AscendRural Regional Symposium: Rural Innovation in Action
AscendRural invites rural community leaders, economic development professionals, innovation experts, and national stakeholders to the AscendRural Regional Symposium. The event will feature updates on ongoing initiatives, in-depth reports on pilot programs, and key findings from AscendRural’s work to improve rural well-being.
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AscendRural Volunteer First Responders Reverse Pitch Event Powered by CORI
Join us for a live, public pitch event focused on the retention and recruitment of volunteer first responders in rural communities.
AscendRural, in collaboration with CORI, is hosting a startup challenge this summer to identify the most innovative technologies to support the recruitment and retention of rural volunteer first responders. This event will feature local community organizations highlighting the issues facing volunteer first responders and the top technologies from the startup challenge.
This event is free and open to the public.
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Morning Sessions
8:00 AM – Doors open
8:30 AM – Opening Remarks
9:00 AM – Panel: Rural Youth Well-being: Data exists, what are we doing with it to improve lives?
10:00 AM – Panel: Tech for Youth Resilience
Spotlight on tech solutions from AscendRural's Youth Resilience Challenge.10:45 AM – Coffee Break
11:00 AM – Panel: Community-Led Tech Pilots
Local partners share lessons from recent rural youth resilience pilots.
Lunch Break – 12:00 PM
Afternoon Sessions
1:00 PM – Youth Resilience Pilot Findings
Key data and insights from AscendRural's recent resilience pilots.2:00 PM – Panel: Connectivity’s Role in Rural Health & Education
Experts explore broadband, policy, and partnership solutions.3:00 PM – Break
3:30 PM – Spotlight: Connectivity Pilots in Central Minnesota
Updates from local partners on AscendRural’s connectivity pilot.4:15 PM – Closing Remarks
Why You Should Attend
If you're passionate about harnessing data, tech, and community-driven models to support rural youth, education, health, and connectivity, this symposium offers:
National-direction, local-action: Align with emerging best practices from fellow rural leaders.
Hands-on insights: Learn from real-world pilots—from mental health platforms to broadband models.
Policy & partnership potential: Discover how cross-sector collaboration can build scalable systems for rural uplift.
Registration & Next Steps
Bring your team and your ideas. Reserve your spot and add the event to your calendar. Let’s work together to ensure every rural community thrives.