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Ground Level Topics
SKILLS GAP Will enough Minnesotans have the right skills to fill the jobs needed to keep the state's economy humming in the coming decade?
MAKING CONNECTIONS Have white people and Latinos as communities made the connections that let them do more than live side by side around the state?
RURAL HEALTH CARE Minnesota's rural health care system is under pressure from many sides. Communities are trying new ways to deal with doctor shortages and financial pressure on small hospitals.
THE PRICE OF SAFETY
Tight budgets, changing populations, new technology and even new attitudes are making communities in outstate Minnesota change their approach to safety, security and the law
GETTING THERE
For many outstate Minnesota residents, getting around is tougher than it used to be. Communities are coming up with solutions to cope with a changing transportation landscape.
ONE JOB AT A TIME Minnesota communities look for ways to foster small businesses in an effort to grow the economy one job at a time. Facing economic uncertainty, entrepreneurs get creative.
BROADBAND High-speed Internet access in rural Minnesota can lead to economic, educational and health-care opportunities. Yet building these networks has been difficult.
FORCED TO CHOOSE The ax or the tax? The question before communities in Minnesota as a tougher government spending environment plays out against a backdrop of a struggling economy.
HUNGER For one in 10 Minnesotans, getting enough to eat is sometimes a problem. Many experience the anxiety that comes with not always knowing where they will find their next meal.
LOCAL FOOD For decades, Minnesotans have nursed a growing interest in eating locally. But can this movement become big and efficient enough to move into the mainstream?
CENTRAL MINNESOTA 2035 Residents of five counties in central Minnesota are trying to determine what they want their region to look like two decades from now.
Ground Level Sampler
LOCAL FOOD School freezer may be next stop for local food movement
A school in Arlington, Minn., is leading the way to show how institutions might extend the season for local food - by freezing it. But the labor is intensive and financial savings are uncertain.
RURAL HEALTH CARE Rural Minnesota retools health care in wave of hospital mergers
A new round of consolidations that can add services to communities and let patients stay closer to home but that inevitably lead to the loss of local control.
ONE JOB AT A TIME Job challenge: Grow more entrepreneurs
From the Iron Range to Winona to Montevideo, Minnesota communities increasingly talk of fostering an entrepreneurial culture to create jobs, to attract people, to enrich lives.
BROADBAND Broadband projects take a bumpy ride
Nearly two years after more than $200 million in federal stimulus money was awarded to 18 Minnesota broadband projects some efforts to extend access have been delayed.
FORCED TO CHOOSE Communities raise taxes, cut jobs
Tax hikes and job cuts are two main themes emerging from recent trends and decisions Minnesota's 3,200 cities, counties, townships and school districts have been making.
HUNGER Hunger plagues the young and homeless
We take a look at how food can become a main problem for young people without homes — and how they learn to survive, as some have to resort to their own survival skills to get by.
GETTING THERE
High tech transit emerging in the woods
Increasing demand and uncertain budgets have rural Minnesota transit systems looking to combine technology and personal service to become more efficient.Ground Level is an MPR News project providing news coverage, resources, connections and conversations on important topics in Minnesota communities.
from the Ground Level Blog
Federal grant to urge broadband adoption wraps up
After years of debate, Fergus Falls settles on plan for historic mental hospital
Who’s feeding kids in northwest Minnesota this summer?
Ground Level Topics
The steadily growing number of topic pages you can find here is to give you insight in ways that inform and enlighten and let you see opportunities to take action.
Will enough Minnesotans have the right skills to fill the jobs needed to keep the state's economy humming in the coming decade?
For decades, Minnesotans have nursed a growing interest in eating locally. But can this movement become big and efficient enough to move into the mainstream?
Tight budgets, changing populations, new technology and even new attitudes are making communities in outstate Minnesota change their approach to safety, security and the law
For years, rural residents have wrung their hands about the loss of young people heading for the big city. University of Minnesota research points to a more nuanced trend of people in their 30s and 40s from urban to rural areas.
Communities are coming up with solutions to cope with the changing transportation landscape. For many outstate Minnesota residents, getting to work, to the doctor, to the grocery store and elsewhere is tougher than it used to be.
Residents of five counties in central Minnesota are trying to determine what they want their region to look like two decades from now
The ax or the tax? That's increasingly the question before cities, schools and counties in Minnesota as a tougher government spending environment plays out against a backdrop of a struggling economy.
Minnesotans are finding new ways to tackle water pollution in their communities, forming collaborations, testing farming techniques, requiring property owners to take steps and turning to technology to help matters.
Making Connections: Bridging the Latino-white divide
Have white people and Latinos as communities made the connections that let them do more than live side by side?
Minnesota's rural health care system is under new pressure from national reform and from demographic and economic changes. Communities are trying new ways to deal with doctor shortages and with financial pressure on small hospitals.
High-speed Internet access in rural Minnesota can lead to economic, educational and health-care opportunities. Yet building these networks has been difficult and even controversial for some.
Minnesota communities look for ways to foster small businesses in an effort to grow the economy one job at a time.
For one in 10 Minnesotans, getting enough to eat is sometimes a problem. Some go to extreme lengths to consume enough food and most experience the anxiety that comes with not always knowing where they will find their next meal.
Under the greatest budget pressure in years, Minnesota cities are both trimming what they do and exploring new ways to provide services.
Like many communities in the "collar" around the Twin Cities, Baldwin Township in Sherburne County faces choices related to growth, taxes and a future shaped by the housing bust.
Todd County has more than its share of elderly people. Will existing networks of family, volunteers and government programs remain strong enough as that proportion grows?
Ground Level Discussions
The conversation hosted by MPR News' Ground Level and MN Today examining the Skills Gap in Minnesota
'Getting There:' Transit Chat »
The conversation hosted by MPR News' Ground Level and MN Today examining the demands, pitfalls and solutions to an ever increasing transit need.
'Resilient Region:' Affordable Housing »
The second conversation hosted by MPR News' Ground Level project in conjunction with the central Minnesota "Resilient Region" project deals with the availability of affordable housing in the five-county area.
'Resilient Region:' Driving the economy »
This is the first conversation MPR News' Ground Level project hosted in conjunction with the central Minnesota "Resilient Region" project. It deals with the economic engines of the five-county area.
WEIGH IN ON WATER: How should we deal with farming and pollution? »
If your economy depends on clean water, how do you make sure the water stays clean while you take advantage of it?
WEIGH IN ON WATER: Does local matter? »
One of the things made clear in our online chat about farming practices and water pollution was that what people do on the ground in their communities matter. It's also clear in the responses we received from our seven "water panelists" when we asked them about it.
WEIGH IN ON WATER: A conversation: Farming and pollution »
A great conversation on farming practices and water quality with Redwood Falls farmer Bruce Tiffany and water quality director Kris Sigford of the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy ranging from voluntary action that might change farming practices to setting priorities for the state.
Northeastern Minnesota's economic future »
As much as any region of Minnesota, the Arrowhead is a complex brew of powerful economic forces, engaging cultural history, new ways of thinking about the environment and changing politics. MPR News and Northlands NewsCenter hosted a forum in April 2011 at the Duluth Radisson, the conversation was hosted by MPR News' Cathy Wurzer.
WEIGH IN ON HEALTH CARE: Name one thing to change rural health care »
Ground Level asked nine health care providers to tell us one thing that would make rural health care better in Minnesota.
Ground Level Blog
Federal grant to urge broadband adoption wraps up
Three years ago, the federal government started funneling more than $200 million in stimulus money into Minnesota to make it easier for residents to use the Internet. Most of that money is paying for private companies, cooperatives and local governments to lay fiber and install other hardware in places like Cook and Lake counties in…
After years of debate, Fergus Falls settles on plan for historic mental hospital
The Kirkbride buildings loom like a castle at the edge of Fergus Falls, about three hours northwest of the Twin Cities. Built more than a century ago, the former state mental hospital has been vacant since 2009. The city saved the buildings from the wrecking ball but has struggled ever since to figure out what…
Who’s feeding kids in northwest Minnesota this summer?
The kids of northwestern Minnesota who eat subsidized lunches during the school year aren’t getting much help during the summer. On the other hand, some parts of southern Minnesota where a lot of kids are eligible do a much better job of delivering meals when school is out of session. Those are two at-a-glance conclusions…
Slow food, slow travel could build rural tourism
MORRIS, Minn – Lucky for small towns, many of the things they do best, like growing local food and wine and making things by hand, are now in vogue. That was the message at a filled-to-the-brim seminar on tourism and rural economies during the final day of the two-day Rural Arts and Culture Summit at…
Old buildings can be cheap foundation for small town arts
MORRIS, Minn. – Sometimes the perfect use for that old, empty, neglected building on Main Street is as an art gallery or studio space. During the first day of a two-day conference exploring the intersection of arts and rural economic development at the University of Minnesota Morris, presenters discussed a farm house turned into an…
Yearning for arts can spur small town economic development
MORRIS, Minn. — If you want to get people in your small town interested in arts as an engine for job and business growth, the first step is to avoid the word “arts.” That was one of the messages delivered this morning at the Rural Arts and Culture Summit, a two-day conference at the University…
Broadband availability rises again
Nearly 70 percent of Minnesota households now have available the kind of high-speed Internet access that the state says they should. The latest semi-annual report from Connect Minnesota today said that 69.2 percent of households have access to download speeds of at least 10 megabits per second and upload speeds of six megabits per second.…
Community leadership can be different for Latinos
One way a town can solve a problem is to put somebody in charge, come up with a plan and go to work. Parks get cleaned up, old buildings get saved, senior meals get organized. But as the number of Latino residents continues to rise in a number of Minnesota towns, that approach might not…
Latino Connections
An immigrant's journey
leading to permission to stay
St. James resident Irma Marquez this month became one of the earliest Latinos in the nation to received deferred status allowing her legally to stay in the United States for two years and to find work. Read her story here ▶
Ground Level Video
Worthington bakery builds community
Kerry and Juan Cuate opened a Mexican bakery, Panaderia Mi Tierra, in downtown Worthington, Minn. The bakery now caters to the larger community, bringing the diverse population together.
Brain Gain
We're gathering stories from people who have moved back to rural parts of Minnesota after leaving for school or work, or who have moved to rural Minnesota for the first time as adults. Thanks so much for your contributions.
by Jennifer Vogel, edited by Michael Olson, MPR News
Outstate Minnesota Transit
Outstate Minnesota transit’s biggest gains and declines
10 transit systems in Minnesota with the largest percentage gains and losses 2007-2011.
Outstate transit ridership rose 12 percent between 2007 and 2011. Outstate Minnesota is thought of as dominated by car travel, and it is. And what's intriguing is that some places, like Montevideo, Wadena, Hibbing and St. Peter, far outstripped the overall rate of increase. Others, like Northfield, Faribault and Nobles County, declined by double-digit percentages.
Graphic by William Lager, MPR News
Rural Health Care Video
Doctor as renegade -- accepts cash, checks, eggs or pie, not insurance
In an era of high overhead, ever more byzantine regulations and payment models, cuts to Medicaid and Medicare benefits, and large medical systems swallowing independent practices, Rutten Wasson relishes her straight-forward manner of practicing. By Jennifer Vogel, MPR News
Video by Vickie Kettlewell Osakis, Minn.
Local Food Video
Carol Ford and Chuck Waibel operate Garden Goddess Greenhouse and sell fresh produce to 20 families all winter. Now they want to expand operations, growing more and acting as a middleman for neighboring farms to reach the growing local food market.
Video by Molly Bloom, Minnesota Public Radio
Forced to Choose Photo Essay
Holding Traverse County together
With just 3,558 residents, or six people per square mile, Travis County along the South Dakota border is Minnesota's least populated -- and it fits most common definitions of frontier. It can be lonely, so people have come to rely on a far-flung network of agencies and collaborators to serve a population that's also one of the oldest in the state. We looked at how the county copes these challenges as part of our Forced To Choose series.
Photos by Ann Arbor Miller for MPR News
Forced to Choose Video
Why are Minn. property taxes going up?
by Molly Bloom, Minnesota Public Radio, Curtis Gilbert, Minnesota Public Radio
Resilient Region Video
Central Minnesota Sustainable Development Plan
On December 15, 2012, over 150 central Minnesota residents gathered to consider what their future should look like.
Hear what residents and business owners think about the Central Minnesota 2035 'Resilient Region' project.
Blog Post: Can ag feed the world without destroying it? Looking for the Minnesota answer
If you've heard Jon Foley on MPR News talk shows or seen him give presentations at the University of Minnesota or elsewhere, you've seen him work pretty hard at looking for a middle ground.
He directs the Institute on the Environment at the U and one of his main arguments is that the world needs to look at agriculture in a different way.
Blog Post: Travel back through the 1940 Census
I went looking for my grandparents in the newly released 1940 Census forms but found my real reward when the face of Ardelle Neufeld, an 80-year-old woman I'd never met, lit up at BB's Diner in Mountain Lake. By Dave Peters, MPR News
Ground Level Blog Archive
Ground Level launched in early 2010 focusing on a wide variety of topics, from the growing complexity of Minnesota's local food system to cities preparing for new fiscal realities, from exurban growth in Baldwin Township to the quest to expand broadband access across the state. The Ground Level Blog chronicles the wide variety of topics with over 500
Ground Level: a Minnesota Public Radio News project examining community issues across Minnesota
We identify topics that are significant and complex and that play out uniquely at the local level. We want to explore those issues in which people taking action in their communities make a difference and can serve as guides for others.
Ground Level launched in early 2010 and shines a light on a variety of topics, from the growing complexity of Minnesota's local food system to cities preparing for new fiscal realities, from exurban growth in Baldwin Township to the quest to expand broadband access across the state.
We experiment with coverage on a variety of platforms. This includes text, audio and video online, of course - the Ground Level blog, a series of topics pages and social networking, for example. It also includes on-air coverage, public forums both virtual and real-world and collaboration with community-based media.
Our audience consists of Minnesotans interested in community life, particularly those who are taking an active part in it or helping others do the same. Ground Level is very much an experiment -- in finding ways to learn about and tell stories, in working with other organizations, in walking up to the line between providing insight and advocating specific actions. Our goal is to inform and give people the ability and incentive to engage with their community. We invite your feedback and your ideas, via the blog, twitter at @MPRGroundLevel, phone calls, emails, whatever. Join us.
About the team:
Dave Peters
Dave Peters directs MPR's project on community journalism, looking for ways Minnesota residents are making their towns, cities and neighborhoods better places to live. He joined MPR News in 2009 after more than 30 years as a newspaper and online reporter and editor. Contact Dave
Jennifer Vogel
Jennifer Vogel reports and writes for the Ground Level project, focusing on complex topics that play out in Minnesota's communities and that involve residents getting engaged with the challenges of the day. She is a longtime Twin Cities writer and editor who joined MPR News and Ground Level in January 2010. Contact Jennifer
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