Ground Level: The real St. Cloud

Nearly 50 people gathered at the Great River Regional Library in St. Cloud to discuss the past and the future of this once-small central Minnesota town on the Mississippi River.

White, German Catholics and Lutherans were the first outsiders to settle and farm here. That heritage informs a local perspective that still shapes the granite bedrock of the city.

One woman said the granite that's mined from the ground here is a good metaphor for her St. Cloud family: they are heavily embedded here and tightly held in place.

Findings from the recent APM Research Lab Ground Level survey of Minnesotans found St. Cloud-area residents to be less hopeful than the rest of the state. They were less likely to feel the state government, education and immigration were going in the right direction.

We wanted to find out what real life experiences informed those results.

The majority of people gathered were transplants from across the United States and beyond. Many described anxiety about job loss, fear of the future, and the personal experiences of racism or isolation that make it difficult to connect with the larger community.

But despite diminishing hope and the skepticism of political and social institutions, St. Cloud-area residents also share stories of progress. Re-training programs that bring the possibility of better jobs, higher education that's setting refugees and immigrants on a new course and opportunities individuals are creating for themselves with the help and support of others also make up the story of the "real" St. Cloud.

Listen to this thoughtful conversation facilitated by Tom Weber, where we go way beyond the headlines and explore how St. Cloud citizens are living and connecting across social, class, and political lines.