The ND Department of Agriculture has a great website with information for local foods initiatives. Many of our Horizons communities have been working on community gardens, school gardens, farmer’s markets and planting for the hungry. Check out the their website for five local foods newsletters and links to many resources and information.
www.agdepartment.com/Programs/LocalFoodsInfo.htm
Over the course of 2009, Do Something (http://www.dosomething.org) will award 52 grants of $500 each to help young people implement or expand a community action project, program or organization.
To be eligible, applicants must be no older than 25 and a U.S. or Canadian citizen. Do Something grants cannot be used to fund travel costs, individual sponsorships, shipping costs, individual school fees, or fundraising expenses.
Do Something grant applications are accepted on a rolling basis and awarded on a weekly basis.
http://fconline.foundationcenter.org/pnd/15016678/dosomething
The Travel and Tourism Leader award was given to Kathy Stremick, Walhalla’s Economic Developer during the ND Tourism Conference in Mandan this year. Kathy has been vital in developing her local area’s tourism industry which has positively impacted the region. The “Rendezvous Region” term originated with help from Kathy.
She assisted in organizing the snowmobile trail system in the early ’80s, organized the development of the Pembina Gorge Trail Stem, Pembina River Trail, Rendezvous Region Scenic Backway, scenic overlooks and the local bike path. She also helped develop the Gorge Arts & Heritage Council. Congratulations Kathy!
Nice work everyone on your blogs! Mike is working on a little different instruction sheet so as new bloggers get signed up, there will be a picture of exactly what to type in and click on. Watch for that! Keep up the great work.
EVERY Horizons community has great stories to tell and time permitting, we would love to hear from everyone! I do hope that you’ll share your stories on your blog because many people are now reading them!
We did hear briefly from three communities to help tell the story of what is happening across the state. Thank you to Kathy Stremick of Walhalla, Gloria Covert and Joann Rodenbiker of Rocklake and Alva Schoepp of Steele for their great updates. It was an energizing part of the program and thank you all very much!
At our Horizons celebration next summer, we plan to have stories from EVERY community involved so start thinking about how you might present what has happened in your community over the 18 month period. I have the wonderful opportunity of hearing about many of them first hand through your phone calls, e-mails and press releases and share them with others often. Please continue to share and think about how you’ll share in the future. - Lynette
A total of 978 individuals participated in portions or all of the Study Circles conversations across North Dakota. One-hundred-one youth and 679 adult participants completed the post-survey which was used to assess knowledge gained and the likelihood of further action on poverty. The charts below provide an overview of knowledge gained and likelihood of further action by North Dakotans overall. Please click on these thumbnails to see a larger view.
Thanks for all for the great work on getting feedback from many more individuals in your community around a vision and plan for the future. Many communities are using the NDSU Group Decision Center for an online survey while others are using the paper/pencil method for feedback. All methods have both been quite successful and it has been wonderful to see the responses. Some communities are utilizing the Group Decision Center in a hands-0n activity in which the GDC comes to their town to get immediate feedback. Both Cooperstown and Lidgerwood have used the GDC in this way so far and many more communities have them on their schedule! Cooperstown and Lidgerwood both had very successful days and it was a pleasure to be there and see pictures of the action. Congratulations to all of you on the creative ways you are gathering input from so many in your communities. 
Sixty-seven individuals from all Horizons communities were trained across North Dakota to deliver the LeadershipPLENTY program. They in turn delivered this to 625 participants in the 21 Horizons communities! Many stories are coming from communities regarding individuals that went through LeadershipPLENTY and are now planning to run for local office, return to school for additional training and have increased confidence. Watch for more results soon.