From jleonard at minnesotaruralpartners.org Mon Sep 19 15:35:18 2005 From: jleonard at minnesotaruralpartners.org (Jane Leonard) Date: Mon Sep 19 16:36:00 2005 Subject: [Mn-Rural-Summit] Planning for 2006 MN Rural Summit Message-ID: <00e901c5bd62$08a59080$6601a8c0@janelaptop> Dear Colleagues: First off, thanks to all again who have been of such great help during the planning and implementation of the 2005 Rural Summit at St. John's. My deepest thanks to Denise Pfeifer and to Ann Treacy for their out-front and behind-the-scenes work. You will all be happy to know that we have collected nearly all of the outstanding registration fees (I think that is a record, to be buttoned up so early!) and that we continue to hear from folks how much they enjoyed the Summit. For the first time in two years, we covered all costs with sponsorships and registration fees (and still had leeway to offer scholarships). That is extraordinary, given the economic climate! And on we go to 2006. Pre-Summit 2005 we had some discussion in the Summit planning group about talking with the folks at the Center for Small Towns at the University of Minnesota Morris, about combining efforts -- the Small Town Symposium and the Summit -- for 2006. Not a permanent combination, but a collaboration for 2006. I met early this month with Tom McRoberts, the director of the Center, and with Ben Winchester and David Fluegel at the Center. They are as excited as I am about this collaboration. We have never had the Summit in Western Minnesota, and as hard as it may be to get people from one side of the state to the other, after 8 years, it's about time we head west. We talked about how this collaboration would be a natural follow-thru to the themes of the Summit this past summer - Bridging Rural & Urban Resources.....changes in the demographic and economic landscapes...which closely follow what the 2005 Symposium looked at -- the future of small towns - the demographic and economic trends. It was that convergence that convinced me we could have a great combo, continuing perhaps on the future. For example, if things are changing, what are people and towns doing to stay economically viable? What will the landscape look like, physically, socially, economically? We've talked about the future in past Summits and Symposiums -- now let's build it. So I write this email to all of you to gather your thoughts. If there are no strong objections, we will proceed, to have a combined Symposium-Summit for 2006 in early June at the Morris UM campus. A good mix of research, practice, policy. Logistically, the Summit planning committee would continue to meet to plan for parts of the combined effort that will be our responsibility. We will still seek sponsorships to help cover some costs and help people get there and keep registration costs low, and the Center for Small Towns would kick in their time and talents and cover costs, as well. Our goal would be to have the registration cost as low as it has ever been -- $60 -- which has been the Symposium's registration cost. And for those of you worried about lodging during the Symposium-Summit, there are a few motels in Morris and nice dorm space. And for those of you worried about how people can afford to drive to Morris given the gas prices, we started a carpooling link-up for the 2005 Summit, and will strengthen that service and get the word out early, so that folks can find rides or riders to share the travel costs. So let me know what ya think. I look forward to the year ahead working with all of you again. We are a dynamic team of people who acheive amazing results together. We truly make a difference for Minnesota. Note - if anyone would like to get off the general Rural Summit planning list (which has about 90 members) let me know so we can update the list and not bug you anymore. --jane Jane Leonard President, Minnesota Rural Partners, Inc. 1533 Grantham St. St. Paul, MN 55108 phone 651-645-9403 fax 651-646-3818 wireless 651-303-5263 jleonard@minnesotaruralpartners.org www.minnesotaruralpartners.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mapnp.Geeks.ORG/pipermail/mn-rural-summit/attachments/20050919/d08eb78c/attachment.html