Silver Valley, ID

Just thought it would be cool for everyone to know that I am sitting here in the winter wonderland called the “Silver Valley”, and cannot see out of my front windows because of all the snow that we have had this year. Don’t worry too much, it is covering my windows because of the snow falling off of the roof, not because we actually have that much snow!!! I have lived in North Idaho for pretty much all of my life and remember “Ice Storm  96″  (yes, i am a youngun, that’s the only other year I can relate this to!!), so I am used to the snow and bad weather. I will try to post pictures and such soon.  Just wanted to drop in and say “HI”. Look for more posts from us and in the meantime, stay warm and drive safe!

Since early fall 2006,  the people of the Silver Valley have been hard at work having been giving the opportunity to join the Horizons program and make some changes here in our community. I feel that we have come a long way, however we still have a ways to go. A mountain doesn’t just spring up over night you know!!! So to keep this short, sweet, and to the point, here are our reflections of how we have done over the past year and a half.

1. What kind of concrete steps have been taken by our community to address poverty?

Our community had become more inclusive because we have all made an intentional and concerted effort to make sure that all demographics, socio-economic groups and entities from our community have been included. Through word of mouth, advertisements, and press releases, we made this initiative available to all people in our community. We have partnered with city municipalities, county workers and representatives, schools, youth, elderly, low-income, police, fire district, other social service providers, businesses and publicly elected officials. These partnerships have made a difference in our community because not only have we been able to communicate on the strengths and weaknesses of our community but also on our collective vision and goals. We believe that we have been very intentional about including everyone, we just wish that people would be more regularly and consistently involved. People tend to drift in and out of our initiative.

2. How has our community leadership expanded?

More people, especially people who have never had an opportunity before, are participating in leadership now in our community. We have more people representing more sectors or parts of the community, especially youth, and low-income. Our community leadership reflects the community’s demographics but again the level of commitment waxes and wanes.

3. In what ways is our community operating or working differently?

Study Circle, Leadership Plenty, the Vision Rally, the Vision Launch and Action Teams are all new ways that people are contributing to our community. Working with different entities on a community center, job training, and a community resource guide have empowered our community to share ideas and resources. Interacting with other contiguous Horizons groups has enabled us to expand our brainstorming on a more global level.

4. What structures have been changed (or we are working on changing) that will enable our community to address poverty in the long term?

Education, communication, collective brainstorming, partnered visioning and action teams would all be new paradigms as to how we will be addressing poverty in the long term. The templates, the training and the support from U of I and NWAF have created a foundation for this ongoing work. Again, more consistent and regular partners would be the biggest boon for our initiative.

5. What is our community’s plan for maintaining a strong community leadership system?

Our plan is to use all that we have learned from our Study Circles, Leadership Plenty, the Vision Rally, the Vision Launch and our Action Teams to maintain a strong community leadership system. Continued public relations, relationship building, partnering and regular meetings will ensure that this is accomplished for us.

6. How will our community make decisions about seeking further resources to support our plans?

Partnering with other community groups, such as the American Legion (community center group), the Economic Development Corporation (job training) and many other social service providers (community resource guide) has created a sybergistic effect for our community’s resources. This initiative will be a springboard for us to secure other resources from within and outside of our community.

So in closing I think that you can get an idea of how much hard work we have put into this and how much hard work is to come. Like I said before, a mountain just doesn’t spring up over night, and so therefore change takes time but we will keep pushing forward. Wish us the best of luck and keep your fingers crossed for us!!!

“Sometimes the situation is only a problem because it is looked at in a certain way. Looked at in another way, the right course of action may be so obvious that the problem no longer exists.” Edward de Bono

On January 7th 2008, Chuck Wardwell from the SVEDC, spoke at our monthly community Horizons meeting. Chuck informed us that the SVEDC was at the beginning stages of trying to open a Job Corps facility here in the valley. The facility is about 5-6 years out providing that the stars and planets line up correctly and everything goes just right!!

Why is this so exciting you may ask? Well, once again, one of the action ideas from our community was “trade school”!!! This is working out just great!! Things seem to be falling in our laps!! And what better way to go than a Job Corp?!!!

So we are giving them our full support of course and crossing our fingers. YAY!!!

Our next community Horizons meeting is scheduled for Feb. 11, 2008 at the H&W conference room at 35 Wildcat Way, Kellogg. Everyone is invited to attend.

Project Uplift, a non-profit community development program, has been around for quite some time, say close to 20 years, and has recently joined with the Silver Valley Economic Development Corporation. Sounds like the perfect pair, doesn’t it?!!

Project Uplift began in 1989 and a year later gained their non-profit status opening up doors for community grants. Project Uplift has been working with Silver Valley Horizons  since the summer of 2007 and has opened a lot of doors for us.  It was a perfect fit as well!!! Are you seeing a pattern yet? Will fill you in, in my next post……..

Well what to say?! The local community members that make up the Resource Committee have been hard at work for quite some time. Their goal is to make sure that all of the communitie’s resources are up to date and that the community is awareof them. Hence the name of the committee!! They meet usually once a month and faces at the table vary depending on if new agencies have come into the community or who can make it and who can’t because of busy work schedules.

Well full speed ahead though for this little group when Horizons came in to the picture for the Silver Valley!! Not only because they had some backup now but one of our communites action ideas was a Resource Guide of some sort. Now they are close to completing their first edition of their resource guide, which will be in a magazine type form and will be free to everybody. The idea is to make sure there are several copies at places like doctor’s offices, other businesses, local service agencies in the community etc.

So long story short, they are almost there and wish them luck!!

Shannon Dancer was recently sworn in as a Vista Volunteer fall of 2007. For those of us who may not have heard of Vista, it is a national service program dedicated to helping fight poverty in the US. Shannon’s role will be improving and supporting family literacy through volunteerism and community involvement. One of her goals is to provide additional time and support for student learning by utilizing and sustaining volunteers in the school.

Shannon says, “I want the community to realize that they are welcome and invited into the schools and to create those opportunities for parents and volunteers to help if they have the time.”

To reach Shannon at Silver Hills Elementary School in Osburn with any questions, please call 208-556-1556.

The Junior Volunteer through Shoshone Medical Center, located in Kellogg, will allow students 14 years and older who are interested in the health care profession, complete formal rounds for clinical and non-clinical departments. These students will complete this in about 30 hours of volunteer time.

Dave Selman, Cheif Executive Officer for SMC states ” Students will have exposure to nursing, physical therapy, and laboratory services to name a few. We’ve designed the program to maximize their experience and give them an opportunity to see all the wonderful services we provide.”

 For more information on how to apply you can contact Mary Bren, program coordinator, at 208-784-1221.

WOW isn’t this a great addition to the education of our students today?! When healthcare and education are constantly having their funding cut in one way or the other, here they are holding hands and making things happen despite the circumstances. It just goes to show that, if there is a will there is a way!

Lets give props to Wal-Mart employees Tanya Ireland and Debbie Reece along with the Smelterville Wal-Mart who, working together, raised a total of $2,350 for Silver Valley kids and families in need this last fall 2007. Also to all of the Silver Valley residents who pitched in to keep us warm this winter.

A $1,000 grant is part of that $2,350 that Wal-Mart has committed to. Although all that money will go towards new coats, it does not include all the used coats and winter wear that was donated. Debbie stated that one Silver Valley woman dropped off 45 used coats!!! WOW!!!

That is one of the great things about this community, when there is any kind of need we all pull together and make it happen!!

As of November of 2007, there were roughly 11 senior companion volunteers who offer free care to their clients. They are, however reimbursed for gas to and from the clients home and are paid $2.65/hr, which comes from federal funding. Services they provide include shopping, going to the post office, paper work, reading, letter writing, giving the spouse a break, and the list goes on, pretty much whatever the client might need done. The goal of this program is to keep the elderly in their home for as long as possible. 

Not only do the companions provide a service to the community but they recieve benefits as well, they feel good for giving back to the community. Also they create relationships that they would normally have never taken place. It’s what I like to call a WIN-WIN situation!!

If you would like information on receiving services or becoming a senior companion please call the following numbers; 208-752-1882 or 786-7474.

September 11, 2007 was the Silver Valley’s Vision Rally. We were in a pickle for a little while though. Being as that September 11 is an extremely historic and emotionally touching day in history, we wanted to handle it just right. Well, after long debate we decided to look at it in a positive way and came up with “9-1-1 Rescue Our Community” as our sells pitch to get our community to attend. And after lots of preparation and sweating it just a little, our event turned our fabulous!!!! After lots of heart felt discussion the community came up with Silver Valley’s Vision (see below).

Our Vision
The Silver Valley is a united community surrounded by wisely managed
natural resources and endless recreational opportunities.  We respect
one another; create and maintain our shared values; and openly
demonstrate compassion for ALL our people.  We have a healthy and
vibrant local economy, building on our diverse resources and our rich
history.  We foster an entrepreneurial environment focused on a
self-sufficient, balanced economy, specializing in tourism, arts,
culture and services for our aging population.