Cottonwood, ID

Living in poverty means that within our immediate area we don’t always have the funds, the expertise, and/or community initiatives established in order to better our environment for everyone. Poverty doesn’t mean just in terms of money either. It can effect communities socially, and emotionally also. What has changed my definition of ‘poverty’ within this last year is that with Horizons coming to our community, we now have more people within the community who really desire to see changes take place in our area. For example, our Intergenerational Action Team is working on two very large projects — one is the building of an Assisted Living Center and the other is improvements for our community center to help it become more versitle in the way it can be utilized. There is a lot of talent within our Quad Cities who can help see our visions become a reality. It takes dedication, hard work, and cooperation which I believe are attributes of many of our community members. We are all busy, however, we all have the capability to give some of our time to improve our community.

The support and enthusisam of the coaches has been very beneficial to all the teams. A big thank you to our coach, Kathee Tifft whose ideas and encouragement keep us going! Does our commuity think differently about poverty now? Yes, I think so based on how we are working together more and supporting one another — working for common goals — visions!

The community that will be having a FREE concert on April 23rd is the Coeur d’Alene Reservation.

As the year 2007 ends, thanks to all of you who have helped plant of seeds in the Quad Cities. May 2008 see continued growth and direction to see our vision come to life. May we do this through working together for the betterment of our communities.

Those who haven’t joined one of the four actions groups and wish to do so, please let one of us know. Your help will certainly be appreciated.

Horizons announces an opportunity for free training to anyone in one of the Horizons communities. The training title is “Non-Profits that Work” which focuses on aiding small, rural communities in assessing need and logistics of developing non-profit organizations.

When: Thursday, December 6, 2007 - 9AM-3PM

Where: Super 8 Grangeville, 801 SW 1st St., Grangeville, ID – “lunch provided”

The training will be taught by a highly respected and accomplished trainer, Kay Sohl. She is co-founder and Executive Director of TACS (Technical Assistance for Community Services) based out of Portland, OR. Please contact program Assistant Meri Joswiak merijoz@uidaho.edu or call her at (208) 885-8949 by December 1 to reserve your space.