The Spring Grove EDA has recently been awarded a $500,000 grant from the Minnesota Department of Education’s Multi-Purpose Community Facility Projects Grant Program. The successful application was authored by CEDA’s Courtney Bergey Swanson.
Many small towns, including Spring Grove, tend to have high social capital. There are often generational and
familial ties to the land and to the place, and longstanding relationships that create dense social networks where people feel they know their neighbors. What these rural communities often lack, however, is the built capital (buildings, public spaces, etc.) to activate the social connections that draw people to live in rural places. These spaces are also vital for welcoming newcomers who may not know where to plug in to community groups, volunteering opportunities, etc.
Spring Grove proposed to develop a new Spring Grove Library and Community Center that will provide much-needed services to the small community and surrounding rural area. The project includes the acquisition of a blighted downtown property on which the City will construct a new building that will feature an expanded public library and community center, including public meeting/event spaces, private meeting offices, a business incubator space, a community makerspace, and administrative offices. The proposed project will enable work, education, and health monitoring in the following ways:
WORK. The space will be outfitted with free, high-speed internet, access to technology including public computers, meeting spaces outfitted with audio/visual equipment, entrepreneurial support services, and business incubator spaces.
EDUCATION. The space will enable residents to engage in lifelong learning through valuable partnerships with the Spring Grove School District, Community Education, and local institutions. Spring Grove Public Schools will use the space as a satellite classroom site for its community partnership programs, including local entrepreneurial mentorship, a student-led technology “help desk” to increase digital equity for the elders, and e-learning in collaboration with other rural schools and regional colleges and universities.
HEALTH MONITORING. The space will include private, sound-proof spaces for local individuals to access their individual tele-health services as well as special public programs administered by Houston County Public Health. Private, sound-proof spaces will be available for individuals seeking access to online mental health therapy as well as in-person therapy provided through regional partners and practitioners.
