THE RURBAN FRINGE

It’s 3:30 pm … do you know what your kids are doing?

A new study of how US children spend their afternoons reveals one in 10 rural schoolchildren attend an afterschool program, a third less than the national average of 15%.
“While more than half of rural parents seeking programs struggle with availability of afterschool options, urban and suburban parents cite affordability as their major concern,” states the [...]

Return 2 Rural

Continuing with our series of rural development guest posts, I’d like you to meet Christie Dick, team leader of an innovative rural youth attraction and retention project called Return to Rural.  Read on to find out how they are pioneering a new approach to address youth out-migration through the blending of technology and community.
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At a time when many communities [...]

Wal-Mart to Go Local

Latching on to the local food movement, Wal-Mart announced a program this month that focuses on “sustainable agriculture among its suppliers as it tries to reduce its overall environmental impact,” writes Stephanie Clifford in The New York Times. 
“The program is intended to put more locally grown food in Wal-Mart stores in the United States, invest in training [...]

2010 Canadian Blog Awards: Final Round Voting

Final voting is now live for the 2010 Canadian Blog Awards!
A huge heap ‘o thanks to all my readers out there who regularly follow along and voted The ‘Fringe through.  This round will determine the best blogs in each category.
To help get out the vote, organizers are allowing you to vote once per day.  Polls will be open [...]

The Big Wait

We’re all waiting … patients, doctors, communities.
But with the DocFest release of The Big Wait - a documentary examining the critical shortage of doctors in Canada – individuals can take a closer look at how the current system functions … and falls short.
The documentary follows two parallel, but connected, storylines – the struggle of the rural community of [...]

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