Hot Springs, SD Horizons

We have got to do a much better job in HS in suppressing the negativity. There seems to be a very small group of people who are opposed to virtually every new change and, as a result we have a hard time gaining traction in moving ahead on major initiatives. There is a cadre of folks who do take a leadership position in making good things happen for the welfare of the community but, as is so often the case, the “silent majority” reigns. We have got to find ways to empower this silent group to move to the front in making their voices heard as they are the people who are wishing things could move forward without constant fighting and contention. They seem to be unwilling to take a public stand for fear of some kind of retribution.

I hear Stephanie Anise, leader of the “placemat project” to depict and publicize adventure tours in and around Hot Springs, has created an opportunity for our young people to develop competencies ranging from computer graphics to merchandising. She will unveil this when it’s up and running.

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

Are you interested in joining a team to carry out one or more objectives of the Health Care Goal? Are you interested in realizing the vision of a new hospital? Or creating a series of classes that lead to making Hot Springs the “wellness capital of South Dakota” — a place where strong healthy children and adults are engaged in healthy outdoor activities, dropping weight and building muscle and bone; a destination place for tourists who want to heal body and mind — where fitness centers, spas, massage therapists, craniosacral, reiki and energy healers are fully booked. Where restaurants have specialty menus that feature whole foods, organic foods, vegetarian meals. Or would you be more interested in helping to set up a transportation system to help people get to medical appointments?

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 6: Address the issue of quality, affordable healthcare
for the Hot Springs community.

Goal 6 - Objective 1: Offer series of wellness education classes.

Implementation Steps Completion Date

1. Create a list of possible subjects……………………………..…………………… 04/01/08
2. Research and recruit competent instructors……….…………………….…… 06/01/08
3. Finalize list of offerings……………………………………………………….….…… 06/01/08
4. Find a location and schedule the classes………………………………….….…. 09/01/08
5. Advertise the availability of the classes……………………………………….….09/15/08
6. Begin the sessions…………………………………………………………………………10/01/08
7. Explore feasibility of providing wellness packages to tourists….……… 01/31/09

Method of Evaluation……………………………………………………………….Completion Date

Log number of attendees at each session………………………………………………… Each session
Elicit evaluations from attendees. ………………………………………………………..………. 11/31/08
Assess cost/benefits of program……………………………………………………….…..…….. 12/15/08
Decision whether to develop tourist wellness-package………….………………….…….. 02/15/09

Goal 6 - Objective 2: Provide support to construct new hospital.

Implementation Steps………………………………………………………Completion Date

1. Contact city council and county commissioners to solicit their support. 02/15/08

2. Work with Hospital Board to determine if local fund drive is needed…. 02/20/08

3. Provide help with the fund drive (if one is done)……………………………… 02/27/08

4. Help disseminate factual information about benefits of hospital by blogging, writing letters, speaking at civic groups…………………………………….…………….. Ongoing

Method of Evaluation……………………………………………………Completion Date

City and County officials have been contacted………………………………..…… 02/28/08
Fund drive support plan is in place …………..………………………………….…… 03/01/08

Goal 6 - Objective 3: Develop transportation system to help people get to their medical appointments.

Implementation Steps……………………………………………………….Completion Date

1. Inventory transportation that is currently available…………….……… 03/01/08

2. Provide questionnaires at local medical facilities to assess
need for help with transportation. …………………………..……………………04/01/08

3. Identify gaps in transportation coverage…………………..………………….. 05/15/08

4. Solicit responsible volunteers to provide rides .where
regular transport is unavailable or not feasible …………………………… 06/01/08

5. Develop a flyer to distribute community-wide offering the service….06/15/08

Method of Evaluation ……………………………………………………..Completion Date

Gather data from volunteers on frequency of use………………………………….. 09/15/08
Interview people who use the service……………………………………………….…… 09/15/08

___________________________________________________________

George Kotti responds to questions posed by a Horizons Program Coordinator:

1. How has your community changed since joining Horizons?

I believe that a door to a more positive dialog has been opened. Prior to Horizons the community was very segmented. As the Study Circles began, individuals from different segments of the community began to see that we all had similar concerns about our community and that we all could work together to address some of the major issues that we face. I believe that we have laid a foundation for working together in the future. The progress toward addressing youth concerns has been a very shining example of this cooperation.

2. Is your community more hopeful about the future? How do you know?

I think that the community is more hopeful about the future. Simply meeting together to create a strategic plan has caused many of us to hope that many of our community’s challenges can be met. One specific example has been the Chamber’s affordable housing project. When the program was first announced it was received with mixed reviews. I believe that the identification of a lack of housing by the Horizon’s Study Circles and the successful completion of the first home going to a young Hot Springs couple has increased interest in the program by identifying additional lots where homes can be built. Thanks to Horizon’s for their support.

George H. Kotti
Executive Director
Hot Springs Area Chamber of Commerce

I for one appreciate the positive comments appearing on this blogsite. Hot Springs has earned a reputation as a contentious community, but have we not learned how expensive this can be. Positive regard for each other’s contributions is healthier in every way, almost guaranteed to reduce property taxes! Truly we have much to appreciate, we are a unique community — blessed with a talented arts community, a powerful allied-health and complementary-health community, and a lot of smart creative people. We are blessed with location-location, as they say in Chamber circles, great climate, warm springs and a beautiful natural environment. We’re off the beaten track (off the Heartland Hwy, that is), but that is part of our charm. (Our amazing deer population is, for tourists anyway, part of our charm.) Working together we can all do better.

People will have an opportunity soon, to join teams to carry out Horizons strategic plan objectives. The unapproved final draft is elsewhere on this site, posted this date. Take a look to see where you want to plug in to help achieve a short-term or long-term objective. There is something for everyone in this plan.

I am logging in as one of many, I hope, that sees the need for a professional city planner in Hot Springs. A full time planner, listing areas of improvements and the priority each alone demands would be helpful to those now working for the city in all the various offices/positions, along with us taxpaying citizens - who deserve to see what our dollars can do for this community. One sure can not run a progressive and successful household without a major plan, why should this growing city be without one? Beside, a well planned schedule of things to COME, promotes excitement amongst the people, gives hope, and the idea of refreshing continuous accomplishment, i.e. lay lines that are sound and trustable. Yes,as far as I’m concerned, a city planner is THE major missing player on our home town team.

Since the Hot Spgs community has become involved in the Horizons concept, a more focused view of the scope and nature of poverty in this community has emerged. Many persons who otherwise would be carving out their own future here have paused, and begun participating in one or more of the target areas of need. We all know what is needed to make a quantum leap, economically speaking. We all know we have yet to discover a solution to the jobs dilemma. Yet, we have chosen not to close our eyes to “inching” our way forward. And so the Horizons based community Children & Youth Steering Committee has chosen to make a concerted effort to bring a Boys & Girls Club of America program to the community. If we can expand our kids opportunities to succeed even in small ways, we can reduce, a perceived poverty of opportunity for our kids.

This week we received a “report card” from SDSU Extensions administrator of the Horizon blog site. I admit, we received a poor rating, and are out of the running for winning a laptop for the program. If we’d had more bloggers we would have won that prize. Loss of the prize is not crucial. However, not taking advantage of a great opportunity to communicate as a community would be sad. I really think people are going to discover this site and find out how transformative it could be, for Hot Springs. It is the ONLY way that many many people can be involved, and all have an equal opportunity so long as they have access to the internet.

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)?