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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.

Food, schools and a psychological boost

A small but growing farm-to-school movement is an example of how more people understand how food makes community. Ground Level will explore more fully in coming weeks.
by Dave Peters

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Rethink what can be cut from local budgets

While Baldwin’s problems may be on a smaller scale than other communities, it still faces tough decisions, particularly where roads are concerned.

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A chart local foodies should see

A chart local foodies should see

Neither big mainsteam food supply chains nor direct farmer-to-consumer sales offer the most efficient use of fuel in getting food to market, research shows.
by Dave Peters

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Making the crisis personal in Northfield

Some Northfield residents are taking the city financial squeeze personally, trying to learn and change their behavior to live in a way that stresses community.
by Dave Peters

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Cities’ reserves under pressure, too

The financial squeeze on Minnesota cities this fall is putting pressure on how much they can keep in their reserve funds and some are falling below recommended minimums.
by Nancy Lebens

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Cost more of a factor than access in rural broadband use

The percentage of Minnesotans using high speed internet access through broadband has increased in the last two years. But rural Minnesota users have a way to go before catching up with urban dwellers on broadband access. That’s according to a new study released by the Center for Rural Policy and Development in St. Peter, MN. Read more →
by Nancy Lebens

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Rethinking the way communities grow

Cities and towns need to start building strategies that capitalize on infrastructure that is already in existence, instead of building new infrastructure, as well as consider downgrading current improvements in order to gain resiliency.

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Letting go of “dead ideas” about growth

In a recent Curbside Chat in Baldwin, Charles Marohn examined old mechanisms of growth that will not be feasible in the future. He calls these “dead ideas.”

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