A growing child-care shortage in Clay County has prompted local leaders to take action through the Clay County Early Childhood Fund, a Component Fund of West Central Initiative. Designed as a flexible, community-driven resource, the fund is helping expand access to high-quality, affordable child care while supporting providers and working families across the region. A…
On two summer days in June 2025, groups of community members from around the west central region of Minnesota gathered at Farm in the Dell and New Roots Farm Incubator to spend time working alongside farmers, sharing meals made from locally grown food, and talking honestly about the challenges and opportunities within our region’s food…
Yoke-Sim Gunaratne is a familiar face in the Fargo-Moorhead area. She’s the Executive Director of Cultural Diversity Resources and received a 2024 Virginia McKnight Binger Heart of Community Honor award for her tireless work in the community. Yoke-Sim’s journey to becoming a trusted community leader in Fargo-Moorhead began in Malaysia. She was raised in Kuala…
Caliton Ntahompagaze loves eating the African eggplant varieties he remembers from his youth. So in 2007, when Caliton and his wife Honoree moved to Fargo, African eggplant would be on the menu. Or would it? Alas, fresh African eggplant was nowhere to be found. Not in farmers markets, not in the grocery produce aisle. Eventually,…
