Presho, SD

Our December question is “In what ways have community members made a commitment to reduce poverty? How does the community plan to make sure the entire community supports its plans and actions to reduce poverty? How is poverty reduction addressed in your Community Strategic Plans?”

The issue of poverty reduction is embedded in each of our four goals. We need quality affordable housing, good jobs, and ways to help improve our quality life. That’s what our goals aim for. I think the community will support the strategic plan because the committee listened to the community when developing the goals. They weren’t written in a vacuum. The feedback received at the community celebration evidenced that the committee had the pulse of the community in developing the plan. When people volunteer to be part of something, then you know you heard what they wanted to say!

The question for December is “In what ways is your community more aware of its strengths or assets? What evidence do you have that people are more aware of all of the diverse people who live in your community? What difference, if any, does that make? ” and I believe our community is more aware of its strengths and who lives here. As an example, I know of a (not officially organized) group of folks that have recognized many of our residents don’t have that many to share holidays with. As a result, the group plans to put together next year a community Thanksgiving dinner (some pot luck and some prepared). I almost hate to call them a group since that almost means an official organization and they aren’t - they are folks that see a need and want to help. If we’ve accomplished nothing else through the Horizons project but that people are talking and wanting to make things better, then we’ve accomplished a lot!

 Presho Horizon Project community celebration was held at Hutch’s Café Sunday evening. The Strategic Planning Committee hosted a freesupper for the community. Santa was on hand to visit with children and present gifts to all. The committee presented their strategic community plan using storyboards and placements. The “Change Presho’ plan was presented and suggestions taken regarding how to use the funds raised.   
A large crowd enjoyed the evening.

Horizons Project Director Kari Fruechte tells Santa what she’d like for Christmas, with Santa’s helpers looking on.

Here are some pictures of  our well attended Celebration.

Santa was very popular!

I think the open house had a pretty good turnout, thanks to everyone for the 1/2 hour. Did we get very many surveys filled out? The people I talked to were excited about the Change Presho project and liked the logo.
Hopefully because of the people we talked to at the open house we will get more people to come to the community celebration on the 9th. I made some invitations and have been handing them out, if anyone wants some I can make more copies.

(from South Dakota Community Blog)

Presho has some great things on their blog that other communities can learn from!

• Lots of background information, how they got this far, everything you ever wanted to know about the Horizons project in Presho.
• Sharing the Vision & Mission Statements, asking for community feedback.
• Photos and stories tell the story of community work.
• Specific questions to elicit responses from community members - for instance asking for input on location of a thrift store.
• Sharing ideas, “getting the ball rolling” and asking for input on the shop local campaign.
• Poll asking, “What’s the first Change Presho project you want to work on?” Letting people have a say in setting priorities for action.
• Adding the “Recent Comments” link on the sidebar so people can easily see what others have added to the conversation. Want to know how to do that on your community blogs? Ask the folks at Presho!
• Clever ideas and marketing, one of my favorite ideas I have seen so far is their “Change Presho” idea. So simple and yet potential for great things in the future!

Great job Presho!!!