Hot Springs, SD Horizons

Do you want to help make Hot Springs a place where youth have opportunities for activities that help them enjoy life and fulfill their potential? We have an active Children & Youth Task Force working on exciting projects. Some of the objectives have been completed, but there is much to do, including fundraising for a Boys & Girls Club. There may be a place for you to help; you only have to ask.

Come to the Horizons community dinner Feb 21 at the American Legion (6 p.m., lasagne, good food, good people) and sign up for a team, or — if you can’t make it — leave a comment here with your contact information and someone will get in touch with you.
 

Goal One, Objective 1: improve and expand youth programs
in the community.Implementation Steps…………………………………………………….Completion Date 1. Research: Conduct interviews with schools in other communities
where successful after-school and Friday programs are in place ………. Ongoing

TheE HS Housing Authority has recently purchased the Evans Hotel from a private company. THis will insure that improvements are made and the facility will remain a facility for low income elderly housing.

I have been asked, “Why don’t we have more blogs on our site?” In thinking about this, I have come up with several reasons.

1. Signing up as a user and accessing the page to write a blog is difficult.
2. People are uncomfortable writing their thoughts for all to read.
3. People may think that they do not have anything useful to write about.

The answer to the first problem is not too difficult. On the right side of the main screen just below the search bar is a section called pages. In this section are two helpful sets of instructions; How to sign up as a user and How to write a blog. Clicking on either of these will provide you with all the information you need to sign up and to access the page to begin writing your own blog.

The first problem is relatively easy to resolve, but the second problem is a bit more difficult. We all are afraid of criticism and writing our thoughts on the internet for all to see and comment on is a bit daunting. But, this is really no different than a conversation. If you discuss something with a friend or acquaintence, you may receive some criticism in return and you use this to your advantage to change your thoughts or update your ideas. You may also receive encouragement. Some people will really like what you say. Your thoughts and ideas are wanted and criticism and encouragement are part of the process. This blog is a way to make the Horizons Project work and even criticism of an idea can be important to the efforts of this blog.

Third, yes you do have something important to say. Everyone does. The Horizons Project is about community and every one of you are part of this community and everything you have to say is of value. We have several questions to help you get started. You don’t have to write pages. In fact, a good blog note is only a paragraph or two. A sentence or two on one of the topics below would be a good start. Remember, the process is to create a dialog. Your comments may get more people involved and therefore a more successful result for the Horizons Project. Remember, your comment does not have to be positive. The process is to create change and if change is not happening, then everyone needs to know this. Many of the questions below are about changes. If you don’t see any change, then this is an opportunity to let everyone know.

If you are really unsure about what you are writing, type it out first on your word processor and let your family and friends read it first. Take their advice, criticism and encourgagement to refine your comment. Then you can cut and paste it to the blog site or re-type it in, if necessary.

Here are some questions from Cheryl Jacobs that really need to be answered.

Category 6: Building skills and mobilizing around leadership
1. What changes are you seeing in the way community leadership is exercised or carried out? How is it different?
2. How has your community changed after LeadershipPlenty® training?
3. In what ways have leadership skills been improved/enhanced? What is different?
4. What changes are you seeing in the way leadership is carried out? How decisions get made in your community?
5. What difference does the involvement of low income people make in community leadership?

Category 10: Building skills and mobilizing around community
1. How has your community changed since joining Horizons?
2. Is your community more hopeful about the future? How do you know?
3. What evidence do you have that community members see poverty as a community issue?
4. Are more people involved in creating ideas, plans and taking actions on behalf of the community? What difference does this make?
5. What new partnerships have been created (within your community, or between your community and others)?

Here is an updated draft of our Strategic Plan. Please review this most recent work to date. Your thoughts and comments will be a great help.

Strategic Plan 2nd Draft

The Horizons Visioning (Strategic Planning) Committee continues to work on the Horizons strategic plan. Drafts are posted on this site. Your comments are appreciated.

Watch for a “rollout” of the plan with a free dinner (chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, the works) at the American Legion between the third week of January, first part of February. The Visioning Committee will present the strategic plan and ask, who will join a team to work on each objective.

The teams will work on objectives related to affordable housing, wellness and prevention, entrepreneurship, programming to be aired on the community cable channel, youth activities, and others.

We could see another set of study circles to study and discuss affordable health care. That is a complex issue!

We have heard over the past year that we need to do some community planning for Hot Springs. We have heard this regarding parks, streets, and general infrastructure. Do you think we need more planning, and if so, what topics should have a formal plan?

On October 23, 2007, in Sturgis, 2 Horizons activists attended a training session on blogging. Hot Springs now has its own private community-wide forum to communicate information, ideas, opinion, toward our overall goal of alleviating poverty and creating a thriving community.

Thank you NW Area Foundation!