Through Our Town, the National Endowment for the Arts will provide a limited number of grants, ranging from $25,000 to $150,000, for creative place making projects that contribute toward the livability of communities and help transform them into lively, beautiful and sustainable places with the arts at their core.

For more information click here. 

The deadline for application is March 1, 2012.

Commissionr Frans delivered a presentation titled, “Planning for Tax Reform”.  A copy of his presentation is available by clicking here.

I just learned about the following funding opportunity for rural health care and thought that folks might be interested or be able to pass it on to community members who may be able to take advantage of the opportunity…

2011 Program Summary

The 2011 Minnesota e-Health Connectivity Grant Program for HIE is designed to: a) assist health care providers in rural or underserved communities who are potentially eligible for federal incentives for meaningful use of an EHR in exchanging health information with other health care providers, and b) increase the number of rural Minnesota pharmacies capable of accepting electronic prescriptions.

Funding: One million dollars is currently available.
Grant awards: Up to $10,000
Award process: Grant applications will be reviewed and evaluated first come; first served.
Application Deadline for 2011 Program: December 31, 2011.
Matching fund requirement: One dollar in cash match from grantee for every $10 in grant funds awarded

The application and support materials are available online.

These applications should connect between institutions or connect institutions to end-customers and homes within the community or region.

Blandin Foundation is most interested in promoting applications that utilize video, images and large file transfers, preferably with two-way interactive communication.  Applications that engage multiple partners and/or community segments are encouraged.

Funds are currently available for rural Minnesota communities, excluding only the seven county metro area and the Cities of Duluth, St. Cloud and Rochester.

A total of $600,000 has been made available for Community Grants through the Foundation’s federally funded grant project, Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities (MIRC).

 To link to the full Request For Proposal (RFP) click here.

Organizations must represent a single facet of the travel industry, or be a local organization representing all facets of the travel industry and designated as the primary tourism promotion organization for a city or community to qualify for Organizational Partnership Grants. Scenic Byway grants are offered to non-profit scenic byway organizations or in the absence of an established organization a scenic byway application may be submitted on the byway’s behalf by a non-profit tourism organization along the byway.

Due By: Partnership grant guidelines are posted below, with applications due November 1, 2011.

Cost: Organizations are required to provide a percentage of the total project cost based on the organization’s annual budget. See guidelines for details.

Download the 2012 Grant Guidelines

Contact your regional representative

KaBOOM! and funding partner Dr. Pepper Snapple Group are offering Let’s Play Playground Construction Grants of $15,000 to qualifying organizations using the KaBOOM! community-build model.

The applicant must be a U.S.-based nonprofit organization or governmental subdivision, and must own the land on which the playground will be built or possess a long-term lease and obtain permission from the land owner. The playground project cannot be supported through any other KaBOOM! funding.

The playground project must include a total equipment purchase of a minimum of $24,000 and a maximum of $40,000. The award can only be used towards the purchase of playground equipment from a KaBOOM! preferred vendor. The project must be completed within a year of receiving the award.

Grantees will plan their project and share best practices and challenges through the KaBOOM! Web site. The applicant must create an online KaBOOM! Project Planner page in order to access and complete the grant application.

For complete program information and application procedures, visit the KaBOOM Web site.

Link to Complete RFP

The Digital Inclusion Community Partnership Program builds on the demonstrated success of some demo communities – PCs for People collaborations where targeted segments of the community – those without computers, skills and broadband access – overcome their barriers to broadband adoption.  Any community, county or region can submit an application.

 The RFP for this program can be found online at RFP_DigitalInclusionCommunityPartnership.pdf .  Grants will be reviewed on a quarterly basis.  The next grant deadline will be September 1.  A 1 : 1 cash match (non-federal funds) is required.  Ideally, applications should include local broadband providers providing discounts and other incentives as match as well as collaboration with local CAP agencies, Head Start Programs or agencies that work with older adults.  

On June 6, 2011 State Economist, Tom Stinson, made a presentation to representatives from the Mankato Area Public Schools, the cities of Mankato and North Mankato and Blue Earth and Nicollet counties.

“While we’re out of the recession, we’re not going back to where we were,” Stinson said.

As Minnesota emerges from the recession, state demographers and economists are preparing for a “new normal”. 

According to the State Economist this is the deepest and longest recession since WWII.   He also noted that household wealth fell by 25% and that we can expect to see a 3-5% housing decline in Minnesota.

For a copy of his full presentation click here.