I would sometimes help out ...

By Julie Tesch What a time to launch a podcast.  Little did we know that when we debuted our new podcast, Center of Everywhere, in March that we would be stepping into an unprecedented time with a global pandemic. The original goal of our podcast was to share our research on rural Minnesota and talk ...

EXCERPT: “Supporters of small-town Minnesota grocery stores are hoping for new funding to continue the Good Food Access program. They say the state grants help bring quality nutrition to areas that would otherwise be ‘food deserts,’ and that helps rural communities. Corey Christianson took over one KC’s Country Market several years ago, and another location ...

EXCERPT: “The Minnesota House Ag committee got an update on the latest Minnesota Rural Grocery Survey. The University of Minnesota’s Kathy Draeger says there are only about 250 local “main street” grocery stores remaining in Greater Minnesota. Draeger says rural Minnesota is losing these ‘main street’ stores at an unprecedented rate–which can have a significant ...