As another year comes to a close, the staff at Dakota Resources and I want to wish you and yours a happy holiday season. This year has been one of progress and change, and we’re eager to share with you a peek back at what we’re grateful for this year and a preview at what’s to come in 2023.

The intersection of Highway 14 and Highway 45 in South Dakota is neither just a stopping point on the journey from Huron to Pierre, nor the site of two historical steer statues that mark the gateway to Miller, a town of 1,366 people. Since 2018, this intersection has been the site of Kessler’s of Miller, a grocery store cherished by the community as the domino that has since kicked off a flurry of business activity in Miller, home to the Hand County seat.

Children in communities far and wide are heading back to school, including Oglala Lakota students in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. But for this community, which sees approximately 75 percent of students leave the public school system between eighth grade and high school graduation, student retention is hopefully on the upswing due to the arrival of Lakota Tech High School, a career and technical education school.

Economic development is central to cultivating a thriving rural. In order for rural America to grow effectively and meaningfully, financial programs need to be flexible enough to meet organizations and agencies where they are and robust enough to truly support these entities in moving their community forward.

In his letter to rural shapers at the end of 2021, Dakota Resources President Joe Bartmann talked about one big initiative in 2022: launching Thriverr, a platform that will house the Learning Network for years to come. Today, we’re checking in with Dakota Resources Learning Network Orchestrator and Community Coach Mike Knutson to share how Thriverr is making relationship-building and collaboration possible. We hope that you enjoy this Q&A.

Community and economic development work is often complex and can mean many different things. For this reason, Dakota Resources recently conducted a survey to help foster understanding of what community and economic development organizations look like and the type of work they are doing in their community. This is part 2 of a 2 part series.

For Nick Fosheim, Dakota Resources’ new Client Relationship Director and Community Coach, his sense of place began as a child growing up in Webster, SD, where his family has farmed for decades.

It’s been said that we’re living in the age of empowerment, and at Dakota Resources, that’s never been more true. And while empowering South Dakota rural communities isn’t necessarily a new movement for us, it remains a chief focus of our Community Coaches and the constituents whom they serve.

The classic “chicken and egg” debate has never quite found its solution, and across rural South Dakota, a similar deliberation exists: what must come first, investments in rural housing or investments in economic development?