Rochester to focus on youth issues in 2025

ROCHESTER – A massive school referendum, funding to study child care opportunities and a communitywide survey last year had Kim Norton thinking of the children. Rochester’s mayor wants to spread that message throughout the city this year.

Norton on Friday called on local officials and businesses in Minnesota’s third-largest city to tackle youth issues in earnest, even as Rochester starts a massive construction season that will have serious implications for its downtown.

“It’s what’s being asked for by this community,” she said during Rochester’s annual State of the City presentation, calling the city’s efforts a year for youth. “We’re going to create that child- and family-friendly community that’s key to a high quality of life.”

Norton and area officials highlighted key projects heading into the new year, from Olmsted County’s ongoing work to create an 80,000-square-foot exhibition center at Graham Park to Rochester Public Schools shifting its budget formulas in response to ongoing funding issues and a successful referendum last fall that will bring $194 million to the district over the next decade.

Cathy Nathan, school board chair, touted the renovation at Pinewood Elementary School to turn it into an early-learning center, which will serve an additional 80 to 160 prekindergartners. She also highlighted the district’s child care efforts — school officials recently added 437 more slots for school-age child care programs, which almost eliminated the district’s waiting list for spring and summer registration.

Those efforts are in line with community needs, according to Norton. The mayor’s Vision 2050 survey, which she introduced at last year’s State of the City presentation, found more than half of respondents prioritized education and youth issues as the city’s top priorities, along with housing and infrastructure. Students are also calling for more community resources, the mayor said.

“When I go in and talk to my youth council and they select mental health as their number one topic, that should concern us,” she said.

Norton hopes to see more businesses partner with groups like Cradle 2 Career, a Rochester-based initiative that organizes education pilot programs through community partnerships such as help completing college financial aid forms or offering more support to families with infants.

The group recently received grant money to research child care needs in the community, and Cradle 2 Career Director Julie Ruzek said the group plans to roll out more child care initiatives this year as a result.

At the same time, Norton hopes the Rochester City Council will use economic vitality funding from a recent $205 million sales tax referendum to try new initiatives and boost child care hiring in the area.

“If we don’t keep child care in that discussion, we’re missing an opportunity,” she said.

Rochester will also keep itself busy this year with construction projects, most prominently in downtown.

Mayo Clinic’s $5 billion downtown expansion begins in earnest this spring, while workers will tear up more than 2.8 miles of 2nd Street SW. for Rochester’s planned bus rapid transit system, with construction lasting through 2025. All the while, city staff is busy updating Rochester’s comprehensive development goals for the next two decades.

City staff will likely go over Vision 2050 survey results in greater detail next month, Norton said. The City Council is expected to sign off on long-term development goals by midsummer. At the same time, school officials are planning to gather community feedback and review district operations in preparation for another three-year strategic plan, which the board will consider toward year’s end.

“We’ll be rethinking our district mission, values, vision and brand,” Nathan said.

Olmsted County Commissioner Dave Senjem said county officials will likely go back to the Legislature this year with a multimillion-dollar bonding request to upgrade the county’s materials and recycling center, as well as an energy park initiative to add 70 acres to the county’s solid waste facility.