Community Center, Child Care, Leadership Meetings

Important Community Meetings ---
Please come to one! Be part of the solution!

January 21st Leadership Plenty 5:30-9:30 5:30 Dinner

January 22nd Community Center Meeting 5:30 Dinner

January 24th Child Care Needs Meeting 2:00-4:00

All at: Coulee Dam Presbyterian Community Church in Coulee Dam

---

Leadership Plenty 3

What: the third session of leadership training – The first and second training sessions were very productive and engaging! Clock Hours available.

When: Wednesday, January 21, 2009 from 5:30-9:30

Where: Coulee Dam Community Church

Dinner will be served at 5:30 pm and the training will start soon after. Remember, you can join in at any point in these trainings, you do not have to attend each one. They will be every Wednesday for the next 8 weeks or so; same place, same time.

Childcare available. Money available to pay adult care in your home. You will need to arrange for your own care provider and then complete a reimbursement form at the meeting. Please RSVP to me, indicating the # of children, if you will be attending the meeting and will be requesting reimbursement. This will ensure that I have enough cash available.

There is also gas money available if you need assistance.

Thank you!

---

Community Center Meeting

What: Focus on Goals

Where: The next meeting Community Center Action Team will be held by the Community Center Action Team will be January 22, 5:30 pm. at the Community Church in Coulee Dam. Dinner and Child Care provided. Gas money available.

Why: Our team believes that a centrally located community center would greatly benefit this area. We envision a facility that could offer social activities, learning activities, health and wellness programs, etc for all ages. We believe that this could have great potential to benefit all aspects of our community from the schools, to the senior programs, hospitals, clinics, even the police department.

It is our hope that we will be able to come together in this endeavor to strengthen our community and possibly work toward consolidating many of our individual programs into one unit working together.

---

Child Care Town Hall

What: We will be holding a town-hall-type meeting on Saturday, January 24 from 2-4pm at the Coulee Dam Community Presbyterian Church in Coulee Dam (across from the Tribal Museum). Free trained childcare will be provided at the church. Gas money available.

What: The team is looking for community members to partner with us as we approach this broad, important subject. Our main areas of focus will be on the need for childcare facilities and additional preschool options. We need your ideas, experiences, concerns and expertise, even if you would not like to be directly involved long-term.

This group is made possible by the support of the Horizons grant program for Grand Coulee. Please RSVP to Kevin Lind at kevinllind@gmail.com or 631-0774 if you plan to attend or have any questions.

---

Photo by Sheri Edwards: Snow Fort by Kids in Coulee Dam

---

HORIZONS: Community Leaders Reducing Poverty
Working together to move from poverty to prosperity for all.


Mary Schilling at 633 3033 or email at mschilling@gcdsd.org


Learn more about the Horizons program http://horizons.wsu.edu/

Synergetic Strengths

Synergy: the cooperation of members such that the resulting combined effect of their work is better than the effect caused by the effect of one member's work

Focus on strengths. What does that mean? It means that four towns and one tribe have five times the resources available; call on them. It means that diverse ideas provide more options. It means that many small events combined meet more needs.

Module Two in Leadership Plenty helped attendees refocus limitations to reducing poverty through a lens of strengths. They found creative and nontraditional ways to work with leadership assets within the organization and the greater community for a synergistic effect.

"Individuals, associations, and institutions -- these three major categories contain within them much of the asset base of every community." The evening event brought these avenues together while planning for economic development, resource books, child care, and a community center.

"Deficit-based thinking discourages action, fragments communities, and encourages dependence on outsiders."

Rather than worry about the problems created by different governmental agencies (towns, tribal, parks), instead focus on the resources available -- probably many more than other areas.

Build strengths: find unusual partnerships, and bring traditional and nontraditional leaders together.

What does that look like? Just one example from the synergy of the group brought forward by Janice Elvidge:

Assimilate all the various school and church child care and after school activities under one umbrella in order to highlight for grantors all that we already do in separate venues, and the services of which would greatly improve under one community center.

Real change will only occur when we engage the full community: school, church, associations, institutions, individuals. Won't you join us? Please contact:

Mary Schilling at 633 3033 or email at mschilling@gcdsd.org

HORIZONS: Community Leaders Reducing Poverty
Working together to move from poverty to prosperity for all.

Learn more about the Horizons program http://horizons.wsu.edu/

Life Stories: Steve

Who: Steven R. Carson

Occupation: Colville Tribes Parks & Recreation

Years in Community: I moved to Elmer City when I was 6 years old. I lived in the area until I was 23. My wife and I then moved to Florida for 2 years to attend college. After some training and experience we moved back to the area to raise our family.

Education: High School Diploma 2001, Training at SEU Florida.

Favorite community memory: I am big on taking advantage of the great outdoors. I love fishing, hunting, camping, and hiking. My favorite community memory is before 9/11 we were able to fish below the Dam on the rocks, and above off the east side of the Dam. You could always see others teaching the kids how to fish.

Hopes for community: That we all could see and vision the potential our whole surrounding area has and can become.

Why I am part of the project: To help be a voice and solution in bringing out that potential.

HORIZONS: Community Leaders Reducing Poverty
Working together to move from poverty to prosperity for all.

Learn more about the Horizons program http://horizons.wsu.edu/

Working toward a Community Center

Who: Horizons Action Teams

What: Three Action Teams have come out of the Horizons Program: A Childcare Action Team, Resource Action Team, and a Community Center Action Team.

Where: The next meeting Community Center Action Team will be held by the Community Center Action Team will be January 22, 5:30 pm. at the Community Church in Coulee Dam. Dinner and Child Care provided

Why: Our team believes that a centrally located community center would greatly benefit this area. We envision a facility that could offer social activities, learning activities, health and wellness programs, etc for all ages. We believe that this could have great potential to benefit all aspects of our community from the schools, to the senior programs, hospitals, clinics, even the police department.

It is our hope that we will be able to come together in this endeavor to strengthen our community and possibly work toward consolidating many of our individual programs into one unit working together.

Agenda: Focus on setting goals


Learn more about the Horizons program @ http://horizons.wsu.edu/ and follow our progress by visiting our blog site http://grandcoulee-wa.blogspot.com/

Photo Credit: Tape Art - Education and works in progress at Flickr Commons

HORIZONS: Community Leaders Reducing Poverty
Working together to move from poverty to prosperity for all.

Learn more about the Horizons program @ http://horizons.wsu.edu/

Reminder

What: the second session of leadership training – The first training session was very productive and engaging!

When: tomorrow evening, Wednesday, January 14, 2009 from 5:30-9:00

Where: Coulee Dam Community Church

Dinner will be served at 5:30 pm and the training will start soon after. Remember, you can join in at any point in these trainings, you do not have to attend each one. They will be every Wednesday for the next 8 weeks or so; same place, same time.

Unfortunately, we will NOT have childcare at the next meeting. There is money available to pay for childcare/adult care in your home. You will need to arrange for your own care provider and then complete a Child Care reimbursement form at the meeting. Please RSVP to me, Mary Schilling, indicating the number of children, if you will be attending the meeting and will be requesting reimbursement for childcare. This will ensure that I have enough cash available.

There is also gas money available if you need assistance.

Mary Schilling

HORIZONS: Community Leaders Reducing Poverty
Working together to move from poverty to prosperity for all.

Learn more about the Horizons program http://horizons.wsu.edu/

Childcare Action Team to Hold Community Forum

Child Care Forum Press Release:
Childcare Action Team to Hold Community Forum

Do you have young children or grandchildren? Have you ever worked in childcare or early childhood development? Have you noticed a need for childcare and preschool in our community? We want to hear from all of you!

The Community Childcare Action Team is a group of community members who are concerned about our children, the availability of quality and lasting childcare options for them, and the opportunities for preschool in our community. As one community member recently said, “Children are the center of any community.” If we want to invest in our future, we ought to start by investing in our children.

We will be holding a town-hall-type meeting on Saturday, January 24 from 2-4pm at the Coulee Dam Community Presbyterian Church in Coulee Dam (across from the Tribal Museum). Free trained childcare will be provided at the church.

The team is looking for community members to partner with us as we approach this broad, important subject. Our main areas of focus will be on the need for childcare facilities and additional preschool options. We need your ideas, experiences, concerns and expertise, even if you would not like to be directly involved long-term.

This group is made possible by the support of the Horizons grant program for Grand Coulee. Please RSVP to Kevin Lind at kevinllind@gmail.com or 631-0774 if you plan to attend or have any questions.

Photo Credit: Flickr: Creative Commons by doviende

HORIZONS: Community Leaders Reducing Poverty
Working together to move from poverty to prosperity for all.

Coulee Stuff: Resources when you need them

Shelly Stine, Lake Roosevelt High School Resource Room Teacher and community member for almost thirty years, envisioned one place people could find information when needed. Situations arise in which health care, employment opportunity, or child care information is needed immediately.

With five towns, four counties, and a tribal government encompassing our area, people don't often know where the services exist.

As part of her Masters Degree from Washington State University, she searched out that collection of resources for her hometown and the families that needed them. She published a booklet and disseminated the information. Yet, the information still seemed elusive.

Shelly joined the HORIZONS Project and discovered that her work fed right into one of the group's goals: a centralized information area for people in need of services.

An action team formed, comprised of Roberta Haines, Alan Cain, Sheri Edwards, and Shelly. After discussion during HORIZONS meetings and as a committee, the team created a wiki (PB Wiki -- for Peanut Butter Wiki) that could easily be updated collaboratively and available any place with Internet access. The team's dream includes kiosks and a published booklet. The goal is to provide information in a central as well as frequently visited areas so access is available for people who need to find the information.

If you have information that needs to be added, or if you have a need for information, please contact Shelly Stine, whose vision has provided not only the heart of the project, but also the focus for the future.

And, please, visit the site and offer suggestions; we're just starting -- but what a start, thanks to Shelly. She's an example of a community leader committed to finding many ways to reduce poverty.

Welcome to Coulee Stuff !

A resource guide for needed services for health, families, emergencies, etc.

http://couleestuff.pbwiki.com/

HORIZONS: Community Leaders Reducing Poverty
Working together to move from poverty to prosperity for all.

Crushed Red Pepper or Nutmeg?

HOPE Fueled by Action Sandwiches
Next Meeting: Wednesday, January 14th
at the Coulee Dam Community Church

Leadership Plenty plans for just that: Leadership. Understand that:

• Everyone in the community has potential to be a leader.
• Everyone possesses leadership skills that can serve to effect change in the community.
• Leadership skils and techniques enable us to weave a shared vision and respond to a call to action.

Under the guidance of skilled local community leaders trained by Leadership Plenty, the participants spiced up their personal leadership qualities. Jesse Utz, Amanda Poch, and Nate Piturachsatit led the groups in several activities that clarified the benefits of various leadership styles.

Think about it: Is your style crushed red pepper -- you take charge to get action? Or are you more like a pinch of nutmeg, a subtle reminder of either the big picture or the needed detail. Both styles of leadership encourage success in goals as they balance out the rush to act with pause for reflection.

As one member commented, "Poverty can be alleviated with good leadership." And through the Leadership Plenty modules of active learning, the participants developed trust and skills to help them obtain a vision for two of the community's needs (Community Center and Resource Guide) to which the leadership skills will provide the drive to action.

Next Meeting: Wednesday, January 14th at the Coulee Dam Community Church

Come and help create the vision to reduce poverty in our community. Your leadership style is needed.

HORIZONS: Community Leaders Reducing Poverty
Working together to move from poverty to prosperity for all.

Stories in the Community: Lisa

Who: Lisa Carson

Occupation: Stay-at-home mom with two girls.

Years in Community: eight-ish. I moved here after I graduated from high school in Neah Bay Washington. I grew up on different Indian reservations with my dad working for the Indian Health Services. My mom's roots are here on the Colville reservation (mine too) and I wanted to return here to learn more about my culture and to be with my family. I am now married to a Colville tribal member, and we have decided to raise our daughters here.

Education: High school-year 2000. AA&S from Big Bend Community College, Some training from SEU FL.

Favorite community memory: When I first moved here I was involved with a group from Nespelem that was called the HOPE group which meant Helping Our People Elevate. We held a few Fun-Nights for the kids up in Nespelem, and I remember one of those times when we met at the Nespelem Community Center. It was a great turn out and the whole gym was packed with kids running all over the place. There was so much going on that I didn't quite know where to jump in. All I remember is seeing a couple hula-hoops laying around, and the next thing I remember is cheering a bunch of kids on as we competed in the ultimate hula-hooping tournament! It was pretty amazing and I never laughed so much in my whole life; those kids are awesome! That whole evening was awesome. It's a great memory.

Also another great memory: Spring Canyon! Honestly, what beats that? Spring Canyon is such a great place to go in the summer. It is always packed with tons of families, food, and fun ~ the recipe for greatness!

Hopes for community: I would hope that our community from Nespelem to Electric City would be a place where every family could thrive.

Why I am part of the project: I want to be a part of helping this community reach its potential. This is a great place to live, but I would like to see more community activities for the kids in school, and also for the young adults all the way up to the elders in the community. I'm hoping that this program can help bring in a community center that would be welcoming for everyone here, and I envision seeing people from all ages, all backgrounds and all walks of life intermingling there and sharing life together.

HORIZONS: Community Leaders Reducing Poverty
Working together to move from poverty to prosperity for all.