Our Story

How We Got Started

Community background:

Located in Southeastern Minnesota, the cities of Northfield, Faribault, and Owatonna are often overlooked due to distance from major cities. However, these communities, and their surrounding towns, offer many interesting opportunities for entertainment, dining, exploring history, getting out in nature, and connecting with others. As the home of the state’s Academies for the Deaf and for the Blind, St. Olaf and Carelton colleges, the Cannon Valley Special Education Cooperative school, Riverland and South Central colleges, as well as many diverse communities of residents, there is a strong need for support for Neurodiverse individuals. Often, adults in these communities find it difficult to discover communities where they feel completely welcome and where they fit in.

MNeurodivergent is a wonderful organization with a mission to provide space and opportunity for Neurodivergent adults to find their people, to find connection and acceptance. Until now, the closest meetups hosted by MNeurodivergent were located in the Twin Cities, Rochester, and more recently, Mankato. Sometimes, it is hard to travel to those communities for social outings, so a need was seen to develop the Northfield/Faribault/Owatonna region, to provide closer opportunities and local friendships.

There are so many fun things to do as a community in this area. Nature outings, casual and more formal dining venues, local culture and history, THREE county fairs, local makerspaces, opportunities for animal lovers, as well as activities we can bring to each other – crafting parties, board game meetups, book exchanges – we are working on so many fun ideas to share with everyone!

Please join us in building our community throughout the region. We’d love to meet you.