Scobey, MT

It is with a heavy heart, though working toward the future, that the community of Daniels County says “see you later” to County Extension Agent, Bobbie Roos. Bobbie has been the lead coordinator for the Horizons Program since the beginning of the project 3 years ago. Bobbie has been a wealth of information and networking for a variety of successful programs that she has brought into the community. The Horizons Program will be led by Mike Stebleton and Esther Kramer, bringing the next phase of the program to another level. On July 27th, the group met to discuss the budget for the next phase, as well as involvement in the grant proposal to Enhance the Health, Well-being and Daily Functioning of the elderly in rural MT.

Peggy Iba, Regional Coordinator, from Glendive, also attended the meeting to help with the transfer of leadership and to work on the next phase of the program. A few of the goals will be to improve Health Literacy, Personal Healthcare Responsibility and to empower each person to continue independent living as an elderly person in our rural community.

Another goal of the meeting was to focus on educating our community members concerning energy efficiency, as the rates of heat and gas continue to soar, Horizons would like to help our community become more energy aware and prepare in advance to keep costs for the winter months as affordable as possible. Discussion of having copies of the “End of Suburbia”, a DVD educating viewers about energy, at the D.C. Library for interested individuals will be advertised for check out. This film will increase awareness of differences each day we each can make to conserve energy and save money, as well.

Other discussion included helping with matching funds for CDBG for housing projects and beautification in Daniels County, moving the Flaxville School building to an Independent Living Facility, as well as discussion concerning ambulance and fire department needs, along with senior citizen center and chamber of commerce concerns.

Next meeting will be August 10th at the Extension/Ambulance meeting room at 2:00pm! All interested are invited to attend!

Our best of luck to Bobbie Roos in her move to Ravalli County and our forward thinking will bring her back in years to come, thus we bid her “see you later!” and thanks for all you have done in the community and the State of MT!

The top three responses to improve the quality of life in Scobey and Daniels county were livable wage jobs 68%, improved economy and health care are 44 & 42% of the 105 respondents checking these items out of 8 possibilities. 38% are willing or very willing to volunteer to help with a Horizons project. That’s pretty remarkable as only 10% of those completing this survey that was published in the Daniels County Leader, the weekly newspaper, had been involved in study Circles. Of the topics listed, top issues for Scobey were 1. youth, health and education 2. economic development almost tied followed by community enhancement and housing. From January 3, 2008 to March 13, 2008 the local weekly newspaper published the results of the Horizons survey on 11- part series. It communicated to local and regional readers, what the responses to the survey thought about the past, present and future of Daniels County and how those responses felt about poverty and solutions to address it could be handled in the community.

Pioneer Days/Dirty Shame Show Dedicated to the 1963 Chorus Line - is the byline for the cover of the Daniels County Leader this week! The Dirty Shame Belles are celebrating their 45th Birthday in 2008! It is the 42nd annual Pioneer Days and Antique Show (June 28-29) and the Dirty Shame Show (June 27-29) are both dedicated this year to a special group of 13 ladies - the original Dirty Shame Belles chorus line!

The weekend gets underway Friday, June 27th, at 7pm when the first Dirty Shame Show performs, featuring the Dirty Shame Belles dancing and kicking to the music of the Dixieland Jazz Band, which always begins playing 30 minutes prior to showtime! Rick Graetz, famed Montana publisher, labeled Pioneer Town “the best museum of its kind in the Northwest”. View the outstanding outdoor museum with 35 preserved buildings (51 in all) on 20 acres portraying early 20th centruy homestead life.

The Horizons program, partnering with the Daniels County Museum Board, Nemont, Scobey Lions, Scobey Schools, Daniels County 4H/Fairgrounds, Daniels County NRCS and the City of Scobey, along with a host of individual volunteers and groups have taken pride in preparing for this weekend! The Class of 2008 spent an entire day, working at the museum grounds to get a head start on the preparation for this weekend in particular! The group worked to take down lights from exteriors of buildings, clean inside of buildings, clean up the grounds, miscellaneous repairs and clean-up throughout the Pioneer Town area were completed throughout the day! The group of 15 young men and women believed in the cause of the community effort to the extent that they donated the remaining funds in their class account, $2,000+, to the Daniels County Museum Association.

Local people enjoy being involved in the show, volunteering at the various booths, breakfasts and ticket stands. Pioneer Town is a great place to enjoy history, visit with old and new friends, and experience a variety of good clean fun! Call the museum at 487- 5965 if you are interested in attending a show or have any questions!

Information obtained from the Daniels County Leader, Scobey

Website: (http://www.scobey.org/museum.html)

For the past two years, the Flaxville Local non-profit Development Corporation (LDC), has been working to assist in the completion of a feasibility study for the school building. The Daniels County Horizons program has been extremely supportive in helping to find some financial support and assisting in letters of support. The Horizons program has also provided activities to use as fundraisers for the continuation of congregate meals for the senior citizen community, as well as keeping the building in good shape for the future.

The Daniels County Commissioners have been supporting the congregate meal program for many years in the Flaxville community, in the school lunchroom. The community has held flea markets, card parties, raffles, written grants, as well as a variety of other fundraisers to help fund the overhead of the school building. LDC memberships have also been established to provide access to use the gym and exercise room for their personal or family use, as well as membership to the quilting/embroidery machine room. Along with the quilting/embroidery machine room, there are community members willing to educate others on the machines for safety purposes, for the person, as well as the machines!

Scott Cromwell, Studio 360 Architect, in Helena, originally of Flaxville, is completing the feasibility study. Funding for the grant has been from the Montana Community Development Block Grant source. With the combined efforts of the Flaxville Town Council, Scott Cromwell, the community and the Daniels County Horizons program, the Flaxville LDC will be holding their two year anniversary this year.

The Flaxville LDC invites all members of the community and county to attend an awareness session of the results of the feasibility study in the near future. We look forward to the findings of the study and learning if the building will be best utilized as an independent living facility.

Studio 360 website: (http://www.s360a.com./)

Throughout the trainings of the Horizons program and meetings attended by community members in the past year, Daniels County has revived support from MAP, Midwest Assistance Program, an organization dedicated to helping rural communities and tribal nations improve their environment, quality of life and achieve self-sustainability. MAP Website: (http://www.map-inc.org/states_montana.html). For many years, the Town of Flaxville has received assistance from Paul Torok, who is now working in the Western Montana area. Some Horizon members attended an educational meeting in Wolf Point and Sidney and made connections with Sandy Kust, resource development advisor for MAP, for our area, who will be working in our region.

The City of Scobey and Town of Flaxville, as well as Daniels County will have the opportunity to work with Sandy Kust in the future on projects that involve a variety of areas, such as infrastructure, as well as helping with the mission statement of MAP to help rural areas improve and be self-sustaining. We look forward to the future, working with MAP and having great resources like Sandy and Paul to assist in a variety of projects.

We have also continued using the resources of GNDC, Great Northern Development Corporation and the expertise of Linda Twitchell in Wolf Point. GNDC Website: (http://www.gndc.org/). For many years, Linda has been a great resource in our area for businesses, as well as local agencies. The purpose at Great Northern Development Corporation is to provide professional services that enable others to reach their economic goals and improve their lives! GNDC provides assistance in: Planning, Public facilities, Housing, Economic Development, Loan Packaging, Business Plan Development, as well as guidance in finding out the right person or group to contact.

With these resources on our side, we look forward to making a difference in Daniels County! Visit the websites to find out more about these great resources and feel free to share with the Horizons program your ideas at the next meeting!

Sandy Kust, resource development advisor
Ballantine, Mont.
skust@map-inc.org

Linda Twitchell,
Great Northern Development Corporation
233 Cascade St. - Wolf Point, MT 59201
info@gndc.org

It’s happened at previous meetings but now seems in bedded in the community. The city and other organizations like 911 are coming to the Horizons group to help make things happen. This Sunday it was the city that met with the horizons steering committee at their monthly meeting asking to collaborate for help with the swimming pool. The problem is the cost of running a community pool is around $34,000. Income from users generates $4000 leaving a shortfall of $30,000. It doesn’t take rocket science to see the budget draining. After brainstorming the group thought the public needed to be educated. Scobey built it’s pool 52 years ago after 2 kids drowned in the river. They were trying to solve the poverty issue (poor in spirit) offering a positive place for youth to go. The family rate is now $75/year no matter how many kids. The group suggested raising rates and offering scholarships for those who couldn’t afford it. Also they are starting with an awareness campaign featured on the front page of this week’s Daniels Co. Leader, the weekly paper. (It’s great to have the staff writer, Mike Stebleton, a strong believer that poverty reduction is the key to a thriving community, on the steering committee.) A radioathon is in the pool’s future as Scobey has generated over $700,000 in radioathons for different causes through the years. Other groups such as the food bank and 911 address system have partnered with the Horizons steering committee. They are known for making well thought out decisions with a cross section of the community; for thinking outside the box on what resources are available and making structural changes to better their community.

On April 28, fourteen community members attended a workshop designed to help them learn more about Serving on Public Boards in Montana. Paul Lachapelle, MSU Extension Community Development Specialist, was the guest speaker. The workshop was sponsored by Montana Horizons and Scobey Horizons.

Paul takes a somewhat “dry” subject and makes it very informative and useful for community members serving in elected capacity or as appointed volunteers on county boards or city councils. The two hours flew by with lots of questions still wanting to be asked at the end of the workshop. Paul was able to distribute his handbook entitled “Serving on County Boards, Districts, Commissions and Committees in Montana - A Handbook for Members, Local Government Officials and Citizens”free to all participants. This was also made possible by Montana Horizons.

In rural communities, serving on boards, is many times a honor or a burden, depending on how an individual feels about volunteering in a community. However, serving with an understanding of the Montana Code Annotated (MCA) is imperative for a board member to be effective and make a change in their community.

The attendees were all members of either a County Board or worked for local government as Mayors or clerks. Paul did an outstanding job and was held as a “Scobey captive” for a hour after the program answering many questions.

This program aided in addressing two of the Action Plans in Scobey’s Vision - Communications and Economic Development. It illustrated how boards making decisions that affect community members can be more effective when board business is conducted properly. It can also facilitate a Board to be more supportive of needs and concerns of a community due to understanding how a board is suppose to function within it’s resolutions and by-laws.

At the April Horizons montly meeting, folks had lot’s to discuss.  The City Council had invited Horizon to join forces in pursuing a Grant with the Montana Department of Commerce to conduct a Home Survey that would then open the door for the City of Scobey to apply for a $450,000 Community Development Block Grant.  Matching funds of $5,000 were needed for the project to begin.

With the help of Linda Twitchell with the Great Northern Development Corporation in Wolf Point, a grant for the housing survey was submitted on April 18, 2008.

 The Housing and Neighborhood Renewal Grant offers communities a wide range of activities to help provide decent, safe and sanitary housing for low and moderate income residents at an affordable price and to combat blighting influences in the community. Horzions in Scobey knows this is a concern for the citizens, with the many responses that addressed that very need in the survey done in 2007.

At that initial meeting it was awesome to see a chain of events on seeking support for the project. In the Horizon Steering Committee are members of othe organizations. As we discussed this project with a City representative, a member of the Lions Club wanted to take the request to his organization. But a member of the Scobey Alumni wanted to include her group. What a wonderful change of reactions!!  Everyone saw this investment of $5,000 as more than just “here’s the money”, but a geniune opportunity to impact the many needs of the low to moderately income members of our community.

By the end of the week the matching funds were not only coming from Horizons, but from others:

Horizons - $2,000, Scobey Lions - $1,000 , Scobey Alumni Association - $500 and City of Scobey - $$1,500.

Thank you Northwest Foundation for helping us help others in our community.

The Horizon Committee group that matches the title of this article met at the Visioning meeting and came up with the following list of ideas.  We are looking forward to meeting again and having interested community members join us!

Horizon Youth, Health and Education Committee 

           Tap into extended alumni 

           Maintain Schools, (improve, enhance)            

           Future, Technology (Telemedicine), Advancement (Dr. that likes hunting) 

          Youth as future community members 

           Keep youth safe 

          Youth serving Seniors – Jobs providing Service 

           Intergenerational Activities            

           Tap into visioning people – (Local visionaries and visiting folks to help out) 

           Educate public – what we have here – Marketing group 

           Holistic Healthcare Education  (Homespun Health, Massage) 

           Increase Awareness – pass along knowledge 

           Foundations – encourage legacies/planned giving            

           Encourage and Develop Mental Health Services 

Action Items:

1.  Tap into enthusiastic visioning, creative people.  (Lunch, brainstorm, write, share)

2.  Goal:  $2M in permanently restricted funds (through planned giving – life insurance, grants,agents, folks we haven’t asked yet)  Example:  $25/month - $50,000 insurance gift to be given locally.

3.  Personal funded scholarships – ($500 awarded to PTA, CNA, etc.) Education, books…

4.  Find out where the money is….

The Scobey/Daniels County has a new team: The Horizon’s Community Action and Coaching Team.  We are a real DREAM team,  we have the advantage of recruiting new players everyday.  Starting in January 2008 we are initiating  monthly “study circles” or roundtable discussion sessions and are inviting anyone who is interested in help put action to our vision statement!  The team does not want to lose monemtum in our Horizon’s efforts to reduce poverty, encourage leadership and making change in the community. We have been in training since September 2006, so we are ready to start our strategies rolling, putting them to ACTION! 

Above are Bevy, Chase and Dylan ready to get to work. They are the younger team recruits and are being trained to blog.  We call them the BCD bloggers, which stands for Bevy, Chase, and Dylan.  

Another team member, Edgar Richardson, is a dedicated local historian. He was a great addition to our November 29 Visioning Event, giving a presentation on the history of Scobey and Daniels County. The photo at the right is of Edgar at the Visioning. For over a 100 years, Scobey and Daniels County have seen positive and negative changes, always persevering which gives our Horizon’s Community Action and Coaching Team hugh encouragement for the future.  Edgar’s knowledge of our roots will enhance our efforts to move forward to our 2020 vision. If your in town, come join us January 6, 2008 at 2 PM at the Extension Meeting Room. 

There is one special requirement when you come to the monthly meetings, no “complaining”, just action !!!