Cottonwood, ID

By involving the entire community, via study circles, leadership
training and the action group meetings it better addresses the issues
and situation within the community.

One of the projects from the Horizons program was the development
of a community center. At the city council meeting one individual stated
that he had heard no complaints about the current building. The co-chairs
present were able to present documented information from hundreds of
participants that stated the public did feel they wanted a new center.
This type of community involvement is what is needed to get things
accomplished in a small community. Additionally, by utilizing the program
we were able to work with several smaller local communities that
assisted in merging all of them together.

We have the potential to bring more resources into the community through
shared leadership of a regional NPO. We are changing the “we can’t do it
here, we don’t have the resources” pervasive attitude. The
LeadershipPlenty class gave people an “oh, I can do this” attitude.

Both Grangeville Horizons and Prairie Horizons Groups are in the process of pooling
their resources in order to help community projects in both areas.

Another networking project is the result of a day’s conference in Post Falls by the Inland Northwest Partners who did an excellent job connecting Washington and Idaho for an even
larger regional impact.

The University of Idaho gave us the energy and technical support we
wouldn’t have had. More importantly, they gave us the “thinking” that it
(community vision) could be that way. Horizons would never have gotten
off the ground-we wouldn’t have known how to plan, how to move forward,
what to do.

An extra big thanks to our Coach, Kathee Tifft who’s always been available to help us in all that we’ve accomplished so far. We do hope we can continue to keep in touch with Kathee as we continue on realizing our communities’ vision. THANKS, KATHEE!

A Long Term Care expert from AARP DC was visiting Boise on June 27th and
participated in a conference call with Cathy McDougall, Associate State
Director, AARP Idaho and representatives of the Intergenerational
Relationships action team to talk about national trends and connecting
our local efforts to additional resources.

AARP Idaho Boise State University are contributing expertise to the
Prairie Horizon Long Term Care Project.

It is confirmed that the BSU students will design and AARP will
administer a Long Term Care needs assessment for Cottonwood. The survey
will be approved by BSU. This will begin in September and AARP will
work with Prairie Horizons on the details.

Arnzen Drug Helps Pairie Horizons welcome newcomers to the prairie.
Barbara Jones, our Welcoming Committee chairwoman, left a message with
Sister Chanelle Schuler that she purchased $100 in gift certificates for
the Welcoming Committee from Arnzen Drug and that Mr. Rod Arnzen has
generously donated matching funds for a total of $200 in gift
certificates from his drug store for Barbara’s Committee.

Thank you, Arnzen Drug, for showing such community spirit and support
to newcomers.

This Monday, March 17th, the Prairie Horizons Steering Committee will meet at 6:00 pm in the multi-purpose room at City Hall. Budgeting will be discussed and all co-chairs are asked to bring their needs to this meeting.

Tuesday, March 18th, the Intergenerational Action Group will meet at 6:30 pm in the multi-purpose room at City Hall. Please bring your reports regarding your visits to assigned community center or assisted living center with you. Everyone is welcome to attend and share your ideas, thoughts, and questions. These are two very large projects which need more help from more people within our Quad City communities.

The Intergenerational Action Team has been working together with their co-chairs, Chinh Le and Mary Uhlorn on two very large projects that are part of the communities’ vision.

Their December meeting was dedicated specifically to the Assisted Living Center project. The committee members have been researching various Elder Care models nearby and are looking at others in the state as well as other parts of the country. They are also looking for potential colaborators, assistance in completing a feasibility study, financing ideas, and possible sites for this center.

The other project being worked on is the Community Center and how it can be utilized in the future to meet the goals stated in the communities’ Vision Statement. This is the topic of their January meeting.

The action group extends an open invitation to anyone who has interest or ideas in either of these areas to come and participate in the visioning of these projects. Remember that your ideas and help is what makes change happen!

Their January meeting is Tuesday, January 17th, 6:30 p.m. in the multi-purpose room of the Community Center.

Please put January 24th on your calendars to attend the IDAHO HORIZONS SUMMIT — BRINGING COMMUNITIES AND PARTNERS TOGETHER.

This is an opportunity for everyone to meet potential partnering organizations who can help us realize our vision. It is also an opporunity to meet action group members from surrounding communities who are working on similar projects as ours.

Why do all the work from scratch? Take this opportunity to expand your networking with others who have done or are doing similar action items like ours.

This summit will be held in Grangeville, ID on January 24th at the Elks Lodge. Lunch will be provided for you.

Please call or email either Kathee Tift at (208) 799-3096 or ktift@uidaho.edu or Laura Gehring at (208) 962-3868 or pebbles9009@hotmail.com and let them know you will be attending.

Networking together is a major step towards reaching our vision.
See you there!

The January meeting date for the Prairie Horizon’s Co-Chairs and Steering Committee is set for Thursday, January 10, 2008.
Usually the meeting for these two groups takes place on the first Thursday of each month. However, due to the holiday, it is scheduled for the 10th.

This meeting will be held in the downstairs multi-purpose room under City Hall in Cottonwood.

The Co-Chairs for the Action Groups will meet from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. and the Steering Committee will meet from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Please mark your calendars and plan to attend. See you there!