About Empowering Small Minnesota Communities
The Empowering Small Minnesota Communities (ESMC) program was established by the State of Minnesota during the 2023 legislative session (Chapter 68, Section 15) to support small Minnesota communities and local government units with added capacity to develop resilient, sustainable, and adaptable infrastructure projects. For the purposes of ESMC, small communities are defined as local jurisdictions of fewer than 15,000 people.
The program is collaboratively led by several University of Minnesota partners who will work directly with participating communities:
- Center for Transportation Studies
- U of M Extension Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships
- Minnesota Design Center
- Humphrey School of Public Affairs
- Center for Urban and Regional Affairs
Other researchers across the University will be engaged based on community needs.
Participation in ESMC is by application. Communities selected for partnership will work with the University to:
- Identify and embrace existing assets.
- Propose work that will advance resilient and sustainable economic, social, or transportation infrastructure.
- Proactively embrace projects or processes that may iterate new project ideas or frameworks for future development.