Cottonwood, ID

This week, on Tuesday, February 12th, the Intergenerational Action Group will be meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the multi-purpose room at the Community Center.

The primary focus of the meeting will be to discuss the Assisted Living Center. Those who braved the weather to visit an Assisted Living Center in this area last month, are asked to please bring whatever information you have and be prepared to share what you learned.

There’s a possibility that a guest speaker, Jenni Schacher, who is the program administrator for CEDA (Clearwater Economic Development Association) will attend this meeting. If she is able to come, she has some guidance for us which could help regarding the Community Center Project. If she does come, this topic will take priority for the evening.

We hope to see many of you on Tuesday night.

There doesn’t seem to be a time in recent memory when Prairie community members can recall the Quad Cities (Cottonwood, Ferdinand, Keuterville, Greencreek) plus two (Monastery of St. Gertrude and North Idaho Correctional Institute) coming together as a group to work on the same program. In addition, each group is actively advocating for the best interests of the other groups. “Do we have anyone from Keuterville on the committee?” “Make sure the sisters can come on that day!” “Does the Ferdinand city council know about this opportunity?” There is a changing mindset happening from local to regional, what one steering committee member referred to as, “a oneness of communities.” This is how a vision becomes a reality!

The Communication, Coordination, Celebration Action Team submits regular newspaper articles and blog entries for consistent communication on agendas, minutes, trainings, and action team updates. The team is working with a local website designer to get a “Planting the Seeds of our Vision” website up and running. Keep checking the weekly Community Events at a Glance column for action team meeting times and locations.

Angie Latimer quit her postal carrier job and started a new business in Cottonwood after hearing parents in her community express their concerns about the lack of appropriate options for area youth. Having safe fun activities available to youth during out-of-school time is a high priority for prairie families. Facilitating Community Conversations gave Angie the inspiration and encouragement to open Angie’s Crafts and Supplies to offer youth meaningful activities and interacitons. Angie’s store offers classes on ceramics, jewelry-making, fly-tying, scrapbooking, and much more.

Do stop by Angie’s store and see what exciting things are happening. Your encouragement and support are very important!

Two Interior Design students from the University of Idaho worked on a Horizons team goal for their semester project. They began by attending the “Planting the Seeds of our Vision” rally and met with the Intergenerational Action Team.

The team has a “more user-friendly” community center as a goal. The students also met with the police chief and community coach to tour the community center, ask questions, and take wall and floor measurements. The result of their work is a series of architectural drawings that illustrate the potential for short-term and long-term change in the functionality of the community center. The Intergenerational Action Team is very motivated at seeing their concepts for change become reality!

A resource guide has been developed by the Welcome to the Prairie Action Team with information about the Prairie’s history, geography, recreation areas, schools, civic organizations, businesses, churches, and emergency medical services. The guide was designed to help new families learn about their community and how to get involved. The guide is being distributed through the schools and churches in the Quad Cities.

Prairie Horizons currently has four action teams with a total of 30 members and 25 community members have or are currently serving on the steering committee. One hundred fifty-seven people have committed to and been involved with some aspect of Prairie Horizons. Congratulations and thanks to all who are involved in seeing our vision become a reality!

Wanna know what youth think about poverty? Just ask ‘em: Prairie Horizons deliberately pursued a multi-generational perspective on poverty by including two classes of eighth grade Social Studies students in our Community Conversations on thriving communities and prosperity for all.

The Welcome to the Prairie Action Group is working together with Jack Duman to explore options for erecting signs in Cottonwood directing visitors to the Pine Bar area. Jack has been very helpful and had suggestions on how to achieve this action item on the team’s list of goals.

They have completed and distributed a new Community Directory Booklet that is helpful to newcomers in the area. These booklets are available through the Ferdinand Post Office, all churches, schools, and St. Mary’s Hospital.

If you would like to help out on this Action Group, please plan to attend their next meeting being held on Monday, January 28th at 7:00 p.m. in the guest dining room at the Monastery of St. Gertrude.

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 following meetings are set for January. Please come and help us plan for and realize our vision statement. As a community effort, our vision will become reality.

Horizon Steering Committee: Friday, Jan. 11th, 6:00 p.m.
at Multi-purpose Room of Community Center

Intergenerational Action Group: Tuesday, Jan. 15th, 6:30 p.m.
at Multi-purpose Room of Community Center

Communication, Coordination, Celebration Action Group:
Thursday, Jan. 17th, 7:00 p.m. at Angie’s Crafts

Welcome to the Prairie Action Group: Monday, Jan. 28th,
7:00 p.m. at Monastery of St. Gertrude’s small dining room

You are encouraged to find an action group to join and help with your experience and desire to meet the vision. Come with a friend — see you there!

Horizons shows much promise for our communities and local organizations. Many organizations that have really taken off and shown much support for the communities are our Fire Fighting Organizations. One such group that was started by a vision and has given back to the community is the Keuterville Cowboy Wildland Firefighters. This group started because of commitment, desire, grants and a purpose to help protect our locally owned lands. Many other fire organizations such as the rural fire departments also show commitment and dedication to protecting our communities. These groups are crucial to making a community proud, building great friendships and supporting each other in tough times.
Horizons is taking off with dreams, ideas and projects that are put into action to help make our communities a better place to live. Support all your local organizations and please give Horizons the chance to give us the tools to make more dreams come true!

As 2007 comes to a close and we start the new year, it is time to start thinking ahead again about how we want the future to be. Yes, New Years Resolutions. It is never to late to set them and you may have big plans to rearrange your life and so on, but another thing you may want to add to your list of resolutions is how you want our quad-communities to grow. We should begin to reflect on how Horizons has given us the needed boost to better our communities and let our communities grow, but we also need to think about how we should continue to make our communities a better place for all to be. Does this mean more involvement by community members? More enthusiasm through all in all communities? Or does it simply mean more awareness and brainstorming about how we can continue on the new road we are heading down. Just some things to ponder as the year 2008 begins and thank you to all who are helping. Your help is much appreciated!

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.