Duluth Community Garden Program wilted. Volunteers stepped in to save it.
“I couldn’t watch it die,” said Haley Diem, who co-chairs the board and helped reshape it into a volunteer-run organization with other supporters of the gardens.
Nora Hertel
48 posts
What is the proper role of guns in our community? 5 Minnesotans answer
"I don't see a world without firearms and without guns. I just want to seek a way of having them in a safe, responsible manner, where people don't have to be afraid, where people can feel safe."
Community Voices ⎸ Emotional whiplash: My big lessons on death came from giving birth
"Never have I been so close to death and birth," writes Nora Hertel, founder and executive director of Project Optimist.
COMMUNITY VOICES | Become one of the helpers in the wake of political violence
"I think we can choose together to stay soft. We can become the helpers that Mr. Fred Rogers (and his mother) recommended we look for in tragedies," writes Nora Hertel.
SPONSORED STORY | From formal to personal: Williams Dingmann adapts to funeral trends through 5 generations
The St. Cloud Area Chamber of Commerce named Williams Dingmann Family Funeral Homes the 2025 Family-Owned Business of the Year. Here’s how they’ve met the community’s shifting needs and how they accommodate families’ desires and wishes.
🚀Community voices | Meet KZYS, Project Optimist’s partner in the Central Minnesota News Collaborative
Ten-plus years ago the St. Cloud Somali Community Radio began broadcasting local news to thousands of Somali speakers in central Minnesota. This month Project Optimist and KZYS are launching the new Central Minnesota News Collaborative, designed to strengthen local news through partnerships.
Community Voices ⎸ Project Optimist staff plan for the end — and it feels good
Life goals: Complete health care directives, draft a will, and enroll in life insurance in 2025.
📻 Project Optimist and KZYS get Press Forward MN funds for partnership
The collaboration between KZYS and Project Optimist will include community journalism training, co-reported stories, cross-publishing articles in English and Somali, and more.
Community Voices ⎸ Project Optimist made leaps in 2024
A look at what we accomplished in 2024 and our goals for 2025.