Minnesota is home to many charitable foundations. The trouble is that most of them focus their giving in the metro area. Wade Fauth, vice president of the Blandin Foundation, joins us this week to give us the background on this Itasca County foundation, its founder, and why he was motivated to concentrate on Greater Minnesota.

Blandin: Giving in Greater MN, part 1

This week on RuralMN Radio, Jim is joined by Emily Steinmetz, the central MN regional coordinator for the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, and Michelle Kylie, of the Initiative Foundation in Little Falls, to talk about the impact of nonprofits in rural areas.

Nonprofits exist in just about every town in Greater Minnesota to help people locally, showing that there will always be people willing to rise up and help their communities, says Steinmetz.

The impact of nonprofits in Greater MN

Ron Zeigler of CEDA joins us again this week to talk about economic development in southeastern Minnesota. The big challenges he sees are the shortage of workers for the number of job opportunities and a shortage of worker-based housing.

Ron Zeigler and CEDA, part 2

Ron Zeigler is president of CEDA, Community and Economic Development Associates, and he joins us this week on RuralMN Radio. CEDA provides staffing solutions to small communities in SE Minnesota, NE Iowa and SW Wisconsin, especially in the areas of economic development. For small communities, hiring a full-time economic developer might not be practical or affordable, but CEDA, says Zeigler, gives these small communities a swing at the plate.

Ron Zeigler and CEDA, part 1

We talk again this week with Nancy Norr, Minnesota Power’s director of regional development, to discuss economic development in the Arrowhead Region, including Polymet Mining.

Nancy Norr, part 2