Dave PetersUniversity of Minnesota Extension researcher Ben Winchester identifies three demographic opportunities for rural communities: appealing to immigrants, providing new housing for aging baby boomers and attracting millenials with available housing. Read more →
MPR News How communities are facing the future
Economic Development
The biggest net recipient of Hennepin County residents is not a warm weather town. It’s Fargo. Read more →
Who owns rural Minnesota can quickly get complicated, says the Center for Rural Policy and Development in a new issue of its journal. Read more →
Jennifer Vogel
People in the small western Minnesota city of Hoffman are trying to figure out how to weather the closing of a nursing home, the biggest employer in town. Read more →
As we were wrapping up work in International Falls this week for the Daily Circuit special “Rethinking a Company Town,” the federal Economic Research Service put out a sobering view of rural employment. This is how our friends at the Daily Yonder put it: “Folks looking for good news in the 2013 “Rural America at Read more →
Bill Dougherty runs a houseboat rental business on Rainy Lake and he thinks he’d benefit if International Falls and Koochiching County put more effort into promoting tourism. Read more →
Voyageurs National Park Superintendent Mike Ward is exactly the kind of person who can bring nature-loving tourists and International Falls residents together. Read more →
Koochiching Economic Development Authority Director Paul Nevanen is exploring all avenues to diversify the job base in International Falls, from manufacturing to entrepreneurism. Read more →
If International Falls succeeds in creating a more entrepreneurial culture, it will need more people like RaeAnne Conat. Read more →