AARP is nonprofit, nonpartisan social welfare organization with 38 million members - 88,000 in North Dakota, who are age 50 and older. AARP's mission is to help people turn their goals and dreams into real possibilities, strengthen communities, and fight for the issues that matter most to families. In this month's featured article, Josh Askvig, AARP North Dakota State Director, highlights several AARP initiatives and resources that help make North Dakota communities more livable and healthy, one of which is the Livable Communities initiative. AARP's Livable Communities initiative works to educate and inspire elected officials, local leaders, planners, and citizen activists on how to identify their community's specific needs and then create and implement the programs, policies, and projects that will help meet those needs.
A strong economy can help revitalize communities, encourage business investment, and provide employment opportunities. A measure of economy is gross domestic product (GDP), which is the measure of the market value of all final goods and services produced by labor and property. In 2017, the annual change in real GDP in North Dakota increased by 1 percent from the previous year. This change is an improvement compared to the past two years when the annual change in real GDP decreased by 2.5 percent in 2015 and decreased by 4.9 percent in 2016.
North Dakota is constantly changing. Check the most important trends in population, economy and workforce, health, and education on ND Compass to gain understanding on how they may impact your community and influence your work.
