The planned closure of the Boswell Energy Center in Cohasset, Minnesota, is expected to lead to significant job loss in Itasca County, Minnesota over the next several years. The Itasca Economic Development Corporation is leading a planning and development project to ensure that the community is engaged to co-create the future of the county’s economy. The five features of the strategic approach include storytelling, welcoming, growing, innovating, and facilitating. This multi-pronged approach is designed to lay the groundwork to support development in a range of sectors including tourism, manufacturing, innovation, and education.
“As we face the challenges and opportunities of our energy transition, the Itasca Just Transition Task Force is leaning into our vision, ‘A thriving community invested in our future sustainable energy shift.’ The grant from JTF is helping us to find support and guidance, that doesn’t tell us who we are, but rather, asks us who we aspire to be. Our work is just beginning, but it has the potential to shape the economic and community development climate for years to come.”
– Tamara Lowney, President, Itasca Economic Development Corporation
