Salmon, ID

The Salmon Valley Steering Committee (SVSC) and the Horizons III program received word from the North West Area Foundation (NWAF) that their program will continue until August 1^st, 2010. The program funded by the NWAF and administered by the University of Idaho was originally slated to end on April 30^th, 2010. The original 18 month long program was designed to develop community knowledge of poverty, increase leadership skills, craft a community vision and build action teams to work on items expressed throughout the program.The SVSC will continue to receive support from the University of Idaho in the form of a Community Coach through the extended program and the grant funds supporting the program will continue through the August extension.

The final phase of the program which began in August of 2009 is dedicated to action. The four action teams that were formed out of the Vision Rally have been working on implementing action plans through the last eight months and will be continuing their work with Horizons support for the next four months. The Action Teams include Leadership Development, Education, Transportation and Sustainable Natural Resource Based Economy (SNRBE).

Leadership was shown to be a top priority after the Vision Rally and Leadership Lemhi’s first session was launched on February 19th, with more sessions coming throughout the year.  The education team is working on the Services Directory, an electronic resource list giving first call providers and citizens contact information to obtain necessary services, before it is turned over to a board. The remainder of the Education Team continues work with a successful partnership with the Lemhi County Marriage Coalition for a dinner that was held on Valentine’s weekend.  Also a new endeavor called Fit for the Future, had its first gatherings.  It is a grassroots women’s gathering to have women help other women on what they determine to be their needs, both individually and to better the community.  The Transportation Team is looking at long-range goals with two members that stepped up and became the public transportation representatives for our region.  They have built their grant writing skills and have made contacts in the Idaho Transportation Department as well as the Department of Commerce.  The team is working on substantial growth of transportation services in the next few years.  Among other long-range work the SNRBE Team has been keeping in contact with our state officials and departments, working on issues that affect industry, ranching, mining, timber, outfitting and tourism. 

Horizons is a community based leadership development program to reduce poverty. If you would like to get involved with any of these action teams or have any questions the groups can be contacted at lchorizons@gmail.com or by visiting our SVSC meetings held the second Thursday of the month at 5pm at the Brooklyn Annex Suite 103

How will your community make decisions about seeking further resources to support its plans?

Is a system in place to seek, receive, monitor and report on new resources to support community work?

Is a system in place to maintain contact with or to continue to work with other communities? With your Delivery Organization? In other partnerships?

What new resources have been secured to assist the work of the community?

What is your community’s plan for maintaining a strong community leadership system?

How can your community sustain the changes it has already made in its leadership?

What structural changes have been made in how the community does its work/makes decisions?

What structural changes have been made so that your community leadership sustains partnerships with others?

The Salmon Valley Steering Committee (SVSC) held a special meeting on Jan 7th at Barbara Millers house. Salmon was provided by Craig Lantis and potluck was provided by steering committee members. Guests Kevin Hoffman and Trish Lantis joined the meeting as well. Use of future funds was the topic of discussion after the dinner and a proposed budget is available for those interested. Our next SVSC meeting will be held at 5pm on Jan14 suite 103 of the Brooklyn Annex. All public is welcome!