OAKES, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – Growing Small Towns is a non-profit organization with the mission of helping small towns in North Dakota be places people love to call home.

They are a business training and events space along with co-working. Their headquarters opened this past July in Oakes and has been working in seven different counties in the state.

Growing Small Towns Executive Director Rebecca Undem talked more in detail how they serve the community.

Since Growing Small Towns is in so many communities, they are doing their best to make everyone’s interactions with the organization still be personal. Undem explains how.

With the spread of COVID-19 continuing to affect people’s work in North Dakota, Undem explained why the state has thrived under these conditions.

Growing Small Towns is doing a Lunch and Learn Training Plan to find out what kind of training topics Oakes business are needing to help support workforce development. They surveyed 89 respondents in town to find out what needs to be discussed. They will be putting out a plan to address those topics throughout 2022 in conjunction with NDSCS and the NDSU Extension agency. They are also working on livestreaming the event so they can work with businesses throughout the region.