Kooskia, ID

Kamiah, ID - Upper Clearwater Community Foundation is pleased to announce the Kamiah Pool Scholarship Project. This scholarship program is funded by a grant from the Inland Northwest Community Foundation.

The purpose of the Pool Scholarship Project is to afford families within the Kooskia and Kamiah school service areas the opportunity to enjoy the community pool regardless of their economic status. The recipients of the scholarships, as a season pass holder, will be entitled to daily access to the pool, family swim, lap swim, night swim, teen swim and other pool activities as well as one free swimming lesson class.

The Pool Scholarship Project will provide 162 low/moderate income families with scholarships to attend the Kamiah city pool during the 2008 season. Scholarship applications will be distributed May 22 through the Kooskia and Kamiah schools and will be available at Davis Communications at on Hwy 12. Applications will be accepted on Tuesday, May 27 beginning at 6:30 p.m. on a first come, first served basisat the Kamiah Welcome Center located at 518 Main Street. When completed applications are dropped off proof of income such as 3 months of pay stubs or 2007 tax return or summary statement from the unemployment office; proof of residency such as a utility bill; and social security cards or birth certificates will be required to verify eligibility. This information is required for all household members.

The scholarships will be given on a first come, first served basis and those awarded will be notified by mail. Having access to the pool is important to the community in preventing drownings in the Clearwater River. The family pass will create an avenue for the families to play together throughout the summer. We are expecting families to bond, build community connections, have physical activity for children, participate in alternative activities for youth and adults and have recreational opportunities with access to a safe and supervised environment during the summer months.

The Life Center has stepped forward to contribute to the project as well. They will provide busing from Stites and Kooskia to the Kamiah Pool two days a week during the summer months. More details will be released as information becomes available. Christine McNall, project director states “This an exciting beginning of a new scholarship program for youth activities in the area. This very generous grant from Inland Northwest Community Foundation has allowed us new momentum in giving scholarships to area youth who would like to participate in community activities but do not have the means to do so.” Although KYRA has given scholarships in the past this fund will enable youth access to more youth activities. If you would like to donate to the new youth activity scholarship fund please send your contributions to UCCF noting scholarship fund on your check. You may earmark your donation for KYRA, Pool Passes, or other.

The address is U.C.C.F. - PO Box 73, Kamiah, ID 83536. 

“It is truly wonderful to see our community come together with projects such as this. To afford families in the Clearwater Valley access to the pool is exciting. The scholarships are widely needed and I think we will see more people at the pool enjoying the hot summer days. I, for one, am grateful to the Inland Northwest Community Foundation for such a wonderful gift. I hope we can come together and continue the scholarship project next year with local fundraisers.” – Christine McNall 

 “I think that the pool scholarships will provide a great opportunity for our area youth to be able to swim in the pool daily if they choose. I also feel that the scholarships will help the KAP summer program due to the fact that we require children who are older enough to be in the big pool to have a season pass so that we are able to take the children to the pool and this is an additional financial burden on some families. I just think that our community and the area communities will benefit all the way around. Good job and thank you for your hard work for the community.” -Vickie Jackson, Kamiah After-school Program Coordinator  

“The Save the Pool Committee is extremely pleased with the receipt of this grant.  Not only will it help 150 local families, it will help to ensure the pool stays open another year.  It goes to show what good things can be accomplished when we all work together as a team.  I hope to see the team effort continue.” – Sharlene Johnson, Save the Pool Committee member.

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The most valuable trait that I have gained through the Horizons program is the ability to ask others for input, assistance or opinion. Creating conversations can turn to action in no time. Learning to facilitate meetings and study circles will help me tremendously in my job as well. All the trainings that I have attended have a direct impact in my work too!

Participating in these programs and trainings has allowed me to make connections I may not of had otherwise and has help me accomplish more in a shorter time. Participating has been VERY enlightening too! I have learned how to work with city council, how to approach or how NOT to approach someone about possible change. I have learned through examples provided by others.

I feel Kooskia has gained many new leaders. The city council has two members who actively participate in the program and I feel that their participation will only help the city in its endeavors. Kooskia is really working on bringing more cottage industries to main street. There are many retiring shopkeepers looking to sell out and there is the potential for a thriving community if we can have cottage businesses in our little town. Upcoming entrepreneurial training, the 2 degrees Northwest Program, the economic survey of Kooskia and the partnership with the Kooskia Horizons and the Upper Clearwater Community Foundation are all steps our community have taken as a result of participation in the Horizons Program.

Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the blogging class. I hear it was VERY helpful. However I did glean info from the handouts (which was clear enough to allow me to blog now). For me, blogging is not all that difficult. I realized that writing in “Code” is not for me, so I use the “Visual Editor” option in my profile settings. Blog writing is just a matter of MAKING the time to blog. It is a lot like writing a journal entry each day except instead of penning your thoughts on paper, you are doing so on the keyboard. I think the most painful part of blogging is actually setting up the site or becoming an authorized author. Once past that step, MAKING the time is the biggest challenge for me.

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Silver Valley, an Idaho Horizons community, stated that April was Child Abuse Awareness Month. This site also provides valuable information regarding Youth Suicide Prevention.

The sun is shining and it is a great day today!

Christine

What’s next in Horizons for your community? Are your Action Teams planning activities in the next 2 months? How do those activities relate to the 3 legs of Horizons: Poverty reduction, Leadership Development and Community Mobilization?

Kooskia Horizons plans to become an action team under the 501c3 Upper Clearwater Community Foundation aka UCCF. Website is UCCF.info/

We will continue with our current action teams. Economic Development/Tourism, and Youth, Education, Leadership (YEL) and Communications.

Current project for economic development include the Thursday Peoples Market slated to open in May where locals may set up a table and trade their goods or harvest items.

The YEL action team recently sponsored blog training. Later in May the Kooskia Horizons team will sponsor a three day entrepreneurial training that close to 40 people have enrolled.

We look forward to the exciting business ideas that will generate a new economy in our area! Our steering committee and action teams are VERY active in training our community in various ways. We are seeing new faces at these training which tells us we are generating new leaders. Even the school aged demographic is participating!

Our Economic Development team is working on poverty reduction by providing the platform of the Peoples Market. I am excited to see what the participation will be this spring and summer. The venue is free so we hope that people will think to shop locally before they take their dollars out of our community.

We thank all who are active in Horizons!

South Dakota has really neat info about chicken tractors see below or go to their blog site http://southdakota.communityblogs.us/

Below is the blog written by the South Dakota Team regarding Chicken Tractors.Chicken Tractors??? Who Knew! April 16th, 2008 by Cheryl Jacobs

How to build a chicken tractor

Have a great day! Christine

Study Circle demographics:

The Kooskia Horizon Program was successful in having community input from a wide variety of ages, cultures and economic levels express their concerns for the future of our community. They expressed concern about the need for family wage jobs in a community that is sending all the best and the brightest of the youth to other places to find work. Another concern was that the low income people have little or no ability to find and use the existing resources.
From those Study circles we have formed a community vision statement, then formed action teams to work on the areas of needs. The three action teams are Economic Development, Education, Leadership and Youth, and Communication & Community Service. The wide variety of community members are also reflected in the different action teams. We look forward seeing what will be coming in the days ahead.

Kooskia and Stites are partnering together on a Horizons Project. A resource guide for Kooskia/Stites and the surrounding area is definitely needed. Many people don’t know what products and services are available right here in our area. With gas around $3.00 a gallon, why waste our money and especially our time going out of town, when we could buy gifts, arts and crafts, and many services here and support our Local Family. Because of this, Kooskia & Stites have solicited infomation from all citizens to identify all services and businesses in our area. This all-inclusive resource guide will be available to all community members and new arrivals to inform them of everything available in our community.

In response to the rising demand for entrepreneural training in rural Idaho, Lewis Clark State College (LCSC) developed an on-line class. Identified as one of the top needs in Kooskia and upon inquiry with the LCSC Small Business Development about their NxLevel program, the offer was made for interested budding entrepreneurs to test this class. Normally the NxLevel 12 session class is conducted on the LCSC campus in Lewiston, 45 miles away and at a $300 fee; both huge barriers. In two days, 21 participants stepped forward to begin the class. This immediate response reaffirmed with LCSC the need for this class.

In late April, early May Kooskia Horizons will join together will Phase I Horizons community, Kamiah to host a 9 hour entrepreneur workshop locally to provide additional assistance to those taking the on-line course and to other people within the region.

The Horizon’s Program through U of I held a multi-community Summit meeting in Grangeville on Thursday, January 24th, 2008. Our community had 5 representatives in attendance. The focus of this meeting was to have each community partner with other communities, groups, organizations, and representatives. This was a success for the representatives from our community. We were able to make contact with organizations such as Velocity Business Inc., The Hingston Roach Group, Inc., Lewis-Clark State College, Idaho Heritage Trust, University of Idaho Outreach Program, Rural School Community Trust, Clearwater Economic Development, USDA Rural Development, and approximately a dozen others. Each of these organizations has a specific focus in assisting communities like ours. The communities also had about 15 minutes each to present their successes, set-backs, progress, and further plans. Through these presentations we were able to discover other ideas that may be implemented for our community. We were also able to meet many of their key individuals in their Horizon’s group. This opportunity has now given us a key part to creating a better community. Personally, I was also asking for information regarding groups or organizations who will help fund private business ventures. There have been a few ideas passed around that will help establish an economic foundation for our progress. This has been an area of focus that will require more development.

Finding information in Kooskia is as easy as walking down the street!
Kooskia Main Street is the place to go to find the information you need. With the revamping of the Community Bulletin Boards, information is available for those looking for housing assistance, food bank contacts, utility assistance, job placement, odd jobs and community events.
Check out the new bulletin boards on Main Street in Kooskia, across from City Hall, next to NAPA Auto Parts.

To get the answer to this question, the Economic Development Action Teams of the Kooskia and Stites Horizons groups contacted the Universtity of Idaho to request assistance for a survey of our area to determine what businesses would be successful and how to market our area to attract those businesses. We are looking forward to the start of this survey in Spring/Summer 2008.

When Horizons guest speaker David Buerle came to Kooskia for our visioning rally I was very excited to see that over 100 members of our community participated. I was also astonished that when Mr. Buerle asked if Kooskia had a newspaper, NOT ONE PERSON had responded with the answer yes. Wow! Did anyone realize that THE CLEARWATER PROGRESS was their community newspaper?

With Kooskia feeling they had no connection to the community newspaper, THE CLEARWATER PROGRESS, even though this newspaper covers sports, events, obituaries, organizations, city and other news that directly relates to Kooskia, I wondered what can be done to make the connection.

I took the information from the rally back to the editor of THE CLEARWATER PROGRESS. After a few months of brainstorming as to how we can better serve Kooskia and the rest of our Clearwater Valley residents, the decision was made.

Beginning the first week in February 2008, THE CLEARWATER PROGRESS NEWSPAPER, will become a FREE community newspaper. It will be delivered to EVERY mailbox in the zip codes that belong to Kooskia, Kamiah and Stites. How exciting is that?!

The folks at the paper are excited too. They feel that they are offering a quality product that is relevant to the whole Clearwater Valley. They will be keeping the community informed and they recognize that their contribution will help reduce poverty in our region.

The newspaper is taking a huge risk by going against the grain. But they are also a forward thinking bunch. How better to reach their consumer than by distributing the news for free? How cool is that?

Once you receive your free paper, recognize that it is a direct result of the Horizons program. Do your part and read the news, participate in community discussion and patronize local businesses.

Everyone is invited and encouraged to attend the Kooskia Horizons Community Potluck on Saturday, January 19, 2007, from 12:00-1:30, at the Kooskia Community Center at City Hall.
This event is to update the community on where each Action Group is now and what the plans are for the future. Come & visit with your friends and neighbors, bring a dish, and discuss the future of Kooskia!

This 8 member Action Team will be involved with the following issues: Lack of Living Wage jobs; Business and Service Directory and the Community Bulletin Board. By June of 2008, we hope to establish an active partnership between the Chamber of Commerce and IdaLew foundation to increase the presence of small businesses in Kooskia, as well as increase the active membership in the Kooskia Chamber of Commerce. We also want to have a Business Market Analysis completed, to identify new businesses that Kooskia needs and determine their sustainability. We will also work with the other Kooskia Horizons Action Teams to complete the Community Bulletin Board and Resource Guide. Long Term, we would like to bring businesses to the Kooskia area that will create an additional 50 jobs.
Kooskia Horizons is slowly overcoming apathy and the defeatist attitude that has undermined similiar endeavors.

This 11 member team is tackling the following issues: Lack of Youth Involvement, Vocational Education, Mentoring, and working with our other Kooskia Horizon Action Teams on the Community Bulletin Board. Our short term goals include Youth Involvement, Nutritional Education for adults & youth, with a curriculum to be established and ready to begin community implementation by fall of 2008, and to have our Community Bulletin Board finished and in use as a community communication tool. Long term goals include a Teen/Youth Center and an Adopt-a-Grandparent program.
Public Awareness and education are two critical approaches to reducing poverty. Youth Involvement will build future leaders!

Our 8 member team on this committee has set some goals, both long and short term. The team would like to have our new Resource Guide be completed and available to the public by June 30, 2008. We also would like to have our new Community Bulletin Board finished and in use as a community communication tool, and we intend to have at least 6 articles in the local news media by the same date. Long term goals include Increased Community Service among the population, Create Positive Recognition for Horizons within the community, start an AM Radio Station, Develop further Historical Literature and information on the area.
Public awareness is critical to community change and community pride. If a person is not aware of the problem, how can they effect change?

Kooskia Horizons Launch was a success with almost half of the attendants from the Rally returning to participate. The steering committee decided on 3 groups based on what was discussed at the Rally and our Visioning Statement. The groups are broken down as follows:
1. Economic Development
2. Community Service/Communication
3. Education/Youth/ Leadership
People were asked to choose the group that interested them. These newly formed groups met and discussed issues. Each group will have another meeting within the next week, and then all will regroup on November 1st, at the Community Center in Kooskia from 6:00-8:00.

Kooskia encourages civil discussion and participation by citizens of all ages. We value our youth, their energy and enthusiasm. We maintain our close knit community by connecting our youth with experienced citizens through mentoring.
Kooskia has a diverse economy that builds on our natural resources such as our unique rivers, abundant forests and our creative caring people. We connect to global markets and support our niche industries, light manufacturing and local artisans by providing pathways through training and apprenticeships that provide a living wage. As a popular recreation destination, we showcase our local value added products and our small town flavor.

This vision was created by Kooskia citizens interested in “Building a Better Future”
October 11, 2007