Center of Everywhere Podcast

On this episode, Kelly Asche interviews Joan Naymark, Executive Director of the Minnesotan's for the ACS, and Mary Jo Mitch, co-director of The Census Project. They discuss current funding for the Census Bureau and it's impacts on providing accurate data for rural Minnesota in the Decennial Census and the American Community Survey.

On this episode, Julie, Marnie and Kelly discuss the new process in which they developed their research agenda, interesting research conducted by our interns over the summer, and upcoming reports being released in the next few months.

On this episode, Kelly Asche, Senior Researcher at the Center for Rural Policy and Development, speaks with Amy Baldwin, Community Development Director at Otter Tail County, about their housing initiative – The Big Build. Housing is one of the biggest problems when it comes to attracting people to Greater Minnesota and fill our workforce needs. A few years ago now, Otter Tail County started an initiative called the Big Build with the goal of developing 5,000 new or remodeled housing units within the county. This interview is an update on that initiative and what state and local programs have been ...

In this episode, Julie Tesch, President and CEO of the Center for Rural Policy and Development, has a discussion with our newly appointed members to our Board of Directors – Brown County Administrator Sam Hansen and  Aitkin County Administrator Jessica Siebert. Sam and Jessica discuss current issues in their county, recent successes, population change, and the challenges in hiring for county positions.

On this sixth episode of the season, Marnie Werner, Vice President of Research at the Center, speaks with Teri Fritsma, the Lead Healthcare Workforce Analyst at the Office of Rural Health and Primary Care within the MN Department of Health. Healthcare workforce is a big issue these days, especially in Greater Minnesota and especially as it concerns our ability to access mental health services. For a decade now Teri has collected data on Minnesota’s licensed healthcare professionals and practitioners, giving insight into trends in our healthcare workforce, from when people are planning to retire to what specialities and fields they ...

March 2024 On this episode, Kelly Asche, Senior Research with the Center for Rural Policy and Development, speaks with Scott McMahon, Executive Director of the Greater Minnesota Partnership about proposed legislation in the Minnesota legislature. The Greater MN Partnership has been advocating for state investment in rural housing and in 2023 they successfully advocated to bring in $39 million to the Greater Minnesota Workforce Housing Development fund.  Hot on the heels of that, the legislature decided they are not finished with housing and so a number of bills are being introduced this session, and this year it’s been more regulatory ...

Our most recent research highlighted the suicide epidemic in rural Minnesota. On this episode, researchers and authors of the report, Marnie Werner and Tracie Rutherford Self, discuss the various elements of how we got to this point in rural areas, the factors that are playing a role, and ways in which we can move forward and decrease the number of suicides and deaths of despair.

Our most recent research highlighted the importance career and technical education played in the Southwest’s region’s labor force. On this episode, Kelly Asche (Senior Researcher) chats with Eriann Faris, the Career and Technical Education Program Coordinator for Southwest West Central Services Cooperative and leads the Launching Your Future Today (LYFT) initiative. Eriann explains how LYFT was created, the critical role it plays in expanding CTE across the region,  and some of the challenges in expanding this type of education.

The 2024 Legislative session is just around the corner so Julie Tesch (CEO and President) checks in with Scott McMahon, the Executive Director of the Greater Minnesota Partnership. They discuss what the session may hold for various rural issues.

The Center for Rural Policy recently released a report outlining the education and employment patterns of Southwest high school graduates. On this episode, Kelly Asche, Senior Researcher, discusses the report and what he found while researching this important issue.