On Nov. 5, the Minnesota House Capital Investment Committee visited the Northfield Community Resource Center (NCRC) as part of a larger tour of communities throughout Southeast Minnesota over Nov. 5 and 6. The tour consisted of state infrastructure project proposals to be considered for inclusion in a 2026 Capital Investment Bill.
The NCRC is home to several nonprofit organizations that provide Northfield and its neighboring communities with resources such as food assistance, financial security, educational services, and senior living. These organizations include the Community Action Center (CAC), FiftyNorth Senior Center, Healthy Community Initiative (HCI), Northfield Community College Collaborative (NCCC), Three Rivers Community Action and Head Start, United Way, and Workforce Development. The NCRC also houses a Rice County satellite office and a Northfield Public Library satellite location.
“It has anchored community services of all kinds for 25 years,” Interim Executive Director of FiftyNorth Carla Johnson said in an interview with KYMN Radio. “The building is serving this wide purpose regionally, unique to any other community across the state.”
The CAC’s food shelf was a key focus of the NCRC’s presentation to the committee. When the CAC was constructed in 2000, it was designed to support 3,000 people and 250,000 pounds of food per year; currently, it is supporting 9,000 people and 1,000,000 pounds of food per year — more than three times its initial capacity.
“We’re shutting down our food shelf [on Wednesdays] and eliminating access in order to make room to receive food,” CAC Executive Director Scott Wopata said during the presentation. “We’re seeing that influx, and we’re trying to scale up, and we’re bursting at the seams.”
The NCRC proposed the construction of a warehouse connected to the CAC’s food shelf in order to expand its operational capacity. This would allow the CAC to receive 2,500,000 pounds of food per year and free up space for other nonprofits throughout the entire NCRC building.
“This approach will hopefully continue to provide our building [the ability] to not just impact people here in Northfield, but what we’re seeing more and more is the trend that we’re impacting people regionally,” Wopata said.
The NCRC requested $3,000,000 in state capital bonds in order to construct the warehouse, install safety and security updates throughout the NCRC building, and perform mechanical and aesthetic repairs. Funding would also include a $1,000,000 local match, resulting in a total of $4,000,000 to support these infrastructural improvements.
“Buildings age, and this building has been used maximally every day with hundreds of people coming and going, and things wear out,” Johnson said. “These bonding dollars can possibly provide some replacements … that keep buildings functional.”
After the completion of its full Southeast Minnesota tour, the committee will hear about the infrastructure proposals again later in November. The tour will allow the committee members to have further context for decisions on which projects will be funded.
“Having spent four years of my academic career here, I think that this is something that is needed to support the community,” Minnesota State Representative Fue Lee said in an interview with KYMN Radio. “So that’s why we’re going across the state of Minnesota: to look at these projects and learn about the local needs.”
