Ben Winchester (Photo: University of Minnesota Extension)

By Dave Thompson

BISMARCK, N.D. (Prairie Public Radio) – A rural sociologist who is with the University of Minnesota Extension Center for Community Vitality says rural communities should be more welcoming to a younger generation that’s interested in moving to those areas.

Ben Winchester of St. Cloud says we’re seeing a change in who is moving into rural communities. He says that’s especially true of people in their 30s.

But Winchester says it will take a mind-set change – so that people already in those smaller communities don’t have a “negative narrative.”

Winchester says the current residents of smaller cities should reach out to new people, and make them feel welcome.

Winchester was the keynote speaker at a North Dakota Small Organized Schools conference, held at the state Capitol.