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Ground Level®: Amplifying Community Voices

Your story is powerful. The stories you share with others honor the complexity of our communities while forging a more equitable and vibrant future.

Call 651-228-4800 and leave us a voice memo. If you're more comfortable texting, you can text “Hello” to 1-833-870-4111. You can also email us at tell@mpr.org and join in on conversations in our Ground Level Facebook group.

We’d like to hear your thoughts and questions. Your ideas about solutions. How are your communities? What are you seeing today? And what do you want to see tomorrow?

Note that while we will exercise editorial judgment for language, length and avoiding personal attacks, we will not sacrifice your meaning. We will ensure your main message comes through on air and online.

Relics photo essay: “the Rock” in Sandstone

Relics photo essay: “the Rock” in Sandstone

Maybe it’s the old school that’s been empty on Main Street. Perhaps it’s the vacant creamery building or hotel or former church. Small towns across Minnesota are grappling with what to do with these iconic buildings that no longer serve their original purposes, thanks to population and other changes. The choices between tearing them down Read more →
by Jennifer Vogel

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Remote doctors, one answer to physician shortage in rural Minnesota

When a man with a dislocated knee came to the emergency room in the small city of Appleton, in western Minnesota, he was treated by a doctor who had never worked on this particular condition. But the doctor was able to hit a button and consult on camera with a specialist in another location.
by Jennifer Vogel

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The fight for rural healthcare funding in Washington

DULUTH, Minn. — It’s harder to find allies for rural healthcare in a polarized Congress in Washington, a rural health policy official told attendees of the Minnesota Rural Health Conference here this morning. “We have lost a lot of the moderates,” said Maggie Elehwany, policy vice president of the Kansas-based National Rural Health Association. “We’ve Read more →
by Jennifer Vogel

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At rural health conference, trepidation about healthcare reform

DULUTH, Minn. — “Stuff is going on right now and it’s getting really aggressive.” That was the message this morning to several hundred Minnesota health-care providers, hospital administrators and medical students from Eric Shell of the consulting firm Stroudwater Associates. Shell, whose firm is based in Maine, was  the opening speaker at a two-day Minnesota Read more →
by Jennifer Vogel

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Federal grant to urge broadband adoption wraps up

Federal grant to urge broadband adoption wraps up

Three years ago, the federal government started funneling more than $200 million in stimulus money into Minnesota to make it easier for residents to use the Internet. Most of that money is paying for private companies, cooperatives and local governments to lay fiber and install other hardware in places like Cook and Lake counties in Read more →
by Dave Peters

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After years of debate, Fergus Falls settles on plan for historic mental hospital

After years of debate, Fergus Falls settles on plan for historic mental hospital

The Kirkbride buildings loom like a castle at the edge of Fergus Falls, about three hours northwest of the Twin Cities. Built more than a century ago, the former state mental hospital has been vacant since 2009. The city saved the buildings from the wrecking ball but has struggled ever since to figure out what Read more →
by Jennifer Vogel

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Who’s feeding kids in northwest Minnesota this summer?

Who’s feeding kids in northwest Minnesota this summer?

The kids of northwestern Minnesota who eat subsidized lunches during the school year aren’t getting much help during the summer. On the other hand, some parts of southern Minnesota where a lot of kids are eligible do a much better job of delivering meals when school is out of session. Those are two at-a-glance conclusions Read more →
by Dave Peters

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Slow food, slow travel could build rural tourism

MORRIS, Minn – Lucky for small towns, many of the things they do best, like growing local food and wine and making things by hand, are now in vogue. That was the message at a filled-to-the-brim seminar on tourism and rural economies during the final day of the two-day Rural Arts and Culture Summit at Read more →
by Jennifer Vogel

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Old buildings can be cheap foundation for small town arts

MORRIS, Minn. – Sometimes the perfect use for that old, empty, neglected building on Main Street is as an art gallery or studio space. During the first day of a two-day conference exploring the intersection of arts and rural economic development at the University of Minnesota Morris, presenters discussed a farm house turned into an Read more →
by Jennifer Vogel

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Yearning for arts can spur small town economic development

MORRIS, Minn. — If you want to get people in your small town interested in arts as an engine for job and business growth, the first step is to avoid the word “arts.” That was one of the messages delivered this morning at the Rural Arts and Culture Summit, a two-day conference at the University Read more →
by Jennifer Vogel

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