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.

Almost half of Minnesota counties lost population this decade (plus trivia question)
The list of Minnesota counties losing population went up, according to the 2010 census release. What had been a phenomenon of western and southern border areas in the 1990s expanded to toward the Twin Cities area.
10-year map masks population shift
The 2010 census shows Minnesota’s population growth in all the usual places — the suburban and ex-urban collar around the Twin Cities metro area. But that’s for the past 10 years. If you look more closely at just the past three or four years, the pattern has shifted.
Some 200 people in central Minnesota launched an ambitious two-year planning effort on Wednesday, paid for by an $825,000 federal grant and involving work on housing, transportation, economic development and land use.