minnesota

Several years ago, community members in Bemidji, Minn. realized the need for a dental health facility that would serve underprivileged and at-risk families. In December of 2008, that realization became reality when the doors of the Northern Access Dental Center opened to the public.

The Northern Access Dental Center serves people in Beltrami county and nearby areas, which includes three American Indian reservations. Because a large percentage of this northwestern Minnesotan population falls under the legal poverty line, the volume of people requiring assistance provided by this new facility was vastly underestimated.

The city of Elmore, Minnesota, soon will have modern water, wastewater, and storm water treatment equipment. To top it off, the city also is looking forward to finishing its new library.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has made funding rural libraries a top priority. Rural Development funded six library projects in Minnesota in 2010. Five were funded using Recovery Act funds, including funding for a new library in Elmore.

In rural America, especially in frontier regions of South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, and Nebraska the shortage of health care professionals tends to be pronounced. For example, 55 of South Dakota’s 66 counties, or 83 percent of all counties, are designated Primary Care Health Professional Shortage areas. There are even greater disparities in South Dakota rural areas regarding access to specialists. USDA Rural Development grants to Avera Regional Health System have been instrumental in developing and expanding telehealth services cost effectively to the smallest and most underserved hospitals and communities.

Yesterday, I was honored to represent the U.S. Department of Agriculture at the ‘New Markets, New Jobs’ conference held at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

Minnesota is one of our agricultural trade leaders, ranking sixth among all 50 states for U.S. farm exports, generating nearly $8 billion in economic activity from agricultural trade.  This made it the perfect setting to launch a year-long, multi-city campaign focused on supporting our nation’s small and medium-sized businesses as they face the many challenges of global trade.

For the last 32 years, Minnesota Diversified Industries (MDI), a non-profit social enterprise, has been dedicated to providing job opportunities for people with disabilities.  Founded in 1964 by John DuRand as an Occupational Training Center, MDI transitioned into an Affirmative Business in 1978.  Company leaders wanted to provide people, specifically people with disabilities, equal opportunity employment.

MDI is an AbilityOne program through which government products and services are set aside for people with disabilities.  With locations in St. Paul, Grand Rapids, and Hibbing, MDI currently employs 131 people, 70 of which are people with disabilities.

The Hillside Farmers Co-op has some big goals for Latino farmers in southeastern Minnesota. With the help of a Small, Socially Disadvantaged Producer Grant (SSDPG) from USDA’s Rural Development, Hillside Farmers Co-op has taken another step toward reaching some of those goals.

The USDA Forest Service Conservation Education staff is participating in the first annual National Green Schools Conference in Minneapolis, Minn., Oct. 24-26.  The conference is being sponsored by the Green Schools National Network. Conservation Education and partner, American Forest Foundation’s Project Learning Tree, will be highlighting our national “GreenSchools!” program through offering a workshop during the conference.

Several years ago, commissioners in Lake County in Northeastern Minnesota began researching the possibility of bringing fully network connected broadband services to the region.

Thanks the efforts of community members and financing from USDA Rural Development and Agstar Rural Capital Network, a project nine years in the making will soon be a reality in Hutchinson, Minn.

On October 4, fellow USDA Food and Nutrition Service staffer Julie Mikkelson and I attended the Minnesota Vikings annual Taste of the NFL bash at Minneapolis’ Mall of America. This enormously popular charity event funds feeding efforts operated by Second Harvest Heartland, the Upper Midwest’s largest hunger-relief organization.