The Minnesota Rural Summit was held on July 25-26 in Rochester, Minnesota. There were over 400 participants from all over Minnesota. A key question on everyone's mind was how to keep rural Minnesota alive and going strong. There was much discussion on the problem of youth moving away to the cities once they reach adulthood, and how to prevent this in the future.
Youth are the life of a town.
They grow up marry and then raise children of their own. This process, if repeated, will insure the survival of rural Minnesota. This process seems to be dying out. Once the new generation of youth reaches adulthood, the majority will go off to college and not return to their hometowns to live and raise a family. Because of this, some of our rural communities are dying out.