Rural Round-Up Newsletter

June 2003

Dear Rural Partners,

Summer is finally here – and we at MRP are as busy as ever planning events and activities that will lift your spirits, challenge your perceptions, and give you rock-solid ideas and methodology to try out in your community, business, and organization. Please read on for more information…

Minnesota’s Rural Summit set for August in Mankato
This year’s Rural Summit spotlights Entrepreneurship: A Winning Game Plan for Rural Communities. Over 40 organizations have been working all year to pull together promising practices, entrepreneurs and a new rural economic development strategy for communities based on the spirit and action of entrepreneurship. The dates are August 3-5 and it will be hosted at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Opportunities are still available for sponsorship and exhibitors. Visit the Summit web site for more. This is the last week to register at the Early Bird rate – regular rates start on July 8! Community teams receive discounted registration as well, so gather your group together and head to Mankato.

Rural Resource Roundups
Since May, Christy, Jane, Tara, and Tina have been touring the state to talk to folks about the local, state, and national resources that can support and promote entrepreneurship in their community. Included in the discussion are presentations about BizPathways.org, the upcoming Rural Summit, and the Community Playbook that will be unveiled at the Summit. The calendar is filling up for July. Check the MRP web site for a Roundup in your area or to request one if you are willing to host.

Online Book Club
The book on the minds of MRP staff this season is The Rise of the Creative Class by Richard Florida. We loved it – it made us think and it challenged us regarding the changing patterns in economic development. So, we decided to start an online book club. We will delve into the book at the end of June and into July. We’re hoping that we can start some fun and challenging conversations that can be continued at the Rural Summit in Mankato. Visit the book club web site for more information. And if you don’t have a local bookstore near you – please consider buying it through the Amazon link on our site.

MRP in the Press
MRP’s Virtual Entrepreneurial Network and BizPathways.org was recognized as the June Monthly Success Project by GrantStation. GrantStation is a popular, national resource for information on nonprofits and fundraising. Read all about us on their web site.

MRP in the Academic Reports
MRP was lucky enough this past semester to work with graduate students from the University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs – the result was the recent Humphrey Institute report, which examines the outreach role of the University of Minnesota in rural Minnesota and highlights the role of MRP as a strategic connector of resources statewide and nationally. You can find the report on the MRP web site. Two of the students – Tara Crowley and Jennifer Hawkins -- are continuing work with us on upcoming events – the Minnesota Rural Summit in August and the National Rural Telecongress meeting in Washington, D.C. in late September, which MRP is coordinating. (Visit the web site for more info on the RuralTeleCon03.)

Jane Leonard’s work featured in national Getting Online 2.0 guidebook
The National Center for Small Communities is distributing 10,000 copies of Getting Online 2.0: a small-town guide to creating 21st-century communities. The new guidebook is available in discounted, bulk quantities to organizations and agencies, for use at conferences, training seminars and meetings. The guidebook will be provided to every attendee at the MN Rural Summit 2003. (It is also available online.) Jane Leonard, acting executive director of MRP, wrote one of the articles featured in Chapter 4. Check it out online at on the NCSC web site.

BizPathways Expands to North Dakota
BizPathways, MRP‘s online tool that connects entrepreneurs to the resources they need based on location, industry and stage of development, has been licensed to Northeast North Dakota. The site went live in late May and already the response has been terrific; as one ND user said, “Minnesota Rural Partners has created what we have been looking for over the past two years. We are so pleased to be the first licensee of this great technology.”

AND FINALLY, NOTES FROM THE DIRECTOR’S CORNER
MRP’s executive director Marcie McLaughlin graduated in early June from her mid-career master’s degree program in public affairs at Harvard. She returns to MRP in July. Acting director Jane Leonard will continue on as a deputy director alongside Kelly Peterson. Meanwhile, administrative planner Tina Panitzke has been busy cleaning out our office space in Redwood Falls. This is a result of the state budget cuts that caused the closure of several Greater Minnesota offices of Minnesota Technology, Inc. MTI had been graciously sharing their Redwood Falls office space with MRP. Rather than spend precious overhead on renting office space, MRP will go totally virtual with our staff and consultants working from home offices across the state. The MRP “home” office will remain in Redwood Falls.

Check out our calendar of events

Archive Issues:

Mar 2003
June 2002