Lava Hot Springs, ID

3.  Taking action on poverty

a.     What kinds of concrete steps are being taken by your community to address poverty?

More groups working together on issues, rather than trying to do it alone.  There has also been more contact and collaboration with outside groups.

b.     How did your community make choices about the actions most likely to have an impact on poverty?

The primary considerations have been for those things which could easily be up into place, with the least amount of money, and that seem to provide the most benefit in helping the community thrive.

c.      How are low incomes involved?

Action planning meetings are always open to the public, but we need to do better at reaching out to others to keep people informed and involved.

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

We try to stay actively involved with other groups, keep lines of communication open, strive for transparency, seek involvement from a diverse cross-section of the community, and share common goals with other groups.

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

Strengthening our existing partnerships and seeking new ones would help to strengthen our efforts.  Partnering with organizations such as SEICOG, the Three Rivers RC&D, and the IdEEA would help us because of those group’s ability to seek out available grant monies.

 4.  Sustaining action and creating structural change around poverty

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

Getting others to understand the two different illustrations of the arrows; in which one shows arrows going in different directions (typical of most community groups), and the one that shows arrows aligned in the same direction, signifying groups working together has shown many how much more of an impact we can make when we work together.

c.      What community resources will be needed to sustain the community plan to reduce poverty?Financial support, commitment from other groups, and determination to work together on a shared vision.

7.  Taking action on leadershipa.     How has your community leadership expanded?

Those who have been involved in the Horizons processes are stepping forward in taking on more leadership roles or just being more involved in the community.

b.     What changes have been made in who is now involved in leadership positions?

Not sure of any changes made, but more people are getting involved.

c.      Are more people participating in leadership?

Yes, it is apparent in different aspects of the community.

d.     Are different kinds of people (representing more sectors or parts of the community) now participating in community leadership?

Yes, slowly they are trying to.

e.     Does the community leadership reflect the community’s demographic profile?

Not so much now, but in time it will get there.

f.       Are more low income people participating in community leadership?

Slowly, but not enough.

g.     What changes have been made in the way your community recruits and trains new leaders?

Doesn’t seem very evident at this point, other than sharing information on training available through the Idaho Rural Partnership.

8.  Sustaining action and creating structural change around leadership

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

We currently do not have a plan and would like to know more about how to do this.

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

By not giving up or becoming discouraged, and knowing that individuals and groups can and do make a difference in their communities.

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

Not sure that any structural changes have been made yet.

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

Not sure, but would like to know more about how we could achieve this.

11.  Taking action on community

a.     In what ways is your community operating or working differently?

More individuals and groups are becoming more involved and are trying to work together on different issues.

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

More volunteerism, and more open communications and transparency.

c.      How are low incomes involved?

We need to do better at reaching them for more involvement, though some have been involved in different aspects of the Horizons process.

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

Not sure of any structures created other than church food pantries, but there has been more participation and open dialogue between various groups.

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

Partnerships between Horizons, the Comprehensive Planning Committee, the City Council, Chamber of Commerce, Lava Pride, and others have shown how much more effective we can be when we work together.

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

Very minimally, but we would like to know more about what the other Horizons III communities are doing.  How can we do this?

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

Yes, there is no need to recreate the wheel when we can learn from and build upon what others have already done.  We need to be able to work together with others, because it has already been shown that together we can do great things for our communities.

12.  Sustaining action and creating structural change around community

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

By working together, pooling our resources, promoting open dialogues, and being transparent.

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

Not yet, but our Communications Action Team is working on such a system.  We would like to know more about what else we can do.

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

No, how can we do this?

d.     With your delivery organization?

Communications Action Team is working on this and other ways for improving our communications on all sorts of information and resources.

e.     In other partnerships?

Other partnerships have been and are being formed because of the efforts of the three Action Teams and individuals on those teams.

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

Don’t know that any have yet, and we would like more help in doing this.

5) What difference does the involvement of low income people make in community leadership?

It makes a big difference, because they feel like they are important and that their voice does count and can be heard.  This one has been a slow process, but it has begun and will only get better over time.

4)  What changes are you seeing in the way leadership is carried out?  How decisions get made in your community?

There seems to be more effort at negotiating consensus within organizations and within City Council, which gets more people involved in decision making processes, and in turn gains more acceptance from the community.

3) In what ways have leadership skills been improved/enhanced?  What is different?

More people are becoming involved in civic issues, and there is beginning to be more transparency within the city government, the Chamber of Commerce, and within some of the service organizations.  More people are also stepping forward to lead projects, and are writing agendas and conducting effective meetings because of what was taught in Leadership Plenty.

1) What changes are you seeing in the way community leadership is exercised or carried out?  How is it different?

More people are becoming civically involved in meetings and in special interest groups, and more people are becoming actively engaged in the happenings of the community.  It’s different because we never used to have any involvement from community members unless there were hot issues to discuss at a meeting.

2) How has your community changed after Leadership Plenty training?

Participants from the Leadership Plenty training are becoming more actively involved in different organizations and are stepping forward more to lead various initiatives.  We are seeing involvement from people that never used to take part in any community activities.

4) How would your community be different if more people think they have a role to play in community leadership?

There would be even greater cooperation between individuals and organizations than what already exists.  More people would put forth more effort to be part of the solutions to community issues, rather than part of the problem.

3) Is there any evidence that more people in the community feel like they can be or are leaders?

Yes there is evidence of more leaders in Lava Hot Springs because of increased cooperative efforts that are beginning to take place between groups and organizations that was not happening a year ago.  More people are getting involved and are collectively working together.

1) In what ways has your community’s knowledge about leadership changed? How do you know?

Because of the 20 people that were trained in the Leadership Plenty program, there are that many more people who have been actively engaged with other groups in the community.  some of the Leadership Plenty participants have also commented to the trainers about how the training has helped them with their leadership skills.

2) Do community members see leadershiop as an individual or a community issue? How does it differ?

The community sees leadership as more of a community issue.  Sure, it takes certain individuals to become leaders on various issues, but they cannot lead without the cooperation of the community members.  An individual as a leader is usually the contact person on an issue, but an individual is not the one to take all the credit for accomplishments.  Therefore, leadership is a community issue, because without the efforts of the troops, a commander is nothing.

“Leadership Plenty has helped develop my leadership skills in presenting skills, information, insight, knowledge and practicality in dealing with community issues.  With the training I received from Leadership Plenty I feel I could be very successful in moving through the steps of project development.  It also taught me to be patient and that action takes time and endurance.  Being part of the modules showed me there are many people of my community that have the same intereste and feel as strongly about their community’s success and integrity as I do.  I look forward to putting my skills to the test,” said JoAnn Murphy, Abracadabra Guest Homes.

Members of the Lava Hot Springs community are invited to attend a Visioning Rally set for Saturday, May 16th 9-12 at the Lava Hot Springs Elementary School.  David Buerle, Community Development Expert, will facilitate the meeting that will help Lava Hot Springs come together to create a Vision Statement.  This is going to be an exciting event!

Lunch will be served following the Rally.