Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships

Extension is expanding its online education and resources while in-person events and classes are canceled.

Deep Winter Greenhouse in background with lots of people all around at the grand opening event.

Roof top garden with solar panel and tall buildings in background with a man with his arms in the air as he talks to other people.

Large body of water with a rocky shore and tree covered hill on the left side.

A group of people crossing a street walking away from the camera in a small town.

In the face of COVID-19, RSDP regional boards are inviting Greater Minnesotans' ideas for small and medium-sized rapid response partnership opportunities.

Welcome to RSDP

Extension's Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships (RSDP) connect Greater Minnesota communities to the University of Minnesota to support local sustainability projects. RSDP brings together community and University knowledge and resources to drive sustainability in four focus areas: agriculture and food systems, clean energy, natural resources and resilient communities. We support local projects through five regional boards made up of community members and University faculty and staff. We also support multi-region food systems and clean energy work across Greater Minnesota. Our energy programming is provided by the Clean Energy Resource Teams. Learn about how we work.

Do you have an idea to improve sustainability in your community? We are currently accepting applications for new projects to support. Learn more about how to get support from RSDP for your project by submitting an idea brief.

Get connected

Become a board member

Learn more about opportunities to work with fellow community members and University faculty and staff who are passionate about sustainability in your region.

Become a work group member

Serve as an ambassador for RSDP in your community and help us identify local sustainability needs and ideas.

Submit an idea to RSDP

Have an idea to improve the sustainability of your community? We’d love to hear from you!

RSDP Happenings

Learn more about our work in our newsletter.

Contacts for RSDP

Reach out to RSDP staff to learn more about our work in your community.

Connect with environmental impact goals

Connect your community projects to research focused in the areas of safe drinking water, sustainable land use, and building a carbon-neutral Minnesota.

Regions we work in

Central RSDP

From Becker to Stearns counties, our Central board supports community-University sustainability partnerships across rural Central Minnesota.

Northeast RSDP

The Northeast RSDP brings together community and University partners on sustainability projects across the North Shore, Iron Range and beyond.

Northwest RSDP

Our Northwest board supports projects across the Red River Valley and geographies with a strong cultural history and agricultural identity.

Southeast RSDP

From river blufflands to prairie to the heart of Rochester, the Southeast RSDP fosters sustainability projects across this diverse region.

Southwest RSDP

Our Southwest RSDP board builds partnerships across the prairies, river valleys and vibrant small towns of this diverse region.

Food systems work

Supply chains

We work to build the relationships that bring University crop research to farmers, markets and, ultimately, dinner plates.

Deep Winter Greenhouses

We support Deep Winter Greenhouse research and outreach across the state. Find information and construction documents for building these passive-solar greenhouses.

Rural grocery stores

Explore resources for rural grocers, results of the statewide rural grocery survey, and information on the farm-to-rural-grocery-to-wholesale backhaul project.

Clean energy work

Clean Energy Resource Teams

Our energy programming is provided by the Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs), a statewide partnership helping individuals and their communities advance community-based clean energy projects.

Regional steering committees

CERTs regional steering committees form the clean energy work groups for each RSDP region and work closely with our regional boards.

Visit our storymap to explore projects by region and focus area

Explore our projects