A small rural clinic closes. A home buyer chooses to look elsewhere. A teacher can’t teach. While these situations seem unrelated and strangely paired, they all have one common denominator — broadband. Not what you expected? Here’s the skinny behind the stories: The Bigfork, Minnesota clinic, a satellite of Essentia, can’t upload patient files because […]

What kind of conversations need to happen in your community right now? Who would be at the table? Would it be the right people? What do people need to know before they can fully participate in the conversation? How would the conversation start? These are tough questions that are often times overlooked by organizers, but […]

Watergate. 9/11. JFK assassination. WWI. WWII. Y2K. What major events shaped the way you view the world? Chances are it depends when you were born. Similarly, the way you communicate was probably influenced by the technological advances that occurred as you were growing up. These influences, along with parenting trends, media, education, location, and general philosophy, shape […]

Colorful, dancing feathered figures and the hum of ancestral melodies filled the room as Fond du Lac (FDL) students arranged themselves in such a way that they created a cornucopia of technology. Brandishing iPads, they celebrated their Ojibwe culture, together with community members, through the creation of mobile applications. Held at the end of July, […]

What does poverty look like to you? For many, it looks like a crumpled-clothed, weathered-looking man holding flimsy cardboard sign with chicken-scratch writing. BUSTED MYTH #1: Not all poverty looks like this! In fact, poverty might look like your next door neighbor, the woman you say hi to in the grocery store or the child with […]

If you threw a dart at a map of the United States, it might get stuck in a canyon in the Southwest, perch on the peak of a prodigious mountain in the Northwest or skim swaying wheat fields of the Midwest. Regardless of where you land, it’s likely to be in rural territory. An astounding 72 […]

Are your volunteer meetings loosing their zest? Have strategic planning sessions got you in a funk? Mix it up! Art of Hosting is a training for all those who aspire to learn how to work with groups in more interactive, engaging and effective ways. Meadowlark Institute is offering a September training, at no cost, to community members […]

For a few years now, Blandin Foundation has been interested in the concept of brain gain and the promise it holds for the future of healthy rural communities. Recently, we were surprised when our broadband partners at Intelligent Community Forum published a book entitled Brain Gain that seemed to echo the brain gain research of […]

“Knowing the realities of others around us helps to form stronger communities. The Why Treaties Matter exhibit gives us a better sense of who we’re living among and the land we’re living on.” – David O’Fallon, president of the Minnesota Humanities Center. Take a minute to travel back in time to your history lessons in […]

“Knowing the realities of others around us helps to form stronger communities. The Why Treaties Matter exhibit gives us a better sense of who we’re living among and the land we’re living on.” – David O’Fallon, president of the Minnesota Humanities Center. Take a minute to travel back in time to your history lessons in […]