In one sense, John Bennett and the others at the University of Minnesota Extension's Center of Community Vitality are doing the same thing they've always done: gathering data, analyzing it, and providing it to the Northland in an easy-to-understand, accessible format.
In another sense, though, nothing about the last few months is "business as usual:" "best practices" are out the window as economists and business people adapt to the current situation, and no one has any idea what's coming up next.
All they can do, says John Bennett, is ask businesses what's working, what they need, and try to get them what they're asking for.
The Center of Community Vitality has resources available on business retention, including the webinar John mentioned called "Retaining Businesses During the Pandemic" and others. More information on those webinars is here.
