In very short order, our region entered the unchartered territory of a global pandemic. The world’s fight against the coronavirus has directly affected every region of our nation, including northeastern Minnesota. Our businesses, schools, communities, people of every age, health care systems and governments have been impacted and will likely continue to be impacted over the weeks and months ahead.

Some businesses continue to operate and provide essential services, while some have temporarily closed to help stop the spread. Some people are teleworking, while some continue to report to the frontlines. Students and teachers have embarked on a new mission of distance learning. Each of us has adjusted to major changes in our personal and professional daily lives.

I am so impressed by the stories I hear of how the region’s businesses and communities are responding. They are remaining calm, professional and focused on adjusting to an unprecedented time in our region, our state and our nation. Our agency’s support to the region’s communities, businesses and workforce may grow and evolve in the weeks and months ahead. I am completely confident that we are up for the challenge.

Please contact our agency if we can assist your business or community through our grant or loan programs, or if you need help connecting with other state and federal resources. We are here and want to help your business or community as it perseveres through COVID-19.

• Business Loans and Assistance: Email Scott Sundvall
• Development & Commercial Infrastructure, Commercial Redevelopment: Email Chris Ismil
• Building and Commercial Sites: Email Janelle Greschner
• Broadband: Email Whitney Ridlon
• Residential Redevelopment, Culture & Tourism, Workforce Development: Email Danae Beaudette

I wish you all the very best and thank you for the role you play in our region’s economic and social landscape.

A new 12,000-square-foot child care center opened in Eveleth March 23, four days prior to the Shelter in Place order issued in Minnesota. Brandie’s Little Bear Learning Center is licensed to serve up to 142 children ages six weeks to 12 years old and is located in the building formerly occupied by Fingerhut. The project was supported by Community Development grants to the city of Eveleth from Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation.

Brandie Folken is the center’s owner and operator. She described the extenuating circumstances around securing a final state inspection and license to open a child care center amidst a global health crisis. Our society was entering the initial phase of a pandemic unlike anything since the Spanish Flu of 1918. Parents were beginning to telework, workers were being furloughed, schools had just closed, health care facilities were canceling elective procedures, and some grocery store shelves were empty.

“At a time when businesses were closing, mine was scheduled to open. It needed to open,” said Folken. “Child care was deemed an essential business to serve essential workers. We needed to serve the region’s families employed by health care, grocery, retail, mining and manufacturing industries.”

The state inspector (who was teleworking) drove up from the Twin Cities, conducted the inspection and issued the license on Friday, March 20. Folken closed her home child care and opened the center the following Monday, almost three years after she first began planning to open a center to help fill the region’s growing child care shortage. At full capacity of 142 children, she would employ 21 people. Due to the pandemic, there are 10 children and six employees plus Folken and her business partner Brandie Peterson. The 10 children’s parents are workers who are fighting on the coronavirus frontlines. The six employees consist of three teachers, a cook, a secretary and a janitor who sanitizes at enhanced levels to protect against COVID-19.

“The opening of Brandie’s Little Bear Learning Center was always a highly anticipated project for our region’s families, employers and workforce. We all knew it would help the region move toward solving a critical economic issue,” said Mark Phillips, Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation commissioner. “But opening during a global pandemic, the center became an essential public health and safety need during an unprecedented time.”

As much as possible, staff and children are practicing social distancing during meals and throughout the day. The center has eight classrooms with project-based curriculum, an indoor gymnasium, a 3,000-square-foot outdoor playground, and food service. It is licensed to serve up to 16 infants, 56 toddlers, 40 preschoolers and 30 school age children. The center is open Monday through Friday 5:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. to serve parents with early or late work hours. When schools reopen, bussing may be provided for the Eveleth-Gilbert, Virginia, Mountain Iron-Buhl and Mesabi East school districts.

The center experienced a $3,000 financial loss its first several weeks of operation due to the low enrollment numbers resulting from the pandemic. Northland Foundation awarded Folken a $3,000 Emergency Child Care Grant that was created to provide immediate financial support to child care providers caring for children whose parents/guardians are designated as emergency personnel and other essential workers.

According to Folken, the new center would not have been possible without the assistance of Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation, city of Eveleth, Cleveland Cliffs, United Way, Northland Foundation, DEED and Northern State Bank of Virginia.

“A lot of organizations came together on this project, including Cleveland Cliffs which donated $50,000 for our outdoor playground,” said Folken. “This collaboration will provide great relief to parents in our region seeking quality child care, not only during the pandemic but for years to come.”

For more information about Community Development grants, email Chris Ismil or call him at 218-735-3010.

Paul Bunyan Communications in 2015 installed fiber optic lines to bring high speed internet to portions of Itasca County including the townships of Balsam, Lawrence, Nashwauk and the former Iron Range Township.

The project was a collaboration among public partners, community members and the rural cooperative Paul Bunyan. Together they successfully brought broadband to 1,310 locations, including homes and businesses. Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation supported the project with a $1.25 million grant.

“Fast, reliable and affordable broadband access in northeastern Minnesota is an economic necessity, not a luxury,” said Mark Phillips, Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation commissioner. “Our families, workers, businesses, senior citizens, health care systems, students and schools are using it like never before. During the COVID-19 crisis it is enabling learning, working and health care to continue. But there is more work to be done to bring it to every single acre and corner of northeastern Minnesota.”

During the Stay Home statewide order, three Itasca County residents who received broadband connection from the Paul Bunyan project shared their testimony.

Claire Peterlin is the Itasca Area Schools Collaborative Career Pathways program director and is teleworking from her home on Scenic 7. She connects daily with teachers and career pathway professionals through an online chat-ready room to keep the curriculum going for students taking college level and career academy based courses.

“The world of education has totally shifted the last few weeks, but I really believe that we will come out even stronger with more tools in our belts once 'normal' resumes," said Peterlin. "I miss meeting face-to-face with my peers, but none of this would be possible without reliable high-speed internet.”

Vicki Hagberg is the Hibbing Area Chamber of Commerce president. She is teleworking from her home on Buck Lake north of Nashwauk. Her husband is a superintendent in the pipefitting division of CR Meyer and is preparing construction bids from home during the pandemic.

“When we were in the market to buy a home in 2017, broadband connectivity was one of our top considerations. Little did we know then how needed it would be to continue our employment during a global pandemic,” said Hagberg.

Aaron Brown is an instructor of communication at Hibbing Community College while also working as an author, radio producer and Iron Range news blogger. He and his wife have three sons, and the entire family is working and learning from their Itasca County home during the COVID-19 crisis. Aaron conducts video conferences from his home for his students, so they can complete his course and graduate on time. Meanwhile, he is collaborating with a partner in New York on a new podcast project. Earlier this week he published an article on the new urgency for rural broadband.

“Access to high-speed internet in rural northeastern Minnesota is equivalent to other basic services such as postal delivery, electricity and telephones,” said Whitney Ridlon, Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation community representative. “Mail, electrical and telephone service at one point in history were considered luxuries and available only in larger cities. Eventually our nation considered these basic public utilities and made them available in rural areas across America: mail delivery in the early 1900s, electricity in the 1930s and telephone service in the 1950s. We are at that same point with broadband.”

Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation has been investing in broadband since 2015. Our agency will continue to work with communities and service providers to advance this form of critical infrastructure in northeastern Minnesota. For more information email Whitney Ridlon or call her at 218-735-3004.

By staying home, we are slowing the spread of COVID-19 and giving our health care system the time it needs to prepare to care for people who are very sick. Watch this short video from the Minnesota Department of Health about slowing the spread.

“The people of northeastern Minnesota have always looked out for one another during challenging times,” said Mark Phillips, Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation commissioner. “Our communities, our businesses and our workforce will persevere together through this pandemic crisis.”

If you know an individual in your community who is struggling with a small business, health coverage, rent, unemployment or child care, share with them these resources established by Gov. Tim Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan:

• Small business assistance: The Small Business Emergency Loan Program is for businesses affected by COVID-19. It helps Minnesota small business owners who need immediate assistance during the pandemic closures. Click here to learn more.
• Health coverage: There is a special enrollment period (SEP) for qualified individuals who are currently without health insurance. The SEP runs through April 21. Click here to learn more.
• Rent: Landlords and financial institutions cannot begin eviction proceedings that would remove tenants from stable housing during the COVID-19 pandemic. If you or someone you know has been wrongfully convicted, you can contact the Attorney General's Office here or at (951) 296-3353. 
• Unemployment: The pandemic is bringing hardships and stress to people in northeastern Minnesota. The state’s unemployment insurance program can provide quick relief for employees who are unable to work as a result of COVID-19. Click here to learn more.
• Child care: The Emergency Child Care Grant Program can provide financial support to licensed child care providers. Click here to learn more.