Hazelton, ID

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

We have a core of individuals that meet together regularly and discuss such matters.

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

We are in the process of putting in place an official system to accomplish this.

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

Yes, we have set up communication with other groups and partners for just that purpose of staying in communication with each other.

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

We have just had Clint Black from Jerome County Disaster Services and Lauren Carlson from Idaho Community Foundation at our  last meeting to see how we can partner with these organizations.

How will your community make decisions about seeking further resources to support its plans?We are preparing to get started on a community wide grant writing project to help further along all of our very ambitious plans.

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

There is currently not a system in place to monitor new resources with in our community.  We will discuss this at our next steering committee meeting.

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

We have a great email communication going to keep all of us in the loop as to what is going on with all of the committees.  Only a few people are not on our email list.  There are plans to meet with local leaders and organizations to grow our partnerships.  We are also planning on keeping in touch with other Horizons communities and try to develop relationships with local communities to keep the work going.

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

We have made connections with the Jerome County Emergency Preparedness Coordinator and several of us will be attending a leaders training in Jerome in a few weeks.  We are also planning to have a 16 Hour Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Training in our community in the coming months.

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

We are currently working on creating more partnerships within our community. We are also seeing others stepping forward into leadership and getting excited about the opportunities available through the Horizons program.

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

One way we can sustain the changes is through communication throughout the community. We are establishing ways to keep the community informed and connected.

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

We are seeing more groups forming to get things done in our communities which in turn means more leaders leading smaller projects and seeing more success.

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

When the community sees successful things happening it encourages more people to get involved and with more involvement  more great things can happen.  We are also seeing more established organizations in our area partnering with us and blending their resources with ours.

4. Sustaining action and creating structural change around poverty

What structures have been changed that will enable your community to address poverty in the long term?

We have a variety of people from a range of backgrounds trained in leadership that are stepping forward to take prominent roles in our community.   Some of these people are taking leadership roles in the Horizon program and some are stepping out of their comfort zone and getting involved in community leadership.

How will you monitor and evaluate your community’s progress in reducing poverty?

First and for most is by keeping track of those that are helped with very immediate needs- such as meals, food, bills, trainings, etc.  Also, by keeping people informed and recording how this effects our community involvement at the various trainings, campaigns, etc.

What community resources will be needed to sustain the community plan to reduce poverty?

We need a community web site just to stay current.   We also need a “community connector” (newsletter, resource guides, community boards, etc.) that informs and connects our residents to resources available to them and to keep our community connected and bonded as a community. We could utilize trainings/programs that would help our community to be more self sufficient.

What additional resources would make a difference in your community’s work to reduce poverty?

Internet portals available to the community located in public places to be utilized by those in need of the internet.   Also, things like a community garden and farmers market, youth center, children’s activities, etc. could make a tremendous difference here in our small community.

11. Taking action on community

In what ways is your community operating or working differently?

There seems to be more of a willingness to work together.  There is a more positive feel to the community.

In what new or expanded ways are people contributing to your community?

As a result of the Leadership Plenty trainings I ran for and was recently elected to the Hazelton City Counsel. 

How are low income involved? 

We have more low income families becoming part of our committees and coming to local events. 

What structures have been created or changed that will help your community?

We have a local soup kitchen that is well utilized.

What new partnerships have been created, and what difference have they made for your community? 

The school has partnered with our newsletter committee- it keeps the money for printing the newsletter local. 

Have you learned anything about how nearby communities like yours are taking action to reduce poverty? 

Yes, we recently attended a Partner Summit and got to see a presentation from the other Horizons Communities in our area and learn what they are doing to address poverty.

Do you see any opportunities to exchange information or combine efforts in this work?

Yes, through the different opportunities that horizons have given us we have many contact lists of others that are willing to share ideas and put their heads together with us to help each other.

7. Taking action on leadership

• How has your community leadership expanded?  Yes, as for myself, I ran for city council and was elected. 
• What changes have been made in who is now involved in leadership positions? We have a new mayor and new council members.
• Are more people participating in leadership?  We are having more people stepping up and being involved in committees.    
• Are different kinds of people (representing more sectors or parts of the community) now participating in community leadership?  Yes, we are seeing a wider range of involvement from diverse groups.
• Does the community leadership reflect the community’s demographic profile?  Our community leadership does not reflect our diverse demographic as of yet but we hope as our involvement in the horizons program goes so will other local organizations.   
• Are more low income people participating in community leadership?  Yes, we are having more low income people participating. 
• What changes have been made in the way your community recruits and trains new leaders? Sustains existing leaders?   We as a community are starting to seek out new involvement.  Instead of having the same people doing everything new people are being invited to part and they are responding. 

How does your plan for poverty reduction link with existing leaders, groups and organizations?

We are working with School, church, civic and town councils to coordinate resources to help residents.

What other partnership will help your community carry out its poverty reduction plan?

There are many training classes that are available for our members to attend that are directly related to meeting our goals. We have partnered with the SCCA to get the information out on low income assistance.  

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

Work together to further resources for support.

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

No, we have to get together to work on a system.

3.        Is a system in place to maintain contact with, or to continue to work with other communities?

We are working on the system.

4.       With your delivery organization? Yes

5.       In other partnerships? Work on other partnerships.

6.       What new resources have been secured to assist the work of the community? We are working on it.

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

Teach more leadership classes and try to implement them in the school.

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

The community needs more in the city itself to notice a difference.

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

The park is becoming more people friendly.

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

We are working on more partnerships.

What structures have been changed that will enable your community to address poverty in the long-term?
we are currently addressing the community’s needs as far as a local directory or reader boards, to help make our community members aware of what is going on locally, and in this directory, it would be a sort of “who does, sales, or barters goods or services locally.”

How will you monitor and evaluate your community’s progress in reducing poverty?
We will need to step back and look at our community’s overall accomplishments over the next couple of years, several times a year.  We will probably need to make adjustments to “our plan for our community” accordingly.  See what is working, and what needs to be looked at differently, and what needs to be eliminated to keep us going in the right direction.

What community resources will be needed to sustain the community plan to reduce poverty?

We will probably always need a community directory, a local food bank, and a community meeting area.

What additional resources would make a difference in your community’s to reduce poverty?

I believe the more workshops that we have to get the knowledge that we need to bring to our community’s the better. The more knowledge that we have to do what we need to do, the better off our communities will be in the long run.