Silver Valley, ID

Congrats to Judy of Cascade, she’s our weekly winner!  Thanks to all the new bloggers who’ve signed up.  If you’re part of the steering committee, hopefully these questions will help you work on the final report that is due June 30. Please let us know if you have any questions about the blog or the report.There is a Blogging Handbook available on our Horizons website at http://extension.ag.uidaho.edu/horizons/coaches.htm at the very top of the page… Thanks to MJ for writing this beginner’s guide! Also, for those communities that may be looking for a little more training, please contact MJ at merijoz@uidaho.edu / 208-885-8949 to see how she can help you.Rules: Post your answers on your blogsite by Tuesday, June 3 by midnight and be entered in the drawing for one of our book titles… I will be at a conference May 27-30 so this will give you a whole extra week…NOTE: Please enter your answers as either a comment to the original question OR as a brand new entry on your blog so that the answers are easy for people to find.Reflective Questions:

•  Of all the things you have done during the last 18 months in the Horizons program, of what are you most proud? 

We are most proud of completing the program along with learning how to make all our arrows flow in the same direction.

Scavenger Hunt Question:·         Which Idaho Horizons community is working with the University of Idaho to help with their vision to “rebuild a community center to assist local families fight back against the ravages of poverty. They are looking to the future when they will have a center that provides central business offices for the city, a town library and public computers with Internet accessibility, expanded recreational facilities for youth and adults, a hall for future leadership and life skills training.”The winner will receive a copy of the book: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People will Follow You by John C. Maxwell.

Congrats to Andrea of Grangeville, she’s our weekly winner!

Thank you all for the interesting responses about your community and what makes it ‘unique’ to you compared to other rural communities in Idaho.

I grew up in a small farming community in Idaho near the Utah border and I still think about it every day, the views and colors and smells and intense farm work we did (pulling rye, driving around and around in a tractor for 12 hours a day, herding cattle, etc) helped shape my life and world view. It’s that sense of place that helps define who we are and how we relate to the world around us.

I hope you’re all getting comfortable and familiar with the blogging process. Mary, MJ and I thank you for all the time and hard work you’ve devoted to this part of Horizons and know it’s just a small part of what you are all doing in your communities.

Please let MJ (merijoz@uidaho.edu) or me (dgray@uidaho.edu) know if we can help you with any questions you might have about blogging.

A ‘how to blog’ handbook is now available on our Horizons website at http://extension.ag.uidaho.edu/horizons/coaches.htm at the very top of the page…

Reflective Questions:

As we near the ‘end’ of this phase of Horizons, take a moment to look back on the past 18 months to answer these questions.

Has your community sought any additional resources outside of Horizons for your projects? 

At this time we have not sought any outside resources at this time for our projects due to the fact that we have discovered that other groups are trying to accomplish the same goals so we will be working in conjuction with them.  

How has your community partnered with communities and/or organizations beyond Horizons?

Silver Valley Horizons is  supporting the Shoshone Co. Women’s Resource Center in opening a shelter for women & children escaping domestic violence situations. After this goal is accomplished we can hopefully work towards homeless and/or transitional housing as the community has neither of these either.

SV Horizons, Shoshone County Women’s Resource Center, and Velocity Business Training are working together to reach out to prominent members and organizations in the Silver Valley in hopes of opening a business incubator as well as provide entrepreneurial business & life skills training to the community.

Silver Valley Horizons has also joined with the SVEDC to work towards the goal of a Job Corps facility here in the Valley. the Community Resource Committee to complete an extensive community resource guide, as well as joining with Project Uplift since we both have the same goal of bettering our community.

Both of these are still in the works but progress is being made. Mountains do not spring up over night.

Scavenger Hunt Question:  Which Horizons community has an organization sponsoring a ‘Volcano Breakfast’ and what IS a Volcano Breakfast?

This week’s winner will receive a copy of:

One Nation, Underprivileged: Why American Poverty Affects Us All / Mark Robert Rank

Rules: Post your answers on your blogsite by May 20 (midnight) and be entered in the drawing for one of our book titles…

NOTE: Please enter your answers as either a comment to the original question OR as a brand new entry on your blog so that the answers are easy for people to find.

Congrats to Christine of Kooskia, she’s our weekly winner! Thank you to all who have recently signed up and started blogging.

Please let MJ or me know if we can help you with any questions you might have about blogging.

Reminder: MJ has created a ‘how to blog’ handbook that is now available on our Horizons website at http://extension.ag.uidaho.edu/horizons/coaches.htm at the very top of the page… Thanks MJ!

Also, for those communities that may be looking for a little more training, please contact MJ at merijoz@uidaho.edu / 208-885-8949 to see how she can help you.

Rules: Post your answers on your blogsite by May 6 by midnight and be entered in the drawing for one of our book titles…
NOTE: Please enter your answers as either a comment to the original question OR as a brand new entry on your blog so that the answers are easy for people to find.

Reflective Questions:
What is something unique about your Horizons community that you’d like to share with the rest of the world? What makes your community different from the one right down the road? Is it a strength your community can capitalize on or a burden you have to bear? Or both? For example, Sun Valley has the beautiful landscape, ski resorts, etc. but the tourism industry has also left behind many local people who are now unable to afford to live in the town they work in…

What makes our community different from the one right down the road is the fact that the communities down the road are one in the same. The Silver Valley consists of 14 individual communities that when we come together we can accomplish a great many things.  It is a strength that we can capitilize on and a burden sometimes due to the fact that we don’t always act like one big happy community, there is still a little bit of the old school “you stay on your side of the line and I will stay on mine”.

We also have a lot in common with Sun Valley, we have the tourism, beautiful landscape, the year round recreation, 2 ski resorts, and the people who are finding it harder and harder to live here, due to the rising costs of property and everything else.

Scavenger Hunt Question: This week the scavenger hunt is a simple assignment. Find an entry on one of the Horizons community blogs (or even your own blog) and leave a comment to the author. It’s fun to give and get feedback about things we’re doing and talking about.

This week’s winner will receive:
The working poor: invisible in America by David K. Shipler
And
Building Communities From the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets by John P. Kretzmann and John L. McKnight.

Congrats to Mountain Mama of Kendrick/Juliaetta, she’s our weekly winner! Even though she took me to task for forgetting about those of you in remote areas with only dial-up internet access… she persevered after many grueling hours on the scavenger hunt! I will definitely keep in mind your technology limits in the future…

MJ has created a ‘how to blog’ handbook that is now available on our Horizons website at http://extension.ag.uidaho.edu/horizons/coaches.htm at the very top of the page… Thanks MJ!

Also, for those communities that may be looking for a little more training, please contact MJ at merijoz@uidaho.edu / 208-885-8949 to see how she can help you.

Rules: Post your answers on your blogsite by Tuesday, April 29 by midnight and be entered in the drawing for one of our book titles…

NOTE: Please enter your answers as either a comment to the original question OR as a brand new entry on your blog so that the answers are easy for people to find.

Reflective Questions:
• Looking back, what is one (or more) skill or leadership trait you have developed from participating in Horizons (maybe from Study Circles or LeadershipPlenty or from the hands on work going on in your communities right now)?

I feel that one of the most important leadership traits that I have developed from participating in Horizons is teamwork. Old habits die hard though and it is something that I need to keep up on.

How has participation in the program changed you?

Participation in the program has changed me by helping me to succeed in learning how to keep my arrows going in the same direction. Also by reminding me to keep my eyes and mind open to new and different views from my own.

What about your community? Are there specific examples of things happening in your community that wouldn’t have happened without Horizons?

We were able to persevere and complete our Community Resource Book that will be printed and issued in the near future.  
• Bonus reflective question: How has the blogging experienced affected you? (please edit any inappropriate language, hahaha trust me, I feel your pain!!)

Since I have to edit my language, let’s just call it a “learning lesson”!!!!!

Scavenger Hunt Question:
• Which of the Idaho Horizons community blogs has information about April being Child Abuse Awareness month? This website also provides information about Youth Suicide Prevention.

The winner will receive:

Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin’-By World: Building Your Resources for a Better Life by Philip E. DeVol
And

Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High by Kerry Patterson, et al

Presenter: Ann Kirkwood, MA, Director of Better Todays. Better Tomorrows. and Idaho Youth Suicide Prevention Project, Idaho

Lewiston: Lewis Clark State College, Corner of 4th and 9th Ave, NOTE: May 7, 14, and 21st

ONE CHILD IS REPORTED ABUSED OR NEGLECTED EVERY 35 SECONDS

EVEN IF YOU SUSPECT CHILD ABUSE, DO YOUR PART AND REPORT IT.

NATIONAL CHILD ABUSE HOTLINE 1-800-4-A-CHILD.

Rules: Post your answers on your blogsite by Tuesday, April 22 by midnight and be entered in the drawing for one of our book titles…

NOTE: Please enter your answers as either a comment to the original question OR as a brand new entry on your blog so that the answers are easy for people to find.

Reflective Questions:

• What’s next in Horizons for your community? Are your Action Teams planning activities in the next 2 months? How do those activities relate to the 3 legs of Horizons: Poverty reduction, Leadership Development and Community Mobilization?

What’s next in Horizons for us? Well it’s hard to say really except for lots of wonderful growth.

Here’s and update on our action teams:

Community Center is on hold for the moment due to planning and zoning issues. 

Trade School is about 5 years out. The SVEDC is working hard to bring in a Job Corps facility to the Silver Valley but they have not that long ago started the process and it doesn’t exactly happen over night.  

Community Resource Guide is almost done. We expect for all of our information to be together by the end of May and we then plan for distribution to be this summer.

Other “action items” that have come about are Silver Valley Horizons is  supporting the Shoshone Co. Women’s Resource Center in opening a shelter for women & children escaping domestic violence situations. After this goal is accomplished we can hopefully work towards homeless and/or transitional housing as the community has neither of these either.

SV Horizons, Shoshone County Women’s Resource Center, and Velocity Business Training are working together to reach out to prominent members and organizations in the Silver Valley in hopes of opening a business incubator as well as provide entrepreneurial business & life skills training to the community. The scope of this project is hard to say because there is so much room for growth.

Providing a space for the upcoming Youth Suicide Prevention Workshops, so that more people from our community can attend, due to the fact that travel outside of the valley, is expensive and hard to do for most of us.

The activities relate to the 3 legs of Horizons by the following.

      * The business incubator will provide ways of employment which will then in turn reduce poverty in the monetary definition. It will stimulate those people to become more involved in the communities. And will empower them to build a business on their own which will provide a self esteem boost that the benefits of there endeavors will continue to grow.

       * Youth Suicide Prevention pretty much explains itself I feel. When we are able to reach troubled youth and show them that they really do have a reason for being here, they gain a self worth which in turn will benefit the community in numerous ways because there is so much room for positive growth in them. 

      * Community Resource Guide allows people to know where to go in times of need and discover places they may not have been aware of before, with no barriers for them to overcome.

       * A shelter not only provides immediate relief from a traumatic situation, it also provides numerous avenues and support for the victims to be able to move forward  in a positive manner. Basic needs must be met (survival) before a person is able to thrive and having a shelter would provide this. I also think for the most part this is self explanatory. Scavenger Hunt Question:

• Let’s broaden our scavenger hunt world a little… Of the other Horizons states, which one has interesting information about using Chicken Tractors to help maintain community gardens? Check out the link section of the Idaho Horizons Blog that lists the blog addresses for Montana, NorthDakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa Horizons. Feel free to explore and be inspired by other community groups just like yours!

This week’s winner will receive a copy of each of the following books:
The Working Poor: Invisible in America by David K. Shipler

Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin’-By World: Building Your Resources for a Better Life by Philip E. DeVol

Rules: Post your answers on your blogsite by Tuesday, April 15 by midnight and be entered in the drawing for one of our book titles…

NOTE: Please enter your answers as either a comment to the original question OR as a brand new entry on your blog so that the answers are easy for people to find.

Reflective Questions:

• What words of wisdom would you give to a community just starting a program like Horizons?

Be patient, the Horizons Project has great potential, but it does take hard work and dedication.

• Words of warning?

Be prepared for people to be negative and not exactly see that  what you are doing has potential. 

• What kind of changes in their community and its leadership might they expect?

They can expect for leadership to come full circle because this program provides the tools necessary to accomplish whatever you feel needs to be done. This program I feel is also a self-esteem booster to those who are not used to being in the leadership positions. The changes they can expect in their communities depends on them, what they feel is needed, and how much work they are willing to put into it. If I had this to do all over again, I would.

• What kind of changes in themselves might they expect?

I feel that they can expect a huge amount of change if they are open to it. Like I said before, it is a self-esteem booster among other things. From my own personal experience, I feel that I have grown a lot. I have always been a leader, never a follower, however most times when I would come upon the “brick walls of life” I would back down because I would be unsure as to how to proceed, now I have no excuse for backing down. There is always a way to get done what you want to get done, you just have to step back and look at the bigger picture, you also have to be willing to ask for help, and you definantly have to be patient. I also tend to get really nervous when talking to groups, I think I always will, however it is not so bad now, and I feel that a lot of that has to do with being part of Horizons, and getting plenty of practice.

Scavenger Hunt Question:

• Which community’s chamber of commerce recently met with high school youth to work together to involve more youth in the community?

This week’s winner will get to choose ONE of the following books:

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You by John Maxwell

Or

Leadership for the Common Good: Tackling Public Problems in a Shared-Power World by Barbara Crosby and John Bryson

Rules: Post your answers on your blogsite by Tuesday, April 8 by midnight and be entered in the drawing for a fabulous prize.

Reflective Questions: What does the phrase ‘living in poverty’ mean to you?

I feel that living in poverty means going without basic needs such as shelter, clothing, food, etc. It also means lacking productive relationships, support system, etc. It means not being able to help your “neighbors” (whatever your definition of neighbor may mean). It means knowing that something needs to be done and not having the “tools” to accomplish that. 

How has your definition of ‘poverty’ changed in the past year?

Yes I feel that it has. I always associated poverty with the monetary definition and I think that most people do until they are shown that poverty has a variety of definitions.   

Does your community think differently about poverty now? How can you tell?

It is really hard to say. I think that the people who participated in Study Circles, Leadership Plenty, etc for the most part grasp the idea of poverty meaning something else besides lack of money. I could tell by our discussions at the many meetings that we had.

Scavenger Hunt Question: Which community (in partnership with ComBAT (Community Based Access to Technology)) will be having a FREE concert on April 23, 2008?

This week’s winner will get to choose ONE of the following books:

One Nation, Underprivileged, Why American Poverty Affects Us All / Mark Robert Rank

or

Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community / Robert D. Putnam.

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?

We have been able to link up with many organizations throughout the community that are on the same wavelength as us, such as the SVEDC, Shoshone Co Women’s Resource Center, and the American Legion, to name a few, as well as some “partners”, such as Velocity Business Training. All the arrows pointing in the right direction!! Along with teaming up with these other organizations, we feel that we have some very dedicated people on board, and a good base to continue into the future with. We feel that our Horizons- related groups will have expanded due to linking up with other groups, because for each new person that you come across, that person will almost inevitably know another person and so on and so forth.

 Are you optimistic/worried? (relieved?) 

Honestly I feel that we are all relieved to say the least. This has been such an endeavor for us. Some of the reasons being our population size 4,992 and our geography. We are not just one town, we are four, and technically, what comes of this project will ultimately benefit the whole Silver Valley which consists of roughly 13,000 + and 14 towns.

I feel that we are optimistic as well though because, there will be something that will come of this, even though we have to be patient, and people will see that and want to become more involved in our future. That has been another one of our obstacles as well, the old addage of “we have tried things before and nothing has come of them”.

I myself am really optimistic for our future here in the valley and even though it has been tough at times, I am glad that I was involved. Not only did I learn a lot from this process but it also gives me the tools to turn around and do something with that knowledge for others.

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   

MyHotComments

Ok so I am goofy!!! I make the comment that this site does not allow html codes and then I figure out how to do it in like 2 seconds. Same with embedding the youtube videos. All you need to know is how to cut and paste with your mouse.

Example: find your favorite sites that have graphics, layouts, etc. One that I like is www.myhotcomments.com,

*find a graphic that you like, see above,

*click on it

*you might have to scroll down a little after doing this but somewhere below the graphic you will see a box that has a bunch of gibberish in it, this is a html code. On www.myhotcomments.com right above the box it says MySpace Profile Code, look for something along these lines.

*click in the box to highlight the code

*after highlighting the whole code, right click with your arrow on the highlighted part or else it won’t work and you will have to start over, click on “copy”

*go to your Horizons Blogging site and go to “write a post”, click on “code” instead of “visual”

* right click again and then click on paste and it will paste that html code to imbed the graphic.

* last write whatever you need to write, save & publish, and voila you should have the graphic on your page.

**follow these instructions for embedding a YouTube video, when you bring up a video, you should notice to the right of the video, a box with a bunch of gibberish again (html) and it will say “embed”. click, copy, & paste and you should be good to go.

Hope this helps, ttys ~~~Angie

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 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 or
Teaching the Commons: Place, Pride, and the Renewal of Local Schooling - Paul TheobaldThe 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?

 A) I think the blogging experience has been great. It is easy enough and really doesn’t take much time (if i would just do it!!!). My dislikes are the fact that this site does not allow html codes. If you have ever had a MySpace account or something similar, you get to design your page, to your liking with thousands of different codes. It makes it fun and more individual. I also agree with K/J in their response that it would be nice to be able to use a picture of our area for our header (probably not their exact words but you get the idea). Also this site does not allow certain picture files to be uploaded. For instance I have a blackjack, camera phone, and it takes pretty good pictures, but once I send it to my computer and then try to upload it to this site it won’t take it. So outside of looking over our dislikes and seeing if they are reasonable and fixable, I am not sure how the team can improve. Oh, I do like the idea of the weekly questions, this could be fun!!!!

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?

A:) A pug mark (or pugmark) is what the print of a tiger paw is called. So, if you were out in the jungle and saw the tracks of a tiger, to appear oh-so-smart!, you would say “Hey, look! Pugmarks.”

This was copied and pasted from the Kendrick & Juliaetta site.

If I ever go to the jungle, or the zoo, I will remember this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Learn something new everyday!!!!!!!!! Thanks guys:)

So that is it for now, I have answered the questions and I will be catching up to speed here again soon.

TTYL ~~ Angie

Ok everyone, I hope you all are doing ok. It has taken me a little while to be able to sit down and get this started but here we are. I wanted to invite you to our YouTube page. It is not much right now, we will say it is a work in progress. However at this time I am just taking videos off of YouTube but in time, my goal is to be able to upload videos of our own so you can see what is going on currently here in the Valley. Well to get to the point here is the url address http://www.youtube.com/butterfliwings28, stop on by sometime to check us out.

TTYS,

Angie

  This is a view of the City of Mullan. Mullan is part of the Silver Valley and is the last town that you would visit before entering Montana, just 6 miles from the state border.

 This is an old picture of Kingston from 1972, also part of the Silver Valley. Kingston is on the other end of the Valley from Mullan.

I have tried to upload pictures from my phone and have been unsuccessful, so these two pictures are from Webshots. I will try to add more as I can, I might have some pictures in my collection that I can scan, it might take me awhile though. Part of the pull of the Silver Valley is the beauty and pictures say a thousand words but they can never quite capture the essence of the scene. Oh well at least this gives you an idea of what a beautiful place we live in and why we would want to better our community.

Hope things are going well for everyone and it was good meeting those of you who went to the Horizons Summit in Worley, and seeing those of you I had met before. Best of luck to everyone with their ventures!! 

 TTYS,

Angie 

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!