Compiled by Deb Miller Slipek, News Finder Extraordinary
& Jane Leonard, MRP President & Editor

IN THIS ISSUE:

RURAL ROUND-UP SHORTY from Jane

Dear Readers: So much is happening in the next few months - graduations, anniversaries (congrats to all the Initiative Foundations, celebrating 20 years this year!), Symposium-Summits; we wanted to send you a heads up on three things we are working on and also apologize to some of you who may have been subscribed to the Rural Round-Up without your direct permission.

First, the apology: Over the last two weeks we have been trying to combine some of our various e-mailing lists at Minnesota Rural Partners and inadvertently subscribed some of you to this e-newsletter list, Minnesota Rural Partners Round-up, without your explicit permission. Usually when we add someone to the newsletter list (or any of our list-servs), we send out an "invitation to subscribe" so that it is always your choice. Somehow, we forgot to click on that option when we combined the lists. For this, we humbly ask your forgiveness.

To make sure we have it right with you, we are asking everyone who receives the Round-Up if you would like to continue subscribing. If you would like to continue to subscribe, you don't need to respond to this email. You will continue receiving the newsletter and our occasional announcements.

If you do wish to unsubscribe at this time (and we hope you will stick with us!) please reply to this email and ask to be unsubscribed. We will remove your address from the list immediately.

AND NOW TO SOME ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The full May 2006 issue of the Rural Round-up will be coming out next Tuesday, May 16, chock full of our usual cavalcade of events, funding sources, resources, and thoughts. Today, because of the urgency of time, we wanted to remind you to consider three things in the next week, and we'll probably politely remind you next week, too.

FIRST: Go to the Symposium on Small Towns and Minnesota Rural Summit website and sign up to attend the conference, "Working Better Together for the Common Good," coming up soon, June 6 & 7 in Morris at the University of Minnesota. I know it's graduation time (my nephew is graduating from Winona High School June 2 - Go Thomas - yeah!) and I know many of you will experience the same joys and responsibilities of such early June events. But Thomas is heading straight to Morris with me to attend the Symposium-Summit, and for the same $60 registration fee ($60 for two days, or $35 one day), you can attend, too! It's the best deal around. Two days of excellent content for community and economic development, timely networking, great food and small town fellowship. Sign up at http://www.minnesotaruralpartners.org/2006summit/index.htm

We want to thank our sponsors for helping to keep the registration fee the lowest ever for this 9th annual Rural Summit and 4th annual Small Town Symposium

Platinum Connector
Blandin Foundation

Silver Connector
Dobson Cellular Systems

Bronze Connector
Minnesota Power
Bush Leadership Fellows Program
AgStar

Community Connector
West Central Initiative
League of Minnesota Cities

SECOND: Related to the Symposium-Summit, by popular request, Minnesota Rural Partners has been compiling a Rural Resource Directory, that will be distributed at the June 6 & 7 event as part of the participants' packet. It will be available after the event as well. Make sure your resource is listed! Sign in here to list your resource: http://www.zoomerang.com/recipient/survey.zgi?p=WEB22523TWDM38

THIRD: Also related to the June 6 & 7 event, across Minnesota in the next two weeks the second annual "Long Arm of the Small Town" Storytelling regionals will be held, culminating in the "Long Arm of the Small Town" Storytelling Festival at the Symposium-Summit in Morris on the evening of June 6. Sinclair Lewis wrote the Long Arm of the Small Town as a tribute to his hometown of Sauk Centre, MN, and his touching story - well, touching for Sinclair Lewis! - has inspired this storytelling event, beginning with regional events in Grand Rapids on May 21, Little Falls on May 23, and Waseca on May 25.

Learn more at http://www.minnesotaruralpartners.org/storytelling/index.htm

THANKS FOR TUNING INTO THIS RURAL ROUND-UP SHORTY. We'll catch you next week with our full May issue.

--Jane Leonard, jleonard@minnesotaruralpartners.org

Minnesota Rural Partners is a nonprofit organization. Donations are tax deductible.

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