"The University of Minnesota, Morris Center for Small Towns (CST) is a community outreach program that serves as a point of entry to the resources of the University of Minnesota. Small towns, local units of government, K-12 schools, nonprofit organizations, and other University units are able to utilize CST’s resources as they work on rural issues or make contributions to rural society" (Center for Small Towns). For more information, see the Center for Small Towns website.
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The New Minnesotans: Profile of West Central Minnesota
Benjamin Winchester, Stacey L. Parker Aronson, and Kate Raymond
In 2005, The Center for Small towns, together with the University of Minnesota West Central Regional Sustainable Development Partnership, began the "New Minnesotans" project that aimed to help identify underrepresented racial and ethnic groups who are new residents of West Central Minnesota. The project's goal was to find ways to support the needs of these groups and to encourage their abilities. Twelve counties were involved in the study done for the project: Big Stone,Chippewa, Douglas, Grant, Kandiyohi, Lac qui Parle, Pope, Renville, Stevens, Swift, Traverse, and Yellow Medicine.
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Benson Chamber of Commerce: Business Barometer Survey Results
Benjamin Winchester and Neil Linscheid
In 2004, the Center for Small Towns worked with the Benson Chamber of Commerce to develop and conduct a survey of Business owners. The goal of the survey was to help the Chamber better understand and respond to the business needs in the community.
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Media Messages of Rural: Lessons from Minnesota
Benjamin Winchester, Neil Linscheid, Tara Schmidt, and Abby Von Arx
The goal of the Media Messages of Rural project was to examine the manner in which the metropolitan area media covers and reports events that occur in rural areas to the residents of Minnesota, and to gain a sense of how urban Minnesota media portrays the events and priorities of rural Minnesota. The focuses of the study were the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Articles from these sources were examined to locate evidence for the study. Information recorded from each article included: Location of reported community, topic of the story, environment of the rural area and the historical context of the definition.
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University of Minnesota Extension Service Leadership Program Survey Results
Benjamin Winchester and Josh Mattson
Completed in May of 2004, the MES Leadership Program Survey report analyzes the outcomes associated with the program, which is offered by the University of Minnesota Extension Services. A pre- and post- surveys was also administered to participants. This report examined the survey responses using a multivariate factor analysis to determine Summary results, underlying themes programmatic differences and methods for reducing the need for future data collection.
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A Senior Care Facility in Milan, Minnesota: Survey Analysis and Recommendations
Benjamin Winchester, Jeff Janca, Chelsey Albrecht, Amanda Jacobson, and Sungmin Hong
In 2004, the Center for Small Towns worked with the City of Milan and the Community Assistantship program through the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs to research the level of need/demand for bringing a senior care facility to the city of Milan, MN,as well as to provide recommendations about future developments.
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Conceptualizing the University-Community Connection
Benjamin Winchester and Luke Vanasse
The goal of the University of Minnesota Morris Extension Service and University of Minnesota Morris Community Connection project was to develop and test a model of collaboration to connect the University of Minnesota Extension Service programs with the University of Minnesota Morris resources in order to strengthen the connections and relationships between University and Community.