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Vital
communities provide the leadership needed to thrive in a changing world. Efforts
to enhance community vitality help Minnesotans cope with technological advances,
economic globalization, and social change.
Extension works with citizens to strengthen communities and the systems that
affect them, including political, economic, civic, natural resources, education,
and health systems. We bring University of Minnesota expertise to bear on the
complex challenges and opportunities communities face.
Program priorities related to community development and vitality focus on building
economic capacity, developing civic leadership, bridging the digital divide,
and responding to demographic change.
Building economic capacity
Most new jobs are created through expansion of existing businesses. Extension
helps community leaders analyze local economies and develop strategic plans
for retaining and strengthening the community's business base.
Extension also provides leadership in building Minnesota's tourism industry.
Extension's Tourism Center helps develop
new tourism opportunities, shares research-based knowledge with tourism industry
employees, and provides research skills to better understand and improve tourism's
contributions to our economy.
Extension offers informal educational opportunities to build economic development
skills throughout Minnesota. Extension programs related to building economic capacity include Business
Retention and Expansion, At
Your Service, and Certified
Festival Management Training.
Developing
civic leadership
Communities today are being asked to take on increasing decision-making responsi-
bilities for complex social, economic, environmental, legal, and political issues.
At the same time, the number of citizens willing and able to assume leadership
in political and civic life is declining. Communities clearly need help developing
decision makers who understand problems and can civilly and thoughtfully resolve
controversial issues.
Extension, in cooperation with the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, the Reflective Leadership Center, the Department
of Applied Economics, and other University and community partners, helps
empower individuals and communities to provide the governance their communities
need. Extension programs that develop civic leadership include Community
Facilitator Training, 4-H Community Pride projects, and the Minnesota Political
Leadership Program.
Extension helps people use
the technology they have and understand the technology they need so they
can work to obtain access. |
Bridging
the digital divide
Differential access to and ability to use communication technologies creates potentially
disenfranchising knowledge gaps. Improving access and building technology literacy
are critical for enhancing individual opportunity and community vitality.
Extension has several programs that focus on increasing technological literacy
for small business owners, citizens, and local government. Extension programs
include Access Minnesota
Main Street, Master
Internet Volunteers, Community
Technology Leadership, and Access eGovernment.
Responding
to demographic change
Minnesota communities are undergoing dramatic change as the result of population
shifts between metropolitan and rural areas, immigration, shifts in age distribution,
and increases in racial and ethnic diversity. Such changes create a growing need
for thoughtful community planning.
Extension works with the College of Liberal
Arts, the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs,
the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture,
and community partners to apply University resources to understanding and building
upon opportunities created by change.
Extension helps individuals and groups appreciate and engage diverse human resources.
It also helps communities create physical environments that enhance community
sustainability and quality of life. Extension programs include Supporting Community
Diversity, Community Connectors, Census 2000, and Minnesota Nice or Not.
| Trends |
- More than half of all new jobs in Minnesota come from the expansion
of existing businesses.
- Business retention is particularly important in Minnesota because
the state's perceived high-cost business climate makes it difficult
to attract businesses from other states.
- Gross outputs for tourism in Minnesota exceed $8 billion annually.
- Minnesota's tourism industry hosts more than 23 million visitors
annually.
- More than 125,000 Minnesota jobs are linked to hospitality.
- Minnesota has more than 3,000 local units of government (counties,
cities, towns, school districts, and special purpose districts) employing
more than 200,000 people and providing leadership and public policy
on complex community issues.
- While 60 percent of metropolitan-area households have access to high-speed
internet service, only 5 percent of rural households have such access.
- Minnesota's 41,800 Hmong residents represent one-fourth of the nation's
total Hmong population.
- Nearly 12 percent of Minnesota residents identify as a member of
an ethnic minority, up dramatically in the past 10 years.
- By 2025, approximately 17 percent of Minnesotans will be African
American, Asian, American Indian, or Hispanic.
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| University
Expertise |
- Extension's
internationally recognized business retention and expansion faculty helped
one Minnesota county retain two key businesses, saving 260 jobs and allowing
for addition of another 240 jobs with expansion.
- Since 1999, Extension has trained nearly 500 facilitators to build the capacity
of communities to achieve common vision and decisions. These volunteers
have provided facilitation worth $1.5 million annually.
- Extension has provided leadership and public issues training to a variety
of public officials, including state legislators, county commissioners,
soil and water commissioners, and county auditors.
- Access
Minnesota, an Extension program, brought public internet access
to every county in Minnesota.
- Extension has nearly 40 years of experience helping Minnesota communities
and businesses grow and thrive through tourism.
- Extension's Tourism Center is
home to the only endowed program in the cooperative extension system--the
Carlson Tourism, Travel and Hospitality Chair.
- The University and Extension have a long tradition of working with and supporting
Minnesota's many diverse groups and cultures.
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Delivering programs and information
The University of Minnesota Extension Service is committed to delivering high-quality,
relevant educational programs and information to Minnesota citizens and communities.
Our statewide network of researchers, educators, and volunteers addresses critical
needs by focusing on issues where research-based education can make a difference.
The University of Minnesota Extension Service:
- Addresses critical issues through research and education
- Works in urban, suburban, and rural Minnesota communities
- Builds the capacity of individuals and communities to address critical issues
- Works in partnership with private organizations and local, state, and national
governments
- Creates and responds to opportunities for learning
- Fosters the strength that comes from diversity
- Leverages private and public resources
Extension's statewide network focuses on:
- Community development and vitality
- Land, food, and environment
- Youth development and family living
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