EDITOR'S NOTE: In June 2004 I began a new venture as managing editor of both Northfield News and Faribault Daily News. This column originally appeared in the Northfield News on Aug. 8, 2006.
Northfield News readers will note that beginning today, we're publishing a three-part series, with much bonus material, about the growing size of the local Hispanic population that is deciding to stay put in Minnesota and forego the nomadic lifestyle many immigrants formerly lived. The series, which will be published in the following two editions as well, was large in scope and was accomplished by members of each of our newspaper's sister papers. Because of the scope of the project, it's one of the opportunities that editors such as I enjoy. Our small staff has many responsibilities and the thought of developing such a series on our own is daunting. But because we pulled various staff members who possess various talents from all of our papers, from Northfield to St. Peter, we were able to produce a series of stories that went beyond our everyday coverage. It was a truly collaborative process and our readers are the ones who ultimately will benefit. And the topic was not only timely, as reforming immigration has been a hot news topic in 2006, but it was also a universal topic to all of the communities our newspapers serve. Called "Planting Roots," the series was developed to explore the challenges, the success stories and other issues associated with the growing Hispanic, or Latino as some call it, communities within our region. Although it's easy for those who live in mainly Caucasian communities to over look what's happening, this phenomena has an impact on everyone, whether it's as simple as what new businesses prosper in a community, to changes to the local school district or even medical services, this trend will change every community, and thus impact everyone. Today's stories detail the growth in the Hispanic population all over southeastern Minnesota, which was penned by News Staff Writer Adam Johnson, and how the growing Hispanic populations in Le Sueur and Steele counties have changed the operations for the St. Peter School District and the Owatonna Hospital, written by a staff member of the Le Sueur News-Herald. Sources from Northfield, or even Rice County, weren't used in every story in this series, but we felt that the stories, issues and challenges of small communities trying to accommodate the fast-paced growth in their Hispanic populations must share some commonalities, so we didn't have to included sources from each community in every story in the series. The changes faced by a school district in St. Peter should give us an idea of some of the challenges faced by our own school officials, even if the challenges aren't exactly the same. And certainly the same challenges that exist for the Owatonna Hospital, must exist in some fashion here in Northfield for our medical facilities. We hope that you find the "Planting Roots" series informative and useful. It is the first of these projects that our papers have finished, but we will be publishing other collaborative series in the future. It's one more way that we are trying to give our readers news that they can use and that is vital to their community. If you have suggestions for future series ideas, or if you have comments on this current series, drop me a note. As always, thank you for reading the Northfield News. -- Devlyn Brooks is managing editor of the Northfield News. He can be reached at dbrooks@northfieldnews.com.
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