Association of Washington Cities Conference

The Association of Washington Cities asked us to come and speak at their annual conference in Vancouver, Washington on June 23rd. We were able to share about Partnerships, Communication and working with your Town Council. We had approximately 60 Mayors and Town Council members attend our workshop. There was great feedback from the attendees. As a bonus we were able to attend any of the workshops for free. WOW! They had a sign up at the conference that has embodied our philosophy as a Horizon Community; “Never miss an opportunity to learn something new!” What a wonderful opportunity it was. Not only to share the Horizon model and process we have been through, but also the opportunity to learn. I have uploaded my notes from one of the workshops on The Physiology of Leadership by Robin Rose. They are available on the blog under Horizon Project Links. What a wealth of information and one of those Ah-Ha moments to give insight into our town and working with people. You will have to read the notes (5 pages) to find out more. All of the Power Points and handouts should be available on their website (http://www.awcnet.org/) soon. If you want to see what we presented at the conference our title was Partnerships in Economic Development – Why Relationships Matter. I just want to encourage everyone, “Please take advantage of each and every opportunity to learn. You never know what connection you might make, insight you may gain or skill you may develop. Never Stop Learning!

Community Connections Center Staying Connected to our Community and World

We have officially been open 4 months. That is hard to believe. It was just yesterday we were gutting the buildings and hauling the stuff to the dump. Since we opened March 1st we have seen a steady increase in usage. In March we had 409 computer usages, in April 510 and in May 794, mid-June was at 546. Total signed up users since the middle of June are 204 with 130 adults and 74 students. We have 15 trained volunteers that help keep the center open 7 days a week. New people are signing up every day. Since opening we have had approximately 30 people take beginning computer classes. Just today a young gal came in to type up a resume, of course there are the kids that are not getting into trouble on the streets because they hang out here, people checking e-mail, watching TV, doing homework, researching, keeping up with the world news, doing their e-bay business, home-based businesses and more. Two ladies from Canada have stopped by and needed to print a receipt in order to cross over the border. Printing income tax returns and the list goes on. What did we do before we had the Community Connections Center?

So what about that second building? Has it been used? Glad you asked. It has held a gun safety class (30 attending), an after school Kid’s club for 3 months (average 8 kids each week), weekly Narcotics Anonymous Meetings (growing from 2 to 8), Growing Healthy/Eating Healthy Workshop (35 in attendance), Food Sustainability and Healthy Eating Workshop (34 in attendance), Rural Resources Medical Insurance Counseling, SCORE Counseling (Retired Business Executive counseling new entrepreneurs), an Artisan and Craftsman organizational meeting (20 attending) and an Artists Unveiling. I would say that covers about A – Z. If you have a use for the building, just call Sandi Everson at (509) 732-8847 or (509) 690-7548.

I think a huge thanks is due again to the USDA, EcliptixNet, and Art and Nina Grobben for this beautiful facility. On the horizon we want to fence the back yard for future events. It is just $50.00 a section which includes a plaque acknowledging your donation posted on the fence. If you want to donate a section of fence contact NCPR (509) 563-4502 and leave a message or call Sandi Everson at the above numbers.

Community Connections Center

Well, we have successfully completed our first month. Approximately 90 people signed up the first month to use the center. Rural Resources trained 8 new community members in basic computer literacy, Microsoft word and excel in the center at no charge. We have 13 trained volunteers to monitor the center and keep it open 7 days a week. We have not been totally full yet, but close. Our current hours of operation are:
Monday 3:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Tuesday 12:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Wednesday 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Thursday 12:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Friday 9:00 am - 9:00 pm
Saturday 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Sunday 12:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Come and see what the Community Connections Center is all about? We always can use more volunteers. The center is only open as there are willing volunteers to staff it. See you there!

Northport Schools to Begin Virtual School

Exciting things are taking place in the small town of Northport. On Tuesday January 19th Dan Benjamin, of FutureEd, presented an opportunity to Northport Schools to create a Virtual School. The School board unanimously voted for Dr. Key, Northport Schools Superintendent and Daniel Benjamin to begin drawing up a contract to be reviewed by the Northport Schools attorney. By the February 9th School Board meeting this agreement should be signed and our community will be well on the way to opening a Virtual Academy by September of 2010.

NCPR designed, addressed and sent out about 600 flyers to local residents advising them of the meeting. Approximately 70 people attended, listening to Mr. Benjamin’s presentation and asking numerous questions. At one point our new mayor, Mike Lamb, stood up and said “OK, I want to know, how many are for this?” Overwhelmingly the crowd was supportive of the proposition.

The Virtual School has the possibility of creating 2 non-teaching jobs per 100 students. This is a much needed boost to a dwindling economy in our area. We just want to acknowledge the leadership and visioning of a few individuals. Four teachers, Leesa Ewen, Don Baribault, Terri Carlson and Heidi Leaden for hours beyond measure; researching and taking the administrative classes necessary to successfully lead this school. To Eric Middlesworth, TECH extraordinaire, for his leadership in setting up the new school and the technical basis for this project to get off the ground. To Dr. Leroy Key, our interim school superintendent, who has vision and drive to move this school forward into the technology age. I am sure there are more individuals who have donated time and to you we are also grateful. Each one of these individuals has embarked on an ambitious timeline to see this project come to completion. What an awesome opportunity for our little town!

Americorps*VISTA Update

NCPR was awarded an Americorps*VISTA project for the EMS program. Ed Nichols will be attending VISTA Volunteer Training in Seattle, WA in early July. Sandra Everson will be attending VISTA Volunteer Supervisor Training in Dallas, TX July 21 - 24th. We hope to kick off the project with an information booth at the "Whole Darn Town Garage Sale" June 24th and 25th. Ed will be working with students from the school who would like to take on the EMS for their senior project. Campaign will consist of signage of our rural area for easier location by our EMS Volunteers in emergency situations, education in the Public school about Fire Safety and Fire Safety assessment of your home. More details will be posted after the training.

NCPR and Northport Chamber of Commerce Work Together for Northport

Continuing our fight against poverty and encouragement of business visability and tourism, members of Northport Community Preservation and Restoration (NCPR) and the Northport Chamber of Commerce(NCofC) participated in a hands on class to redesign and implement the Northport Chamber of Commerce Web Site. Brendon Michael Hall, a web savy relative, worked with 9 community members to create the site using Dreamweaver and Fireworks. The maintenance of the website will be left to the Chamber of Commerce. The web site is scheduled to Go Live by 1/5/09. The address is http://www.northportwa.us/

The class was squeezed into the holiday break. Designing a web site "by committee" is sometimes a challenge, but we perservered. The new web site should serve the needs of tourists and locals alike with local business information along with vacation ideas and resources.

Art and Nina Grobben hosted us. Nina provided LOTs of Coffee, goodies and lunch. Art even took off my tire chains!

Thanks go to our hosts, Art and Nina, and to Brendon for making himself available to support us.

4-H Mentoring Program

Three adults received training as 4-H leaders from WSU Stevens County Extension 4-H educators recently as they explored the idea of forming a 4-H club as part of the Youth Mentoring Project. It looks like we will start a 4-H club!!!

An additional training will be scheduled for September. If you are interested in attending please contact Sandi at 732-8847.

LeadershipPlenty

Over the past school year 24 High School students attended and completed LeadershipPlenty as an elective during school. The course was taught by a youth trained in the LeadershipPlenty curriculum as part of the Horizons project.

Updating Chambers Website

The Northport Horizons group is offering computer classes, including building, designing, and maintaining websites. Please contact Sandi at 732-8847 if interested.

In partnership with the Northport Chamber of Commerce, we will be revamping the community website.

WSU Service Learning Project

A group of 25 Washington State University Human Development students worked with the Northport Youth Mentoring Horizons group to develop a life skills curriculum that can be used in an high school elective course. The curriculum includes information on applying to post secondary education, writing resumes, financial aid, and more. They also did some fundraising and donated $400 to the school. The money can be used to buy materials to supplement the curriculum.

The school is planning to integrate the curriculum into a leadership course this fall.

Grant Writing Workshop

Wow! Over 30 people attended the two-day Grant Writing Workshop held in February at the school. We now have a whole group of potential grant writers just waiting for a grant to write. Do you have any ideas?

We have built capacity among our citizens to seek funding for projects that will reduce poverty.

What Horizons did in 2007...

Here are some of things a committed group of volunteers accomplished in 2007

• Community event signs
• LeadershipPlenty being taught in the high school
• A community-wide clean up
• High speed internet access
• Increased communication within the community