Study: Ripple Effect Mapping

This study, conducted in 2024, identified 9 core elements of community resilience based on conversations with people in 9 communities across rural Minnesota. Each community had recently completed a specific community development project. The study was conducted to identify what else had happened in community as a result of the project. In other words, what were the primary pathways the community project had “rippled” out into the communities.

The study findings, along with insights gained about the structure of this ripple-effect mapping study itself, can serve as helpful guide to people in rural Minnesota communities and beyond who are looking for ways to surface, gather and use the impacts of effective community development projects.

Ripple effects mapping reports like these are often used by organizations and communities to bring visibility to their work, apply for additional funding, attract media stories, recruit new residents, or otherwise strengthen a community.