Minnesota

The Northwest Area Foundation (NWAF) commissioned Lake Research Partners (LRP) to conduct a national tracking survey to explore the public’s perception of poverty in one’s own community, attitudes toward the roles of local elected officials, and ways in which to address the issue. The survey was conducted among 4,000 Americans age 18 and older, from February 8-29, 2008. Eight hundred interviews were conducted nationally, and oversamples of 400 were conducted in each of the following eight states: Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. The oversamples were weighted down to reflect their true proportion in the country. The margin of error is +/-3.5 percentage points for national and +/-5.0 points for state results. This is the third survey of its kind, replicating studies NWAF and LRP released in March 2006[1] and April 2007.

There are three documents that cover Minnesota responses:

Results from a National Survey 

A Briefing Paper for Minnesota Policymakers 

Detailed Minnesota Results with Survey Questions 

Are you trying to determine whether a proposed business is right for your community? . The Wage & Benefits Metric is designed to help local decision makers measure just what kind of jobs this new business would bring into the local economy: living wage, minimum wage, full- or part-time, with benefits or without.   It is a free, web-based easy-to-use tool and you can access it at:

http://jobmetric.nwaf.org/

Diversity Coalition in Rural Minnesota Communities
Tamara Downs Schwei and Katherine Fennelly | Dec. 1, 2007
Diversity coalitions are organizations that are open to community members and that have programs that aim to improve relations between U.S.- and foreign-born residents.

Although Minnesota has a predominantly White, native-born population, in recent years it has experienced large increases in its foreign-born population, leading to Minnesota being designated a “nontraditional destination state.” More than half of the foreign-born population entered Minnesota between 1990 and 2000, increasing its immigrant population by 138%, compared to 57% nationwide. Concentrations of immigrants are particularly notable in metropolitan-area communities and in rural towns and counties with meat- and poultry-processing plants. As the number of immigrants has grown, some U.S.-born residents have been welcoming, while others have responded with fear and resentment. Negative attitudes toward immigrants can be particularly strong in rural and exurban areas, both nationally and in Minnesota. As a result, immigrants living outside of central cities may find themselves in hostile environments, isolated from needed services.

Read the full article about what diversity coalitions in Minnesota are doing:

http://www.agobservatory.org/library.cfm?RefID=101928 

Approximately 10 percent of young adults (aged
18-24) today are idle, that is, they are not in postsecondary
school, the workforce, or the armed Forces.1
among high school dropouts the shares are even higher, at
30 percent. idle youth are not following the typical pathways
from adolescence to adulthood. They are not gaining
adequate educations, are not gaining work experience, and
they have no obvious sources of earned income.2

View the full article from the Carsey Institute at:

http://www.agobservatory.org/library.cfm?RefID=101925

Click on the link below to access the Extension catalog.  The catalog doesn’t list everything that Extension provides but rather the resources we thought Horizons communities would find valuable.  Remember that if any Future Squad would like to access these resources, you can tap into your community funds to cover the expenses.  Talk to your communty coach if you have any questions.

Catalog of Extension Resources

About FreeRice

FreeRice is a sister site of the world poverty site, Poverty.com.

FreeRice has two goals:

1. Provide English vocabulary to everyone for free.
2. Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

This is made possible by the sponsors who advertise on this site.

Whether you are CEO of a large corporation or a street child in a poor country, improving your vocabulary can improve your life. It is a great investment in yourself.

Perhaps even greater is the investment your donated rice makes in hungry human beings, enabling them to function and be productive. Somewhere in the world, a person is eating rice that you helped provide. Thank you.

Click on the link below and play the rice game.  The original game was invented by a father who wanted to help improve his son’s ACT/SAT scores.  He liked it so much, the family donated the game to World Hunger Relief and hence was born the rice game.

One warning, it can become addictive!!

 http://www.freerice.com