Breitung builds community with Small Communities grant
SOUDAN, Minn./January 21, 2025/—Breitung Township, in partnership with the City of Tower, will use a $20,000 Blandin Foundation Rural Placemaking and Small Communities Grant to develop construction drawings and plans for a shared use trail adjacent to County Road 697. This trail segment begins at Hoodoo Point campground where the city’s paved trail from Tower ends. It extends to the junction of the Breitung/Tower cooperative Vermilion Loop trail connection which connects to McKinley Park campground and to the township’s paved trail to Soudan.
The Small Communities and Rural Placemaking (SC/RPM) grants were created in 2024 to bring about positive and noticeable changes in Minnesota’s smallest communities, where need and innovation exist in tandem. Rural areas in Minnesota receive only eight percent of philanthropic funding, despite hosting 23 percent of the population, leaving fewer local resources for vital rural projects.
By increasing the visibility of culture and arts, nurturing local pride and revitalization, and effectively engaging residents on the unique issues affecting towns with populations under 5,000, funding to support these community-identified priorities can spark lasting and meaningful impact.
“More than just financial support, these grants are a catalyst for small communities to fight the narrative of ‘rural decline’ by reimagining their future, elevating underrepresented voices, and creating spaces that foster pride, unity and long-term resilience,” said Kyle Erickson, Blandin Foundation director of rural grantmaking. “By funding projects that bring visible change and enhance community engagement, we are investing in the heart of rural Minnesota’s cultural and civic identity.”
“Safety and accessibility are our focus with this trail design which separates pedestrians and cyclists from CR 697 traffic. Our joint planning, along with St. Louis County and the Howard Wagoner Trails Club, ensures permanent public access designed for all ages, abilities and shared use trail activity,” according to Tim Tomsich, Breitung Township chairman. “As a result of this planning, trail construction is ready-to-go and this strengthens our construction funding requests. Our goal is to complete trail construction in 2026.”
“We believe that rural people are the dreamers and the doers,” said Tuleah Palmer, President and CEO of the Blandin Foundation. “They have an incredible ability to be brave, visionary and creative, and we are continually inspired by the innovation they lead. Our communities are best equipped to tell us what they need to bring people together and meet this moment.”
This grant portfolio reflects the Blandin Foundation’s new strategic focus on the need and innovation in Minnesota’s smallest. In 2022, Blandin opened a round of pandemic-era grants emphasizing Minnesota’s smallest communities, drawing an overwhelming response from applicants and offering a glimpse into the needs and dreams of small-town Minnesota. Informed by this response and armed with new research into dramatic disparities in rural philanthropy, the Foundation created the SC/RPM grants in 2024 to bring about positive, noticeable changes in Minnesota’s tiniest communities.
For more on Blandin Foundation’s Placemaking and Small Communities Grants, and to see other grantee projects, visit: https://blandinfoundation.org/grant-types/small-communities-rural-placemaking-grants/. For a full list of the grants in this portfolio, visit: blandinfoundation.org/content/uploads/SCRPM_2024_grantlist_final.pdf