At Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF), one of our central tenets is a commitment to the future of rural Minnesota. While we continue to make our programming and resources accessible to communities of all sizes in our 20-county region, we know that many of our smaller towns can benefit from additional financial resources to help them grow and address challenges. … [Read more...]

Peterson, MN Usually, after a presidential election, there are all sorts of editorials and letters saying how terrific the newly elected president is. There is generally a list of “wonderful” things they stand for, what they plan for the future, and what they are doing.   Prior to this presidential election there were countless letters and endless editorials about the … [Read more...]

Publisher Fillmore County Journal  jason@fillmorecountyjournal.com Building materials, vehicles, real estate, and gas prices have been on the rise.  Inflation, some might say. Add postage to that list. Effective January 24, 2021, the United States Postal Service implemented their regularly scheduled rate increase.  That January rate increase happens every year … [Read more...]

Publisher Fillmore County Journal  jason@fillmorecountyjournal.com On August 15, 2020, Bill Funk (owner of Bill Funk Trucking in Chatfield, Minn.) led a convoy of truck from town to town: Canton, Harmony, Preston, Ostrander, Grand Meadow, Spring Valley, Wykoff, Fountain, Chatfield, Eyota, and ended at St. Charles. It was a great success, and even raised over $3,000 … [Read more...]

Lanesboro, MN A year after the Solomon Islands became independent from Great Britain in 1978, my wife and I went to the Melanesian country in the South Pacific as Peace Corps volunteers assigned to three small villages on north Guadalcanal.  And the following year when provincial elections came our villagers walked to the polling station from their villages along the gravel … [Read more...]

Recently Art Laffer, who once upon a time served Ronald Reagan, went on Fox News to say that “the poor, the minorities the disenfran-chised, those with less education, young people who haven’t had the job experience. These people aren’t worth $15 an hour in most cases.” This is what the kids these days are calling a “mask off” moment. Really “having a normal one” but it was … [Read more...]

No matter how hard we try, we really can’t avoid one another. We live in a world where what takes place somewhere else on the globe has a very good chance of affecting us – along with many others. The pandemic, of course, is a useful – if sobering – example. A virus that infected humans in one city in China spread with breathtaking speed around the world, beyond the power of … [Read more...]

Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF) recently awarded 23,622 children’s books valued at $420,472 to 47 organizations through its Early Literacy Grant Program. This grant supports early literacy efforts that enhance school readiness for children birth to age five by providing children with books. The books were awarded in partnership with Capstone and ABDO, … [Read more...]

We don’t often think that how the U.S. conducts itself at home has much impact on how we face the world, but it does. You’d be amazed at how closely people in countries all over the globe follow events here and count on the United States to lead the way.  When it’s messy at home, it’s hard to sustain the strength and readiness to turn our attention outward.  Doing so is … [Read more...]

Grand Meadow, Minn. After visiting cemeteries and honoring those who served in the military on Memorial Day, my mother, wife, and I were enjoying sitting on the street in beautiful Lanesboro when suddenly a pickup truck roared by with two flags, the American flag and “F*** Biden” flag.  What a disgrace.  Total disrespect for the American flag and those who served and lost … [Read more...]