Grangeville, ID

Congratulations to Judi from UpRiver, winner of week 1!Rules:
Post your answers on your blogsite by Tuesday, April 1 (no jokes about April Fool’s day!) at midnight and be entered in the drawing for a fabulous prize.  Reflective Question: How is your community thinking about/planning for sustainability after the end of the Horizons program on June 30? What will Horizons-related groups look like in your community in one year? Are you optimistic/worried? (relieved?) Scavenger Hunt Question:  Which community has been approved to receive a $65,000 Idaho Community Development Block Grant for work on their city water reservoir? HINT: don’t forget to check ‘previous entries’ (the link at the bottom of the blog page, or check archives in the column on the right) This week’s winner will receive BOTH of the following books: The Magic of Dialogue : Transforming Conflict into Cooperation by Daniel YankelovichPopulation: 485 –Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time by Michael Perry   

Post your answers on your blogsite by Tuesday, March 25 at midnight and be entered in the drawing for a fabulous prize. This week’s prize—the weekly winner can choose from one of these book titles
Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets - John P. Kretzmann

Teaching the Commons: Place, Pride, and the Renewal of Local Schooling - Paul Theobald

The Questions:

1.       A reflective question–What do you think of Horizons blogging? What do you like, what do you dislike? What can the UI Horizons Team do to help improve the blogging experience? 

2.       A scavenger hunt question (visit other community blogsites to find this answer) What is a PUG Mark and in which community would you find them?

horizons_summit_actionteams.pdf

Seven Grangeville Horizons members attended the Horizons Summit held in Grangeville on Thursday, January 24th.  The Summit was attended by Horizons community members from more than 8 communities as well as local and statewide partners.  The Summit provided an opportunity for each community to share the vision and action that has come out of their Horizons experience and to seek assistance from the potential partners who were present.  Potential partners had the opportunity to hear about all of the great community work happening across northern Idaho in Horizons communities.  Lots of connections were made between Horizons communities and with potential partners who can provide assistance as the action teams move forward.

Grangeville’s Action Team status report was presented by Scott Russell.  A copy of the report can be viewed at the beginning of this post.

The Grangeville Horizons Coordination System Action Team has determined that their number one goal is development of a community entity with 501(c)3 non-profit status.  The Action Team is in the process of working through the process to form a community-wide structure and system for developing and implementing a variety of projects that will target issues of poverty.  Development of a non-profit entity will allow for an organized and coordinated approach to community-wide planning and fund seeking for projects that help the community reach its vision of being a vibrant small town that has a powerful sense of community with opportunities for all people to thrive and grow.

The Grangeville Horizons Steering Committee is thrilled with the emerging leadership coming out of the Horizons project!

Along with more seasoned community leaders, several new faces are chairing Horizons Action Teams.

Action Team Co-Chairs include:

Leadership Development Action Team:  Greg Bailey and Heidi Lindsley

Recreation Action Team:  Cathy Wassmuth and Terra Hill

Downtown Action Team:  Tommiann Whitten and Annelle Urbahn

Business Development Action Team:  Cody Edwards and Marina Bates

Coordination Systems Action Team:  Hanna Young

Education Action Team:  Katy Eimers and Harold Gott

Although some of the Action Team co-leaders are long-time community members who have been involved in many community projects, the rest are new to community leadership.  The Steering Committee is very excited to have this infusion of creative enthusiasm into leadership of the Horizons project!

Grangeville’s Leadership Development Action Team is working to “create and make a path and resources for people interested in developing leadership skills within the community”.  Their goals include:

• connecting existing community leaders with people who may be leaders on new community projects
• developing community mentoring/leadership training in the schools by placing volunteer mentors in the schools and offering monthly brown-bag lunch leadership training in the school to include youth as well as other community members

The Leadership Development Action Team’s ultimate goal is to see an increase in community members taking leadership roles. 

Downtown Action Team - 1/14/08, 6:00 PM, Miller Hardward

Farmers Market Action Team - 1/18/08, 12:00 PM, The Gallery

Education Action Team - 1/16/08, 6:30 PM, Soltman Center

Leadership Action Team - 2/4/08, 4:00 PM, Super 8

Business Development Action Team - 2/4/08, 5:30 PM, The Gallery

Recreation Action Team - 1/14/08,  6:30 PM, Oscar’s

Coordination System Action Team - 1/18/08, 9:00 AM, Jahn Studios

Grangeville’s Horizons Steering Committee met on Tuesday, January 8th to talk about priorities for use of funding through the Northwest Area Foundation and the University of Idaho.  Each Action Team submitted a plan for upcoming work and a request for funding to assist with that work.  All funding requests will be considered and a final budget will be set by the Steering Committee at its February meeting.  The Steering Committee identified that completing the application process and becoming an approved non-profit entity is the highest priority but it appears that all requests, with the exception of a contract with the U of I to survey the community about attitudes and beliefs about education, are within the existing amount of funds available.

Recreation/Culture Action Team Work Plan

Leadership Development Action Team Work Plan

Education Action Team Work Plan

Downtown Action Team Work Plan

Cordination System Action Team Work Plan

Business Development Action Team Work Plan

Eight Grangeville residents attended training on December 6th to learn about “Nonprofits that Work.”  The day long training was conducted by Kay Sohl, Executive Director of Technical Assistance for Community Services (TACS), an organization that provides training and consulting resources for non-profit organizations.  Attending from Grangeville were Mark Baker, Paul Eimers, Deanna English, Andrea Solberg, Sally Nolan, Jody Hoogland, Mary Jahn and Hanna Young.  As a result of the training, the Coordination Action Team will start to pursue receipt of 501(c)3 status for a community non-profit (possibly a community foundation) that can provide non-profit status and a coordination mechanism for all work in the community aimed at making Grangeville a thriving community for the future.