I arrived as scheduled at 3:24 a.m. on Sunday, 12/8, in Fargo, ND. With foggy breath, the Amtrak conductor greeted everyone with a jolly, "Welcome to Miami!" I stepped off and walked a few blocks north to my hotel. I thought I understood then what was the true meaning of cold. 
I had about 17 hours to wait. There is only one passenger train per day in either direction from Chicago to the Pacific Northwest and back. There is only one bus per evening from Fargo to Bismarck the state capital — it departs from Fargo around 10:30 p.m.
While I was waiting for the bus, I grabbed dinner with @karisthompson, who seems to know everybody I needed to know in #FargoMoorhead. Look out for more follow-up stories on all the good work happening in FM. Thanks again, Karis!
I was in North Dakota to do some onsite reporting for this story, out now in the Spring 2020 edition of @yesmagazine, about the @BankofND, the only state-owned bank in the United States. The bank celebrated its 100th birthday last year. yesmagazine.org/issue/world-we…
The state government puts all its deposits into the bank, which turns around and leverages those deposits to make loans in support of North Dakota's economy, including small business loans, agriculture loans, loans to state agencies and local bodies of government.
It purchases home mortgages from local banks & credit unions in ND, the same way Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do at the federal level. It is also a major source of student loans for North Dakotans, which is how most North Dakotans who even know about the bank first heard of it.
Most of the bank's lending is done through participation loans — a local bank originates a business loan, covers part of the principal, @BankofND covers the rest of the principal, and both banks take a share of the interest charged.
The local bank services the whole transaction, so it looks like one loan from the local bank, even though behind the scenes it's technically 2 loans. This way, @BankofND silently supports local lenders, who never have to tell their customers that the state-owned bank is involved.
In 2018, the Bank of North Dakota made 491 commercial loans totaling $971 million and 402 agricultural loans totaling $182 million. The vast majority of those were participation loans — which is why most who benefit from the bank's main line of business never even realize it.
I never made it to Bismarck. Sunday evening there was a snowstorm that shutdown the highway. It wasn't a lot of snow, but in ND during winter the snow never really melts, so whatever had been around from before just blows around and reduces visibility to dangerous levels.
Sad that I would not complete my journey, I walked from the bus station back to my hotel to extend my visit. I though I knew then the true meaning of cold.
Fortunately people in North Dakota are used to the snow disrupting business, so nobody minded and I kept all my interview appointments for Monday, just doing it all by phone from my hotel room in Fargo.
When I went out for lunch, it was colder than the day before — the high temperature that Monday was -1F. I thought I knew then the true meaning of cold. I had to try the Chinese buffet of course. King House Buffet. Not bad!
With an extra day in Fargo, I was able to check out some more spots, including @IMPFargo, a mini-mall built by the Immigrant Development Center of Fargo-Moorhead. The project is building a commercial kitchen for folks to rent out by the hour for catering businesses.
Across the street from the mini-mall is F-M International Foods, whose owners, immigrants from Iraq and Jordan, worked with the Immigrant Development Center to write a business plan that got them a $250,000 loan to buy their building.
@CornerstoneNDSD, the bank that gave them that loan, later confirmed to me that @BankofND provided a participation loan as part of that transaction. Cornerstone is servicing around $100 million in participations right now from the Bank of North Dakota.
I ended up doing a lot of the transcribing & writing for this story at @redravenfargo, a worker-owned socialist cafe & venue. It stays open late! I caught an open mic comedy session on Tuesday. @BankofND came about as a result of a brief period of socialist government in ND.
The @Amtrak #EmpireBuilder to Chicago departs from Fargo at 2:18 a.m.
Walking from my hotel to the station house, at one in the morning, I finally understood the true meaning of cold.
Walking from my hotel to the station house, at one in the morning, I finally understood the true meaning of cold.
But this story made it all worth it. Ppl all over the U.S., in places that could not be more different from ND, are looking to @BankofND as a model to build on & improve upon in their cities, regions & states. I had to see for myself what it does for ND. yesmagazine.org/issue/world-we…
